Have you ever created something in Minecraft and wanted it in the real world? I know I have and when my little cousin made something in Minecraft he said it wold be great to be able to take it home and put it in his bedroom. This gave me the idea for this instructables as I though other people might like to do the same and this is now possible with the power off 3D printing.

If you don't have a 3D printer (like me) don't worry because it is becoming more common for places to have public access to them, normally for a small fee. I use the one in my high school which is free as I am a student there but when i leave in a few weeks I think I have to pay to use it. If you can't get access to a 3D printer you can still use this instructables as I will tell you about some services that will print it and send it to you as long as you have you export it ready.

I will go into as much detail as I can even if it seems obvious but I want this to seem as easy as it can. If you have any questions or get stuck please feel free to ask me in the comments.

Step 1: The Minecraft World

Ok, so we are not printing the whole off the Minecraft world as that would be huge (well I guess you could if you wanted) but we are going to print a specific section off that we want. I have decided to print this Mario bit from my map 'All around Skill Map' (creative name right there, that's my imagination a few years ago at it's best XD).

Once you have the part you want printing ready then its time to move on!

Step 2: Opening Your World in Mineways

Now you are going to need Mineways which you can download here - http://www.realtimerendering.com/erich/minecraft/p...

Its really simple to download/install. Just click download for windows or mac depending on which you are using and then when it has finished place it on your desktop (or wherever you want it) then simply open the mineways,exe for whatever your on, for me its the Mineways_windows8.exe .

Now go to file - open - Your world or if its not there chose 'Find your world' and go to where its saved and click on the level .data .

Step 3: Selecting Your Masterpiece

Now we need to pick the area off the world that we want. For me its the Mario part off my world. Scroll around your world to with the left click. If you are struggling to find it then you can always go back into your Minecraft world and put down markers showing you where it is then re-open it in Mineways.

Once you have found the area you want to export hold the right click and drag the purple box until it covers it all. You may get a message asking the the y-axis levels so be sure to select which applies to you. You may need to change the sliders at the top to make sure you don't select too much underground or too little that it does not get everything. Mine has empty space around it so its easier to select what I want, I can't really say what the settings will need to be for you as it will be different for different projects.

Step 4: Exporting From Mineways

The next thing we need to do is export the world. In Mineways go to file - Export for 3D printing. That's right Mineways has an option for 3D printing which makes this quite easy to set up.

Pick where you want to export and the name you want to export it as. For me its my desktop (for now) and it's called 'Minecraft Mario - 3D print' and select the file type. I am going to be exporting as an .obj but the settings are same for any other file type you use.

Now we are going to get some options that we need to set up. I recommend that you check 'Export full color texture patterns' so that the blocks have colors and texture to them but if you don't want any color or texture then select 'Export no materials'. The block size will be 2mm by default if you check 'Export full color texture patterns' as it shows the textures better and I suggest keeping it at this. I have kept everything else the same.

You will get a pop up about an approximate cost and it will ask if you want more statistics so just click no. Now you can close Mineways.

Step 5: If You Don't Have Access to a 3D Printer

If you don't have a 3D printer and cannot get access to one the you can use a service like shapeways.com . Shapeways is a service that you can upload you file to and they will then print it and send it to you. They accept a range of file types (including .obj files like we exported as) so you can use this method I have showed you to get it printed.

There are other sites that will also print it for you if you upload the file. Here is a site that compares some off the 3d printing services so you can decide for yourself which to chose from. I have never used one off these services so I can't really tell you which is the best but I do know they are good legit sites.

Step 6: If You Do Have a 3D Printer

If you have a 3D printer or have somewhere where you can use one then you probably know how to print it now you have your file once you have it ready. There isn't really anything I have to say on this step other then start printing!

Step 7: That's It!

That's it you are finished! I hoped this helped and I would love to see some pictures if you decide to print your world. If i can get to use my schools 3D printer again before I leave and have to pay I will definitely be printing my world and updating this with some pictures but for now here is a render off it in 3ds max.

Thanks for reading my instructables hoped this helped. :)