Help
  • View BenJ's Profile

    33

    Jan 19, 2014
    BenJ posted a message on BenJ's Ultimate Guide to Making Things Look Good v2.0
    BenJ's Ultimate Guide to Making Things Look Good



    Do you recognize this? You probably do. Its the basic cobble cube that almost everyone makes for their first dwelling. While its fully functional, it isnt very pretty. Its cramped, its dim, and it probably smells like pee.

    This guide will cover six different topics.
    -External (such things as walls)
    -Internal (floors, windows, and the like)
    -Furnishing (beds, bookshelves, and lighting)
    -Advanced Building (for when you need to expand your cozy cottage)
    -Misc. (Stuff that doesnt fit anywhere else)
    -Tips/Tricks (Duh.)

    Lets get started, shall we?

    EXTERNAL

    The first thing we're covering is the outside of the house. Its the first thing a guest will see, so lets impress them shall we?

    Walls

    So, Lets start with this:


    The basic wall. Its solid, its durable, and it keeps baddies from eating your face. But, its ugly.So how can we fix it? Well first and foremost lets add some variety. Variety its gonna be the big keyword of this guide.

    Material

    So, first of all, try adding more than one material to the wall like so:

    Simply breaking up the monotony of the wall massively improves how it looks. Again, variety. Its the spice of life, dont ya know.

    Shape

    Walls in their most basic form are just rectangles, but they dont have to be.Add some pillars and outcroppings and pillars to a wall to give the shape some variety (Theres that word again!)

    Adding trim to the top of a wall also helps:

    This is especially good for any castle type builds.

    Windows

    In any survival world, windows are a must. They allow you to see any potential threats lurking outside of your dwelling.Windows in their most basic form are...well basic.

    They dont provide much to the wall, theyre hard to really see out of, and they just kinda...suck.A great way to improve windows is just make em bigger:

    Couple this with a variety of materials as mentioned above and you end up with:

    Looks pretty good.So if we take everything we've learned about walls and mash it all together we end up with:

    Which looks so much nicer than a basic cobble rectangle.

    Interior

    So, Now that we've covered how to build walls, lets begin working on the inside of our little cottage.

    Space

    Space is VERY important to making a house look good. If you have a small room thats only 2 blocks tall...well you don't have a lot of space to work with.

    This room, while a little plain, is plenty big. See how tall the ceiling is? See how long the room is? theres a lot more space here than you really need, but to make a room look good you're going to WANT the space.

    Floor/Ceiling

    So, lets spice up the dull cube a bit shall we? Now, remember the lessons learned with walls? Again, the big word for this bit is variety. A lot of the lessons that we applied to walls can be applied here, too.I wont go into great detail again, but observe:

    Again, variety. I will keep saying it until its the only word you know.

    Furnishings

    Lighting

    Lighting is very important, it prevents monsters from spawning, it helps you see whats going on.So: basic lights

    A torch on a wall. Nothing is wrong with it, but its just kinda...there. It works, but like the cobble cube it lacks form.A simple way to improve it is to merely place the torch ion a block to make a stand:

    Or you can set it up on a fencepost, it makes a good scone

    Even combining the two works:

    Another good trick using torches and fences is to make chandeliers by suspending a block from the ceiling:

    Also, feel free to substitute torches with glowstone or glowstone lamps. Those lamps require redstone wiring though, so good luck.

    Furniture

    Furniture is essential for making a good room. Notch was kind enough to put a bed in the game a while back, but what about seating and tables? Were are we gonna eat our mushroom stew? Plus, without furniture your house is just...really boring. Theres nothing to do!

    So, lets start with the basics: A chair

    Its just a stair block with signs on the ends, but it works pretty well.A couch can be made by extending the concept:

    Taking it a step further you can make a nice homely corner unit:

    Also, if youd like to put your feet up, any half slab block makes an excellent footsool

    But what about a table? Gotta have something to eat off of. Well, if you put a pressure plate on a fence youll get one!

