Table of Contents (click to skip to that section)
-Coding/Mechanics (How it works)
-Crafting
-Graphics
-Beam Light Levels (what the different strengths of light do)
-Uses for Lens Blocks
-Support Banners
-Possible things that could be added
-Past Poll Results
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Coding/Mechanics:
The blocks would be placed similar to pumpkins: they would be placed facing towards the player. With sensor blocks it wouldn't matter because they would be the same on all sides.
There are 5 input faces and 1 output face, The block only takes in light if
1) the sky, in the daytime, is directly overhead.
2) if there is a full lava source (if you can't pick it up with a bucket, it doesn't work) directly adjacent to it (not diagonal) in an input face.
3) There is glowstone adjacent to one of its inputs. This way torches, which are too cheap, don't work for powerful applications.
The block would gain a light level (separate from the current lighting system) of 1 for every sunlight, lava, or glowstone intake. These would be added together, with a maximum of 5 (5 faces besides the output) for a single lens block. this would be sent out the output, the block it touches (not the ones on the side, like sunlight does) would light up as if it had sunlight on it no matter what the power of the beam is. If a receptor face of another lens block is at the end of the beam, the light level of the beam will add up with the input number of the other sides. The limit using multiple lens blocks, then, would be 16, which is the same amount as light levels are normally, so would not be too lag-inducing or powerful, yet not too weak, either.
Crafting









The stone holds it together, glass is intake, diamond is the lens that directs it all to the output. If diamond is too expensive, it could be a lens in the middle, the lens being crafted with a 1x3 of glass. However, I think a diamond is a fair price and would willingly spend a stack or so on lens blocks. The lens blocks would be retrieved by mining them with an iron or diamond pickaxe.
Graphics: Please note that all this is not as important as the rest, so could be changed around however the developers want.
The block could have a blueish tinted circle on each of its sides, surrounded by stone. When the block is emitting light, the output face will be a yellow-white. The beam of light could be visible or not, if it is it should be around a block in size and partially transparent like water, and not be visible for level 1 beams. It could perhaps change depending on high or low graphic settings.
Light sensor blocks would look very similar to lens blocks. All sides would look like input faces of the lens blocks, but with dark red in the middle to show the connection to redstone (like how repeaters, torches, powered rails are all dark red when off) and will turn red when the light is great enough (on any of its sides) to activate redstone. This also distinguishes between lens blocks and sensor blocks.
Beam Light Levels
Please note that all levels above a number will do the same, so level 2+ will also light like sunlight on the block it touches as well as 1. All effects only happen to blocks at the end, not ones the light passes by.
1) Lights up block with sunlight-level light (15) all blocks around will also lit appropriately (14 right next to, then 13, and so on). Zombies and skeletons catch on fire as if they were standing in sunlight.
2) Power to redstone blocks (if added) and iron blocks.
4) Flammable blocks catch fire.
5) Small damage to player/mob like standing in fire, will catch fire if staying there too long.
8) Slow damage to dirt and weak materials (not things like glass or glowstone), water boils.
10) Doubled damage of 5 beam- light levels, catch on fire twice as quickly.
12) Furnace smelts at 1/2 normal rate. Glass is created when sand is hit.
16) Furnace smelts at normal speed. Slow damage to cobblestone (but not smoothstone), fast to dirt/weak materials (around punching to low level tools).
Smoothstone would be impervious to lens block light so as to not allow mining lasers, though cobblestone wouldn't (but be destroyed slowly still). Thus cobble factories would be possible, but if you want diamonds (and such), you have to work for them. The explanation for this would just be that smoothstone's smooth surface doesn't absorb much light so it isn't damaged. If you look at cobblestone, you will see dark in-between stones, which seems to be mortar (stuff used to hold bricks and stones together). This would melt under enough heat, so the block would fall apart and drop.
Uses
Solar furnace* (12 power):

Compact Beam* (16 power):

*Both images show lens blocks spaced one apart, it would be a lot more space efficient if they were like this:

Other uses:
-Lava/glowstone furnace
-Fully automatic sugarcane farm (more space efficient than using pistons)
-Automatic cobblestone factory
-Automatic smoothstone factory (with hoppers putting cobblestone from the cobble factory in furnaces that are powered by lens blocks)
-Tree farm (only with auto-sapling plant from chopped trees)
-Tripwires
-Pixel art/things you don't want to cover in torches, if beam is visible maybe not at 1-level for this reason
-Light traps
-Fire traps
-Beam could be used aesthetically for things such as lighthouse beams
-Cacti farms without close-block glitch
-Sand/gravel traps (destroy block under sand/gravel)
-Hidden traps/doors in walls (just have some lens blocks destroy part of the wall)
-Long distance "transmission"
Any other ideas?
The Lens Block banner I made (if someone has another one/idea for another one, please post)
Looks like this:

Copy and paste this:
[url=http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=274400][img]http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/8351/20110410150808.png[/img][/url]
GTG3000's Banner:

Copy and paste this:
[url=http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=274400/][img]http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/204/lensbanner1.png[/img][/url]
List of possibilities
(Blue=Approved)
-Filtered (colored) light through stained glass/gem blocks (if possible)
-Beams could travel more than 16 meters (Approved for 64 meters).
-Light level above 16? Might be hard to code
-Light sensors? (approved)
-Redstone blocks, if added, might be an input
-Only destroy a few blocks, including cobblestone and excluding smoothstone, to prevent mining beams. (approved)
-Pigs killed by it might drop cooked pork (Already implemented, because flaming pigs drop cooked pork, and lens blocks catch them on fire)
Any other ideas?
Past Poll Results

Although none of the "No"s were explained, many explained the "Yes, but with a few changes", I will now have a poll asking which of these changes people want.

As you can see here, the community is generally against lens blocks being able to destroy smoothstone. I have removed that part. It seems that people want lens blocks to damage mobs at the levels they are now, so I'll keep that there. I'll add in sensor blocks now.

Now the 3/4 speed has been changed to full speed, lens blocks damage mobs 3x at level 16 and zombies and skeletons in lens block light burn as if they were in sunlight.
Latest Poll:

Now beams will travel 64 blocks.
Current Topic
Lantern blocks: Use the light beam mechanic to project light in all 6 directions. Here is a picture:
As you can see in the picture, lantern blocks project light onto the walls, ceiling, and floor better than glowstone, even in small areas. With higher ceilings glowstone blocks project little light onto the floor, but lantern blocks will shed just as much light on the floor as they do here for up to 64 blocks!
Anyone have any ideas on crafting, different kinds of lantern blocks, or textures? I'm open to all ideas!
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Please feel free to comment! Make sure to press the +1 button at the bottom right corner of the post to show your support!
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