Step 1: Getting started

First off, I would like to apologize for the downtime I've had. I had to take care of a few personal affairs that took priority over my work.
Applying for a job and whatnot.
But now I'll have a bit of time to work on the tool.

I did however have the time to think about "how" I'm going to create this tool.
And I've decided to create the model importer first. It'll allow me to test various models later on, hopefully catching some bugs in the early process.

After I've written the importer , I'll be moving on and start writing a "scene" class that will manage the 3D scene that users get to see when they have imported the model.

I'm not sure about what I'm writing next, the exporter, or the user controls.
Converting the model to voxels would be an obvious choice.

But, I'm not sure if I want the tool to be able to export the models to the maps.
Personally I think it would "break" minecraft, It's still about creating everything with your bare hands.
Merely exporting things into your map isn't creating.

That being said, I'm going to put the exporter into the "maybe" category. I'll write the tool first.

If I write all of the above. I'll have the base of my application.

That's all for now.

Project #1: MineCraft Blueprints

Not the most original name I must confess but I get to use the excuse of it being a working title.


Anyway, I've been playing some Minecraft and I must say I'm impressed at what a single person can come up with.
You could say that it inspired me to do something usefull myself. So I'll be making a tool for minecraft.
You might want to play the game before coming up with questions, just for safety's sake.


Blueprints? MineCraft? What madness is this?


What will this tool do you ask?


This tool will hopefully allow people to make more intricate structures in minecraft than ever before.
To put it a little blunt and plain. It'll convert a 3D model ( like a .OBJ ) to it's equivalent in minecraft.
It'll convert a 3D model into a voxel model, and save that voxel model to your minecraft save game ( ultimately).

I'll be using C# and propably the XNA framework for this, since I need some practice with the good old C#. Besides the XNA framework is pretty robust, and I don't have to worry too much about device managers & buffers on the DirectX side.
I could write all that stuff myself. But I think that'll be for another project or another time.
I'm also going to start off by only allowing .obj files to be opened. Since I have the most experience with obj files.


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MILESTONE #1:  The prototype
What can it do?
Load & display objects from obj files
Convert that model to a voxel model and display it
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I'll be uploading working builds along with posts I make.  But I'll store the older ones and put them on a common online portal for easy acces.
I'll also be giving away my source code whenever I feel like it

Hello World

Hi everybody ,

First question you'll be having in mind. What is this blog about?

That's probably the best question you could imagine ( though some might already get it from reading the title).

..anyway there are a few things that you might want to know about this blog.

I'm going to be creating tools. With tools I mean applications which developers or modders can use to their benefit while creating content. Tools that will improve the general work flow of a content pipeline.

By improving I mean making tools that are responsive, easy to understand and work as they should.

I'll be posting updates on the progress of my work here. I do want to note that if anybody has anything to criticise on my work, you are requested to do this in an adult fashion.

I've been considering to blog about something for a while now and I thought it was about time to get things through.

The reason I hesitated was actually pretty simple. I didn't want to be put into the same category as those people that blog about themselves ( including vBloggers ).

I don't dislike bloggers ( except for fred maybe) , some bloggers really manage to inspire others , make them view things from a new perspective and that is what I like about blogs.

My name is Gertjan Van den Broek , and I'm a 21 years old.

and I'm a Technical Artist