    You can also do that with carpetingBookshelves make a great accent for any room:

    And we also have carpets now. They can be used to cover a whole floor, or they can be used to make rugs and welcome mats:

    There are a lot of different colors, so go nuts with em. Make awesome patterns, or pictures. Theyre versatileSpeaking of pictures, we cant forget paintings, they make excellent accents

    The last thing we'll discuss is more...obscure combinations. There are a ton of ways you can combine things to make new types of furniture. I have no desire to list them all, but Ill give one example, a sink:

    Made with a cauldron and a lever.

    Combinations like that can add something special to the room. Experiment around, blow your own mind with what some simple blocks can do!Also remember: Chests, furnaces, workbenches, etc all count as furniture. Plus youre gonna need em, so go nuts.

    So, putting it all together we can make one rather pretty room:

    Advanced Building

    Now we're getting to the good stuff. Ive already showed you some ways to make a basic one room cottage look better, but what happens when one room just isnt enough anymore? Its time to expand! We can go two ways: Build up or build out. We'll start by building up.

    2nd Floors/staircases

    Ok, so you've built a basic cottage, and it looks pretty good:

    However, it's time for more space. So, what do you say to adding a second floor? We'll start by building a staircase up through the roof.

    Now, you could do it like this:


    But the problem there is that the staircase is...kinda huge. It takes up a third of the bottom floor. Itd work pretty well in a huge mansion but...we have a cottage.

    We have to shrink it down.Try making it wrap around itself like so:


    See? Much more compact and it works just as well. The most important thing with making stairs: Build them according to the rest of your house. Consistency is aesthetically pleasing.

    Of course, you can also use ladders instead of stairs. They're the most compact of all, but theyre not as pretty.

    We climb the stairs, and here we are:


    The roof, and wow what a view! But, we need to get some walls up. Remember how to build a good wall? Good! Go for it!


    As you can see, I made the wall out of mostly glass. I like having a good view, but you can make it however youd like.

    So, we have walls, but the top is still wide open which brings us to:

    Roofing

    Roofs are important, they keep the heat in and the rain out. Plus they stop spiders from walking up your walls.

    Now, the most basic roof is just a rectangle again. It works, but as usual its a little dull. Try adding some variety *cough*

    You could make a pyramid type roof:



    Or you can make a barn style roof:



    Or many other fun shapes.

    Also, note the skylights. Those are great for letting light into the room, I highly recommend you add them. Or dont, I mean, its your house after all.

    Now, say we even need MORE space. What do we do? Well, we can build up again, but that will end up looking decidedly tower-ish. Now, thats fine if you like towers, but if you dont we could just add a new room. Which takes us to:

    Room divides

    We need another room on the ground floor, and Im thinking we expand in this direction:

    Of course, those stairs are in the way...


    Much better.So, now I say we tear down that wall and add a new room!

    Nice! We have more space. But it looks kinda...odd dont you think? Theres a sudden switch between rooms, plus everything still looks really rectangular.The best way to fix all of this is to build a divider between the rooms.

    Even a simple archway looks great:


    Or build a half wall with some space in it:


    Another fun idea is to actually elevate the new room a bit with some stairs:

    In the end, I went with a combination of ideas:




    Looks much better doesnt it?

    if we head upstairs we can see the new room out the window:


    And what do you know, its right at walking level. Itd make a perfect porch. Say, thats a great way to segue into...

    Porches

    Alright, so we have a great opportunity to turn part of the first floor ceiling into a porch. So, first thing to do is punch out the wall:


    Awesome. Now, to make a simple porch we can just throw a door in there and put up some safety railings:


    Viola, a porch.

    But, lets spice it up a bit shall we? What say we put a roof over some of it, it does rain pretty frequently after all:


    Nice.

    Of course, this isnt the only way of making porches. After all, who says they need to be built only on top of a room?


    A nice standalone porch in case you just want to go outside and take in the view.

    Also keep in mind that porches arent just limited to upper floors, a nice front porch leading up to your door can look wonderful and inviting:


    Of course, your house might have to be elevated by a block to accommodate, but its a small amount of extra work for something to look a great deal better.

    Misc

    Stairs

    Ive already illustrated how versatile stairs can be as furniture, but they are also so much more.

    They make great edges around walls:


    They makes pillars:


    They even make good roofing!


    Stairs are awesome

    Fences

    Fences are also awesome. Besides being good for chandeliers they do

    Roof supports:


    Path lights and lampposts:


    Even walls!


    Fountains/Statues

    Gardens

    Tips/Tricks

    Alright, I'm just about done here. Theres just a few more things we need to go over.

    Have a theme

    Having a theme to your build is very VERY important. If you live in a cozy little beach cottage, don't put a fire moat around it. It'll look very out of place. The same goes for your epic medieval dungeon: having a floor of brightly colored wool will detract from the feel just a tad.

    Build beyond function

    Don't just make what you need, because in this game all you really need is a dirt cube and some torches. After that, you're set.Instead build everything you can think of. Make libraries, hotels, bars,fountains, fireplaces, anything you want! Minecraft is your toy, make what you want of it.

    Use ALL the blocks

    This guide is just a starter, there is much MUCH more you can do with the blocks we have.Make wool carpets, make walls look old with mossy stone and bricks, use piston or double doors via lever. The possibilities are ENDLESS.

    Some blocks are purely decorative. USE THEM!

    Wools, vines, mossy stones, lily pads, leaf blocks...none of these have a use outside of aesthetics. Using these blocks right will turn your build from good to epic.

    Get a texture pack

    Everything I posted in this thread was done in vanilla Minecraft. However, most people seem to feel that the vanilla textures are...lacking.

    Find yourself a texture pack that you like. I have seen some marvelous creations that looked even better because the builder had a texture pack that fit the theme.There is a terrifying number of texture packs available, go give them a look sometime.

    FINALE

    Thats pretty much it for the basics. I shall continually update this topic as more blocks are added, or new designs are discovered.I hope this guide has helped you escape your confining cobblestone cube, and I hope you enjoy your wonderful new home.

    Cheers,
    BenJ.
    Posted in: Discussion
  • View BenJ's Profile

    1

    Jan 23, 2014
    BenJ posted a message on BenJ's Ultimate Guide to Making Things Look Good v2.0
    Quote from Gikka218

    Great guide! I have one suggestion however. Could you maybe add a guide that shows a bit about dimension? Like, not just having a one block thick wall that looks boring, you know? Thanks!


    Yeah sure, Ill get into that once I finish the stuff Ive outlined already!
    Posted in: Discussion
  • View BenJ's Profile

    181

    Oct 26, 2011
    BenJ posted a message on BenJ's Ultimate Guide to Making Things Look Good (Update 1/18/14 Read latest post!)
    The guide has moved:

    http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/2316322-benjs-ultimate-guide-to-making-things-look-good-v20/
    Posted in: Survival Mode
  • View BenJ's Profile

    5

    Jan 20, 2012
    BenJ posted a message on [1.1] Enhanced Mining by BenJ ((1.3.1 emergency patch!)
    BEFORE YOU ASK: An update is (finally) in the works! ETA sometime this week. (4/412)

    DOWNLOAD
    Adf.ly Direct

    Note that this mod REQUIRES ModLoader

    Changelog:

    1.3
    -Buffed spawn rates of chunks and bones
    -Added a Diamond Shard
    -Blocks will now drop cobblestone along with any other items

    1.2
    -new Iron Chunk texture
    -Added the chance for stone to rarely drop extra XP
    -changed spawning rates again, gold nuggets are back to being a 1/100 spawn
    -Also made XP a 1/25 chance drop as opposed to a 1/30

    1.1
    -added XP to ores (coal, iron, gold, diamond, redstone, and lapiz)
    -Also added XP to obsidian
    -reduced spawns of both nuggets and bones

    1.0
    -initial release

    During my time playing Minecraft, Ive always felt like I never had enough gold, or iron. This made building things like railways a bit difficult.

