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Minetest - Free Open Source Minecraft

Minetest is a construction game inspired by InfiniminerMinecraft and similar games where players can create and destroy various types of blocks in a LEGO-like three-dimensional world.

Here's a few key Minetest facts:

open source - GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL)
download for on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and Android
• play a single player game
• explore the collection of blocks and items
• have fun crafting and smelting
• beware of the hostile mobs
• apply texture packs for blocks, items and mobs
• join a multi-player game on a Minetest server
• experiment with downloadable mods
host your own server
create your own texture packs
create your own mods in in C++ or Lua
compile Minetest from source

See more Minecraft posts.

Python Turtle Graphics for 3D Printing

As we've seen in previous posts on Turtle Patterns and Turtle Shapes moving your turtle around the screen is done by simple dictional commands and angled turns.

A similar process happens in 3D printing with DIY plastic extrusion hardware, such as Rep Rap, RepRap Pro and Makerbot.

Here the 3D printing extrusion nozzle is moved in a particular direction and for a specific length, before it halts and waits for a new instructions.

So, we could use Python Turtle code to simulate a 3D printing layer. Then put it into a repeating loop to create multiple layers. This loop could subtly change the direction and length commands to build quite complex and intricate shapes.

Here's a video of a Turtle code driven 3D printer in action.

The video was part of this 3D Printing presentation at the IPSJ Summer Programming Symposium in 2014.

The presentation also included a 3D Printer Turtle Graphics Python module and a code example of the module in use.

More Raspberry Pi Python Coding Tutorials