Builder skills

[dgdas9]

So, I always try to make things look nice,but that seens freaking impossible.


I am posting this because(I know it does not has to do with FTB) I always wanted build cool stuff but I always end with a direwolf inspired stone brick factory.Cananyone help me to be.a builder?Is that even possible?

 

[fergcraft]

Take from real life most factories are rather square but if you use the tier squares put some at different heights so that its not completely uniform

 

[dgdas9]

Take from real life most factories are rather square but if you use the tier squares put some at different heights so that its not completely uniform

What about houses, I am the worst at wooden houses

 

[fergcraft]

Ok you could use different textures to change things up a bit like the back of my house as you can see here

And here is kind of what I was talking about earlier with different squares just ignore the stone thats kind of flub on my part

 

[Saice]

My suggestion.

Make a test world.

Copy a basic villger house (you know the little 4x4 guys).

Now make a dozen copys with the rule you cant use the same blocks as any other house. IE the frist copy can not use wood since the default one uses it.

Its a silly thing but the point it to force yourself to think out side the box. When your done with this little project I'm sure you will have at least found yourself new comboations of blocks you like.

This same thing can be done with other stuff. Need a hall way. Go to a test work. Build a dozen diffrent hall ways.

After awhile you will just start to pick up little bits and ideas for these sorts of things.

Cretivness might not be something someone can teach you but it is someting your can learn and develop.

 

[dgdas9]

I will try to build something like that when I get back.

 

[JuliCash]

Microblocks, Microblocks, Microblocks...
thats all i can say... and yeah taking some inspiration from RL can never be wrong..
check out my thread, for my bases the looks is always the most important for me: http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/threads/wip-high-tier-base-bee-base.15037/#post-178839[DOUBLEPOST=1370143579]

 

[Enigmius1]

First step is to stop thinking in terms of squares and rectangles. If you want your structures to look interesting, start thinking in terms of angles and curves. A plain cylinder standing on end is immediately more interesting than a box. Give that cylinder some structural details and all of a sudden you'll wonder why you haven't been building like that all along. You can take a look at http://www.plotz.co.uk/plotz.php for some simple tools to help you get started.

The first 4 minutes or so of this video shows you one of my builds from basement to roof:

 

[KirinDave]

My suggestion.

Make a test world.

Copy a basic villger house (you know the little 4x4 guys).

Now make a dozen copys with the rule you cant use the same blocks as any other house. IE the frist copy can not use wood since the default one uses it.

Its a silly thing but the point it to force yourself to think out side the box. When your done with this little project I'm sure you will have at least found yourself new comboations of blocks you like.

This same thing can be done with other stuff. Need a hall way. Go to a test work. Build a dozen diffrent hall ways.

After awhile you will just start to pick up little bits and ideas for these sorts of things.

Cretivness might not be something someone can teach you but it is someting your can learn and develop.

For a weak builder like me, this is fantastic advice.

 

[Saice]

For a weak builder like me, this is fantastic advice.

Thanks to be really honest. I got a lot of my tricks by just doing multiple test builds. I do this often for all sorts of things. If I need a pillar I go try out few ideas in a test world. I get so much of my creativeness from just mucking around in creative with ideas.

 

[fergcraft]

I tend to through things together hence my odd house

 

[paperlord]

Ok, here are soms random tips, I found to be quite useful:

• Randomness, don't make everything straight, plain or the same. As said earlier, build buildings with different heights. Put some slightly different blocks in walls, just at random (like cracked or mossy stone bricks in a stone brick wall). This will make things look more like in the real world, because what place is perfect?
• Simplicity, this might be a personal preference. But don't overdo details or use too many materials, especially not in smaller builds. Because it will soon start to look like a collection of blobs. The bigger the build, the more details and materials you can put in.
• Blend in with the environment. Don't go looking for some planes biome to build your base! Look for places with some hills, mountains or some interesting features and build part of your base inside, next to or on top of those environmental features. For example trying to map out roads and stairs in a extreme hills biome gives some depth to your build.
• Emboss. Put some embossed features in normally flat walls. Either with halfblocks or a second layer. This could be in a repeating pattern.
• Think about a background story that could've happened to your base. And put references to different events from the story in your build. For example a sky fortress, could be enchanted by a wizard. But where did the fortress come from? If closeby, make a hole where it used to stand. Was he able to get the complete fortress to float? Or was was there a tower left behind? If so, make hallway to the the edge with some crumpled walls where the tower would have been.

• And as a last tip, look at some let's build series. Don't copy them, but you can get some general idea's for your builds. I'm watching sjin's (from the yogscast) let's build erebor, and I have to say even with only some foundations, I'm already impressed by how good it looks.

Ps. Last time I type a message like this on my phone -.-
Edit. I had to go back and make it a bit more readable on my computer.

 

[zemerick]

Some more small tips:

Contrast: use opposites to make some detail and differences. You don't want everything blending together. This applies to a lot of things. Stick something small, next to something big. Black next to white. Stone next to wood. Etc. This will help break up your blockiness as well.
Minor details: These can make all the difference. Adding a chandelier to a large main room can take it from bland to amazing pretty quickly. The tricky part is to not over-use details though.
Blending: This kind of goes against the first point, but it is just as essential. Don't let everything completely stand out. First thing you should do, is decide how your building will fit in with the current location. What type of building, and what style, would fit best with the current location?

Also, don't forget about the area. Often, big, blocky factory type building look wrong mostly because they are completely alone. Surround it with more industrial style building, surrounding those with more commercial and finally residential type structures. Remember, you aren't going to find a world class 7 story factory in the middle of the desert completely by itself. It'll have an entire city around it.

Finally: Distraction. Some buildings will naturally be a bit ugly by their nature. Build something to distract from it. For example, consider the Autostadt Kraftwerk in Wolfsburg: http://galerie.chip.de/k/architektur/architektur/autostadt_wolfsburg/890144/

A typically boring, ugly, old and blocky factory. Add some beautiful lighting though, and voila. Just remember to keep it under control. It should still fit with everything, and not clash. Tricky, but when done right, it's amazing.

Basically, just treat it like a piece of art. Thanks to the magical Minecraft physics, you don't need to engineer anything. So, do everything from an artistic side of thinking.

 

[PsionicArchon]

Let me say what I've been wanting to for quite some time. Do not copy Direwolf's building style, ever. There are already so many useful posts here, so nearly everything I'd want to say has been covered accept this: If you're aiming to build pretty things, try not to develop bad building habits in the first place (copping a Direwolf20 9x9). Beautiful scenic builds are often not entirely efficient, so if you're a stickler for function over form you may want to build your machines into your factory, which takes careful planning. I can tell you from experience, if you continue to build ugly yet functional structures you'll fall into this mindset. "Well.. all of my machines work. I can always pretty up my base later, I just wanted to be able to automatically crush and smelt everything."

There's also a streamer you might want to watch, I'm not sure if I can advertise so I wont. He does something called 'The Speedbuilding League', it's quite amusing to watch. If you check the Minecraft section on Twitch you'll find him.

 

[Mjw]

why does everyone do 9x9s? even before i started building aesthetic stuff i just took a quarry mined to bedrock and made a few floors

 

[Adonis0]

My single tip, don't use even numbers ._.
it's much harder to get good looking symmetry with the midway of your build being in-between blocks instead of there being a center block.

 

[Saice]

My single tip, don't use even numbers ._.
it's much harder to get good looking symmetry with the midway of your build being in-between blocks instead of there being a center block.

I disagree. Many good builds can be done on even numbers. And A double door looks much better then a single one. If you plan it out it does not mater if you center point is 1 block or 2x2.

 

[Adonis0]

I disagree. Many good builds can be done on even numbers. And A double door looks much better then a single one. If you plan it out it does not mater if you center point is 1 block or 2x2.

Alrighty, I accept that this is a matter of opinion
just for me, I haven't ever been able to get anything to look good with my even numbered builds, but having much more success with the odd numbered builds.

 

[PeggleFrank]

Alrighty, I accept that this is a matter of opinion
just for me, I haven't ever been able to get anything to look good with my even numbered builds, but having much more success with the odd numbered builds.

Actually, a 3x3 or 5x5 door on frames/pistons (wtf do you make a 5x5 redstone door seriously)/turtles looks much better than a double door. If you're making a bridge, like...

U = Block
G = Nothing

GUUUUUG
GUUUUUG
GUUUUUG
GGUUUGG
GGGUGGG
GGGGGGG

...this, it looks nice.
But with this...

GUUUUG
GUUUUG
GUUUUG
GGUUGG
GGGGGG
...it looks unpleasing.
Also, if the 5 wide bridge doesn't look good to you, you can do this...

GUUUUUG
GUUUUUG
GUUUUUG
GUUUUUG
GGUUUGG
GGGGGGG
and it looks much better (if you didn't like the previous one in the first place).


The same applies to doors, and some other stuff.

 

[heddendl]

Nice thread, im impressed by so many good a advices

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