    This mod makes mining a bit more productive. It adds a small chance for any broken Stone block to drop a gold nugget, an iron chunk, or a bone.

    The block will also occasionally drop a small amount of XP



    This mod also adds two items; Iron Chunks and Diamond shards

    Both of these function much the same way as the gold nugget. Combine 9 of them to make an ingot or a diamond.

    The odds of getting a gold nugget are about 1/100 for every block, and the odds for getting a bone or a chunk are 1/50The odds of getting XP are 1/25

    diamond shards are a VERY rare drop, roughly 1/500.

    UPCOMING FEATURES
    -Having ore blocks drop some nuggets/chunks along with their respective ores.
    -Forge compatibility
    -A tier of tools better than diamond. They will be VERY hard to make.

    KNOWN BUGS
    -The block dropping is a bit weird. Sometimes blocks will drop 2 cobblestone blocks when mined. Other times the block will drop an item, but no cobble.

    -+-Archer-+- was kind enough to make an HD texture for the iron chunk
    http://dl.dropbox.co.../ironNugget.png
    Simply replace the image in the mod zip with this one if you need HD textures.

    Previous versions
    1.2
    1.1
    1.0
    Posted in: Minecraft Mods
  • View BenJ's Profile

    1

    Jan 21, 2012
    BenJ posted a message on ERRORS.
    Quote from BobwontRolle

    Thanks Ben.

    Where do i place the images? Because 5 different tutorials told me 10 different places. :/

    I need to finish this mod -.-

    Bleh, sorry.

    To use the images while modding, save them in the MCP\bin\minecraft directory
    (There will be ga.class and Start.class files in that same folder)

    After you reobfuscate the code, stick all of the code in the reobf folder into a new folder, add the images to the exact same folder, then zip it all up for distribution.
    Posted in: Modification Development
  • View BenJ's Profile

    1

    Jan 21, 2012
    BenJ posted a message on ERRORS.
    Quote from BobwontRolle

    Hey. I fixed everything else. I get this problem now.

    When I recompile = fine.
    startclient.sh = fine
    reobfuscate = no images in reobf folder?!?!!?

    I had the same problem, and I ended u having to hunt down my images and add them myself. It still worked though. Try it.
    Posted in: Modification Development
  • View BenJ's Profile

    1

    Jan 20, 2012
    BenJ posted a message on SOPA minecraft
    http://mashable.com/2012/01/20/sopa-is-dead-smith-pulls-bill/#44253Jan-20-SOPA-Killed
    Posted in: Modification Development
  • View BenJ's Profile

    1

    Nov 11, 2011
    BenJ posted a message on BenJ's Ultimate Guide to Making Things Look Good (Update 1/18/14 Read latest post!)
    Sorry for the lack of new stuff everyone, Ive been busy cramming for my finals. Expect some new stuff next week.
    Posted in: Survival Mode
  • View BenJ's Profile

    3

    Oct 26, 2011
    BenJ posted a message on BenJ's Ultimate Guide to Making Things Look Good (Update 1/18/14 Read latest post!)
    Quote from Megaloneus

    Excellent guide to a good build, it provides variety, but more importantly it provides moderation in everything.


    By the way, BenJ, what are your first and last initials? I believe I have a guess.

    Benjamin C at your service.
    Posted in: Survival Mode
  • View BenJ's Profile

    2

    Oct 26, 2011
    BenJ posted a message on BenJ's Ultimate Guide to Making Things Look Good (Update 1/18/14 Read latest post!)
    Quote from UGoBoom

    I think this belongs in a different section, but still nice job with the tutorial!

    Yeah, I realized that after I posted it. So hopefully the mods can take care of that...

    Also: new section is up!
    Posted in: Survival Mode
  • To post a comment, please .