Photo via Mineways flickr

Asked how to describe the cultural significance of Minecraft, we would cite its importance as an emergent building tool, the aleatoric nature of its relatively unregulated environments, and its ability to cohere a social community along a severe ideological strain (which may or may not be a good thing).  The game has inspired millions of users (upwards 20 million) to dedicate hundred of hours of their lives to the pursuit of zombie survival adventures, and they have an array of bespoke worlds to show for it. Now they can make those virtual environments physical thanks to the powers of 3D-printing and a crafty hack–don’t the two always go together?

Mineways is a free, open-source program that reformats Minecraft models so that they can be read, colors and all, by your local 3D-printer service. Developed by “computer graphics guy” Eric Haines, the program allows users to upload and share fragments of their Minecraft maps and all their other pixelated creations, while offering players several options to further edit and customize their models. Floating objects or other irregularities can be easily detected and deleted, colors can be changed or swapped, and building features can be simplified to bring down the printing fees, which, according to Haines’ preliminary estimations based on the size of the model, range from the reasonable ($25) to the exorbitant ($650). You can visit the Mineways shop on Shapeways to browse Haines’ collection, which includes an Eiffel Tower, a couple of castles, and a pretty impressive rendition of Mega Man. Though that Star Destroyer looks pretty great to us.

Star Wars Minecraft World, via

[via The Verge]