I saw someones self building castle and it got me interested in self building structures. My eventual goal is to make an economical version that I can build quickly that will expand out to provide a nice base of operations. I'm hoping to make use of these when going out to explore new lands.
I'll start with my earlier generations and make my way to my latest generations of self building structures, so scroll down to see more advanced versions and a video. I'll use the second post to show my moving pixel art contraptions.
1st Generation Self Building Structure
Here's a picture of my 1st generation:
While making this a creeper exploded near me and took out 5 pistons, I became much more paranoid after that and started mostly working during the day and sleeping at night, as well as placing crazy amounts of torches around.
It uses a single cobblestone generator feed and pistons channel it all over the place to create the giant cube. It uses a single pulse generator with special delayers at the corners, to power the entire thing. It uses around 44 pistons.
After making this my main concern was improving the speed and having some walkable surface space, which led to my 2nd generation.
2nd Generation Self Building Structure
Here's a picture of my 2nd generation:
This generation uses a 5 wide line of cobblestone generators, and channels them into a 5x12 flat surface, then a 5x5 pad of pistons pushes up a 5x5x12 tower of cobblestone, for a total of 35 pistons. It uses 3 separate pulse generators, 1 for each of the main piston systems.
After making this my main concern was still more surface space that was safer, but I also wanted the redstone workings to be more internalized and use fewer pulse generators, which led to my 3rd generation.
3rd Generation Self Building Structure
Here's a picture of my 3rd generation:
This generation was a beast, it requires 24 lava sources to create its 28 cobblestone generators. It uses 56 pistons in total to create the cobblestone and channel it around. It uses a single pulse generator, located under the structure.
After making this my main concern was the high lava source requirement, because moving 24 buckets of lava really didn't appeal to me, which led to my 4th generation. Another concern I have with this generation is that spiders can get to the surface area, and skeletons could probably shoot me on it as well, and I didn't have a good way of getting onto the surface area, but those are concerns I didn't worry about until my 5th generation.
4th Generation Self Building Structure
Here's a picture of my 4th generation:
I was quite happy with the 4th generations cobblestone generator, as it uses a single lava source to power 20 cobblestone generator, which is huge improvement over my 3rd generation. The main purpose of this design was to make it more economical, as moving a ton of lava buckets around is a pain. I also like how it looks over my previous generations as they tended to be too flat and boxy. It uses 20 pistons total.
After making this I was back to wanting a lot more safe surface area, which led to my 5th generation.
5th Generation Self Building Structure
My most recent self building structure, its my 5th generation of self building structure.
Here's a video of one test (not very good quality, my video skills aren't amazing lol):
The test doesn't go perfectly, something odd happened and 2 pistons got into the cobblestone flow, I'm not sure if the sticky pistons retracted too fast and lost them (which I've seen before but didn't happen in testing with the current pulser I'm using) or if the cobblestone flow interacted strangely with the pistons power source or some other thing I haven't accounted for.
Here's a picture of this structure at different stages of completion:
My 5th generation is a modified version of my 4th generation self building structure, in fact the top right part of the picture labelled Cobblestone generator is nearly identical to my 4th generation.
It's powered by 2 pulsers, one underneath for the cobblestone generator (can be placed directly under but I did it to the side for testing purposes), and one inside to power the channelers. I'd liked to have had only 1 pulser, but I couldn't figure out a good way of getting a redstone signal through a layer of lava. It uses 44 pistons total, 12 of which are sticky pistons.
The main change I made was to add a cobblestone channeller to the top which channels the cobblestone outwards to create more surface area. The pattern it creates was chosen due to what I could do while keeping all the pistons and redstone within the cobblestone frame. The top of the structure is structured so that spiders can't climb up top, and there's gaps that allow a ladder to be placed allowing a player to get up easily.
So that's where I'm at with Self Building Structures, I'm not sure what I'll do for 6th generation yet, tho I'm considering a piston that gets rotated around a 12x12 square plain by 4 other pistons and filler, in order to save on piston requirements, tho I'm worried about how slow that will be heh.
I'm curious to hear feedback or to answer questions about how these work.
Next post will contain my Moving Pixel Art Contraptions once I can make up the post.
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Still no infinite strongholds D:
I've been wanting to make some giant billboards to place pixel art on, and after using pistons a bit, I came up with a fun way to make some.
The idea is simple, to have a 4 walled building that not only displays pixel art, but also rotates them around the structure so even if you stay on one side of it, you'll eventually get to see all 4 pictures from that location.
I'll start off with my 1st, and after will be the second, which has a video (horrible quality, first attempt at making a video).
1st Generation Moving Pixel Art Contraption
Here's 2 pictures of my 1st generation:
and after one movement:
This generation was mainly a test of the concept. My goal was to make a much larger version, but I wanted to make sure the idea was sound first.
It worked out well, the trickiest part was getting all 4 of the pistons of one column to operate together, and having each column to operate one at a time in the proper order was interesting as well.
This generation displays 4 3x4 pictures, uses 4 columns of 4 pistons each to move the pictures around, and 4 furnaces per column to contain the stream of wool. The total picture area (if all 4 walls considered together) is 15x4, requiring 60 wool.
2nd Generation Moving Pixel Art Contraption
Here's a video of my most recent Moving Pixel Art Contraption (horrible video quality):
Due to one piston misbehaving earlier the original pixel art I made had one line messed up, and I hadn't fixed it when I made the video.
Here's a picture of the machine closer up, showing one of the pixel art pictures you don't see in the video:
I see a wolf face when I look at that pixel art lol, tho it's kind of like an inkblot so I'm sure others see different things.
The pixel art was rushed as I was trying to test it out.
This generation displays 4 10x8 pictures, uses 4 columns of 8 pistons each to move the pictures around, and 8 furnaces per column to contain the wool. The total picture area is 43x8 for a total of 344 wool.
The main thing I'm hoping to do for a next generation is to improve the speed at which it moves the pictures.
i like the self building 5th generation, would also love to see the full sized pixel art. very nice showing the evolution
Thanks.
By full sized pixel art do you mean all 4 pictures together? I didn't make them related, so they're just 4 random individual pixel art pictures I made on the spot to test with, I'm not even sure what they are, I call them the sun, fire, cherry, and inkblot because that's my best guess heh.
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Still no infinite strongholds D:
Thanks.
By full sized pixel art do you mean all 4 pictures together? I didn't make them related, so they're just 4 random individual pixel art pictures I made on the spot to test with, I'm not even sure what they are, I call them the sun, fire, cherry, and inkblot because that's my best guess heh.
I mean like 14 by alot. basically a giant 14 by 14 skyscraper coverd in pixel art
I mean like 14 by alot. basically a giant 14 by 14 skyscraper coverd in pixel art
I was thinking about it, and you can actually make it even bigger. The limit to each section is 11 or 12 wide and however tall, but rather than channeling the flow 90 degrees, you can shift it 1 block 90 degrees, then another -90 degrees back to normal, and continue on its way, so you could have an infinitely long wall too heh.
I might even make a more circular setup with a lot of sections, tho finding a good spot for it might be hard, and my current wool reserves might limit it heh.
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Still no infinite strongholds D:
Dont quite understand how going on forever would work but if you could post a pic that would be awesome
Oh, I just mean the same way I bend it once around the corner, I'd just bend it back again the other way, so it'd continue going the same way, that way you could make a building as big as you like.
Will make a pic of it if I make it.
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Evidence suggests that many people quote posts without reading them in their entirety.
Still no infinite strongholds D:
Oh, I just mean the same way I bend it once around the corner, I'd just bend it back again the other way, so it'd continue going the same way, that way you could make a building as big as you like.
Will make a pic of it if I make it.
i have been trying this and cant get it to work. A pic would be much appreciated
basically once i make the turn pistons start to get in the way of cobble flow
Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but this is what I meant:
it keeps the line going an extra 12 blocks by bending the flow once towards the furnace, which it stops at (can't push furnaces) and then the other piston continues the flow of cobblestone or wool on its way in the same direction.
That's just an example for 1 high, to make a taller version would be pretty much the same thing stacked on top, but requires different wiring as you go up.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Evidence suggests that many people quote posts without reading them in their entirety.
Still no infinite strongholds D:
I saw someones self building castle and it got me interested in self building structures. My eventual goal is to make an economical version that I can build quickly that will expand out to provide a nice base of operations. I'm hoping to make use of these when going out to explore new lands.
I'll start with my earlier generations and make my way to my latest generations of self building structures, so scroll down to see more advanced versions and a video. I'll use the second post to show my moving pixel art contraptions.
1st Generation Self Building Structure
Here's a picture of my 1st generation:
While making this a creeper exploded near me and took out 5 pistons, I became much more paranoid after that and started mostly working during the day and sleeping at night, as well as placing crazy amounts of torches around.
It uses a single cobblestone generator feed and pistons channel it all over the place to create the giant cube. It uses a single pulse generator with special delayers at the corners, to power the entire thing. It uses around 44 pistons.
After making this my main concern was improving the speed and having some walkable surface space, which led to my 2nd generation.
2nd Generation Self Building Structure
Here's a picture of my 2nd generation:
This generation uses a 5 wide line of cobblestone generators, and channels them into a 5x12 flat surface, then a 5x5 pad of pistons pushes up a 5x5x12 tower of cobblestone, for a total of 35 pistons. It uses 3 separate pulse generators, 1 for each of the main piston systems.
After making this my main concern was still more surface space that was safer, but I also wanted the redstone workings to be more internalized and use fewer pulse generators, which led to my 3rd generation.
3rd Generation Self Building Structure
Here's a picture of my 3rd generation:
This generation was a beast, it requires 24 lava sources to create its 28 cobblestone generators. It uses 56 pistons in total to create the cobblestone and channel it around. It uses a single pulse generator, located under the structure.
After making this my main concern was the high lava source requirement, because moving 24 buckets of lava really didn't appeal to me, which led to my 4th generation. Another concern I have with this generation is that spiders can get to the surface area, and skeletons could probably shoot me on it as well, and I didn't have a good way of getting onto the surface area, but those are concerns I didn't worry about until my 5th generation.
4th Generation Self Building Structure
Here's a picture of my 4th generation:
I was quite happy with the 4th generations cobblestone generator, as it uses a single lava source to power 20 cobblestone generator, which is huge improvement over my 3rd generation. The main purpose of this design was to make it more economical, as moving a ton of lava buckets around is a pain. I also like how it looks over my previous generations as they tended to be too flat and boxy. It uses 20 pistons total.
After making this I was back to wanting a lot more safe surface area, which led to my 5th generation.
5th Generation Self Building Structure
My most recent self building structure, its my 5th generation of self building structure.
Here's a video of one test (not very good quality, my video skills aren't amazing lol):
The test doesn't go perfectly, something odd happened and 2 pistons got into the cobblestone flow, I'm not sure if the sticky pistons retracted too fast and lost them (which I've seen before but didn't happen in testing with the current pulser I'm using) or if the cobblestone flow interacted strangely with the pistons power source or some other thing I haven't accounted for.
Here's a picture of this structure at different stages of completion:
My 5th generation is a modified version of my 4th generation self building structure, in fact the top right part of the picture labelled Cobblestone generator is nearly identical to my 4th generation.
It's powered by 2 pulsers, one underneath for the cobblestone generator (can be placed directly under but I did it to the side for testing purposes), and one inside to power the channelers. I'd liked to have had only 1 pulser, but I couldn't figure out a good way of getting a redstone signal through a layer of lava. It uses 44 pistons total, 12 of which are sticky pistons.
The main change I made was to add a cobblestone channeller to the top which channels the cobblestone outwards to create more surface area. The pattern it creates was chosen due to what I could do while keeping all the pistons and redstone within the cobblestone frame. The top of the structure is structured so that spiders can't climb up top, and there's gaps that allow a ladder to be placed allowing a player to get up easily.
So that's where I'm at with Self Building Structures, I'm not sure what I'll do for 6th generation yet, tho I'm considering a piston that gets rotated around a 12x12 square plain by 4 other pistons and filler, in order to save on piston requirements, tho I'm worried about how slow that will be heh.
I'm curious to hear feedback or to answer questions about how these work.
Next post will contain my Moving Pixel Art Contraptions once I can make up the post.
Still no infinite strongholds D:
I've been wanting to make some giant billboards to place pixel art on, and after using pistons a bit, I came up with a fun way to make some.
The idea is simple, to have a 4 walled building that not only displays pixel art, but also rotates them around the structure so even if you stay on one side of it, you'll eventually get to see all 4 pictures from that location.
I'll start off with my 1st, and after will be the second, which has a video (horrible quality, first attempt at making a video).
1st Generation Moving Pixel Art Contraption
Here's 2 pictures of my 1st generation:
and after one movement:
This generation was mainly a test of the concept. My goal was to make a much larger version, but I wanted to make sure the idea was sound first.
It worked out well, the trickiest part was getting all 4 of the pistons of one column to operate together, and having each column to operate one at a time in the proper order was interesting as well.
This generation displays 4 3x4 pictures, uses 4 columns of 4 pistons each to move the pictures around, and 4 furnaces per column to contain the stream of wool. The total picture area (if all 4 walls considered together) is 15x4, requiring 60 wool.
2nd Generation Moving Pixel Art Contraption
Here's a video of my most recent Moving Pixel Art Contraption (horrible video quality):
Due to one piston misbehaving earlier the original pixel art I made had one line messed up, and I hadn't fixed it when I made the video.
Here's a picture of the machine closer up, showing one of the pixel art pictures you don't see in the video:
I see a wolf face when I look at that pixel art lol, tho it's kind of like an inkblot so I'm sure others see different things.
The pixel art was rushed as I was trying to test it out.
This generation displays 4 10x8 pictures, uses 4 columns of 8 pistons each to move the pictures around, and 8 furnaces per column to contain the wool. The total picture area is 43x8 for a total of 344 wool.
The main thing I'm hoping to do for a next generation is to improve the speed at which it moves the pictures.
Still no infinite strongholds D:
Thanks.
By full sized pixel art do you mean all 4 pictures together? I didn't make them related, so they're just 4 random individual pixel art pictures I made on the spot to test with, I'm not even sure what they are, I call them the sun, fire, cherry, and inkblot because that's my best guess heh.
Still no infinite strongholds D:
I mean like 14 by alot. basically a giant 14 by 14 skyscraper coverd in pixel art
I was thinking about it, and you can actually make it even bigger. The limit to each section is 11 or 12 wide and however tall, but rather than channeling the flow 90 degrees, you can shift it 1 block 90 degrees, then another -90 degrees back to normal, and continue on its way, so you could have an infinitely long wall too heh.
I might even make a more circular setup with a lot of sections, tho finding a good spot for it might be hard, and my current wool reserves might limit it heh.
Still no infinite strongholds D:
Oh, I just mean the same way I bend it once around the corner, I'd just bend it back again the other way, so it'd continue going the same way, that way you could make a building as big as you like.
Will make a pic of it if I make it.
Still no infinite strongholds D:
i have been trying this and cant get it to work. A pic would be much appreciated
basically once i make the turn pistons start to get in the way of cobble flow
it keeps the line going an extra 12 blocks by bending the flow once towards the furnace, which it stops at (can't push furnaces) and then the other piston continues the flow of cobblestone or wool on its way in the same direction.
That's just an example for 1 high, to make a taller version would be pretty much the same thing stacked on top, but requires different wiring as you go up.
Still no infinite strongholds D: