Mineways

With the free Mineways program you can interactively select a model from a Minecraft world map and have a 3D printing service make the model real. You don't need a 3D printer, and it's easy to upload and buy models - really! Prices range from $5 to $500, depending on size. Or, just enjoy viewing and rendering your creation in a different way. Below are some 3D prints (the village on the far right predates Mineways, but is made on the same type of printer); click on an image to see the full series, or visit the Mineways Flickr group for the whole set:

Check out the contest: First prize is a $630 3D print of your choice, plus five $50 prizes! It's a random drawing, so no skill required, nor do you need to have anything built right now. Anyone in the United States can enter (not just Curse Premium members, who can enter online). Just snail-mail them the following information (here's a version ready to send as a postcard or put in an envelope) by March 4th, 2012:

Full name
Address
Daytime phone number
Email address
Date of birth
Curse.com account name (just the free registration, it's what you use to login to the Minecraft forums)

to:

Curse, Inc.,
Minecraft 3D Print Giveaway,
351 California Street, Suite 1450,
San Francisco, CA 94104

Super-fast quickstart: Download and unzip Mineways to some directory, like the desktop. Double-click mineways.exe to run. Use "File | Open World" to select a world. Use the left mouse button to drag the map around, use the mousewheel to zoom. Drag the right mouse button to select an area on the map and to adjust this rectangle. Optionally use the middle mouse button to select a depth, or "]" and "[" keys to change this bottom depth. Export the model for 3D printing by "File | Export Model for 3D Printing..." - just hit "OK" on the Options dialog.

Exporting creates a .wrl, .png, and .zip file. To preview your model, install the free SAP Visual Enterprise Viewer Complete, then view your model by double-clicking the .wrl file. If you want to 3D print your model, create a free Shapeways account and upload the .zip file. Once the model is processed by Shapeways (a few minutes), you can order it - make sure to select "colored sandstone" for the material. As an example, here's my non-profit store. Note that no part of this process will cost you anything, unless you actually order something.

L'Effie Tower. From left to right the images are: in Minecraft, selected in Mineways, previewed with the SAP Viewer Complete, delivered from Shapeways, and under glass. Click on an image for more about it.

Subscribe to Mineways - only for important announcements, such as new version releases. Visit this group.

Email:

The most useful links:

Download the latest Windows version of Mineways (version 1.15, updated 2/15/2012). The following texture pack terrain PNG files are included for use with Mineways ("File | Set terrain.png for export"), by permission of their creators (thanks!) - go here to see previews:
- Coterie Craft by Cpt. Corn
- DokuCraft by Hickerydickery
- Misa's Realistic Texture Pack by Misa
Download v1.15 for Mac - ported to the Mac OS X platform by Psp4804 by using WINE. You must use the Update:Uninstall.command file in this download to remove any previous version before installing. This program requires X11 for Mac OS X, which comes with the xcode tools, as found on the Mac OS X Install DVD. How to install xcode can be found here. To load your world, you need to navigate to ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft/saves/ and select your save.
Video Playlist - includes tutorials, such as a quick run through, a walkthrough of the basics, and more advanced methods, like how to turn off the export of glass blocks.
The main Mineways page - go here for an in-depth version of this page, including source code download, Linux version advice, etc.

Here are some of my favorites on Shapeways by other people:

From the Mineways Flickr pool; click on a photo to see more: