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Game Editing => General Content Creation => Topic started by: kat on September 23, 2014, 06:39:32 PM

Title: [Minecraft] how tall is the Minecraft player in Blender
Post by: kat on September 23, 2014, 06:39:32 PM


Download *.blend Files
For Blender 2.8 and newer
 - Minecraft Character ref for Blender 2.8+ (https://www.katsbits.com/files/tutorials/katsbits - minecraft (updated).zip)
For Blender 2.79 and below
 - katsbits_minecraft-character.zip (https://www.katsbits.com/files/tutorials/katsbits_minecraft-character.zip)
 - katsbits_minecraft-size-guide.zip (https://www.katsbits.com/files/tutorials/katsbits_minecraft-size-guide.zip)

How tall is the Minecraft Player
It depends how the unit of measurement (https://www.katsbits.com/tutorials/blender/metric-imperial-units.php) is defined. By default the blocks that make up the Minecraft world are regarded as being one cubic metre in size, and textured with a 16 x 16 pixel image (http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Blocks). This means each pixel, at face value, represents 6.25 centimetres exactly (100cm / 16 = 6.25cm). So;
With this unit of measurement calculated it's then possible to work out Minecrafts player size based on the pixel distribution of the texture assigned to it. Again at face value, the 64 x 32 pixel PNG breaks down to (in pixels);
And using the above calculated unit of measurement, in centimetre this represents ([units] x 6.25cm = [n]);
For a total height of exactly 2m (200cm), the height of two building blocks (as seen in-game, notwithstanding camera angle).
*It's important to note these measurements assume textures and their respective distribution across surfaces is uniform for all world and character objects alike, i.e. whilst the calculations may be correct in a absolute sense, it does not necessarily mean they relate to the character actually being the determined height in-game because, as a dynamic entity, it could be being resized/rescaled in-game for any manner of reasons to look slightly shorter or larger even though its underlying dimensions are fixed (similar to the way Blender can 'Scale' an object whilst leaving its underlying dimensions untouched).

Problems with Minecraft character height in Blender
Having worked out the characters height logically per the above, it is however at odds with other aspects of the game that suggest slightly different dimensions when used to determine player height in Blender.

For example, the characters hitbox (http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Player#Trivia) - the area used to define the players volume for collision/interaction with objects in the world -  is given as being 1.8m high by 0.6m wide by 0.6m deep (1.8m x 0.6m x 0.6m - based on console output), making is slightly shorter and less wide than the general dimensions of the character. Whilst not specifically meaningful on it's own, using this information to define character height can be problematic as a result - the player is too short and slightly too wide.

Similarly, the players eye-line (http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Player#Trivia) (the cameras POV) is defined (again) by console coordinates as being 1.62 metres from the ground. In terms of pixels measurements however, the eyes occupy the fourth row up from the bottom of the head and are actually 168.75cm from absolute ground level, and 25cm from the top of the head (occupying a row between the two and just below the middle of the head, of 6.25cm high). Similarly using this data to determine Minecrafts player height can be problematic, leading again to it being slightly shorter than the above two metres.


Minecrafts building blocks are regarded as being one cubic metre (left), two of which approximate the height of the player. Using the way textures are assigned and their relative pixel density, it's possible to work out just how large the player should be in Blender - the hitbox (shown right) is often cited as a height reference but results in a character that's a little too short compared to ingame

Minecraft Player height in Blender
For the purpose of making animated scenes and other Minecraft related content in Blender then, there are a number of ways to go about sizing the character in relation to other objects in a Scene. The most straightforward is to translate pixel dimensions and numbers directly into Blender Units. This will work so long as other content is then appropriately adjusted and proportioned, i.e. if the player is 32 pixels high, in Blender this can be interpreted as 32 Blender units or 3.2 Blender units etc. (depending on where the decimal should be placed if used), making a world block half that at 16 or 1.6 units cubed. However, doing this can become confusing if Blenders Grid (https://www.katsbits.com/tutorials/blender/grid-settings.php) is not set to use different "Subdivisions" and "Scale" which by default is using 10 subdivisions - in relation to the former, the Grid might be better set up akin to content production for BSP idtech/UDK type editing so "Subdivisions:8" and "Scale:8" might provide better grid arrangements than the defaults (although each block representing one metre, but being subdivided by 16 does make for an odd combination).


When Minecraft measurement is translated directly into Blender units it can mean the resulting character being extremely large (shown right). Using a lesser unit size, centimetres for example, the character is more reasonably sized relative to the Scene (shown middle) but is technically a little too tall to work exactly with other items (world blocks being 1 x 1 x 1 for example). Whereas once the correct unit size has been determined (shown left) the result fits perfectly within context (but does mean a direct 1:1 conversion of units isn't possible and some math needs to be used)

Character Skin info & generic templates
Default texture sheet for a typical Minecraft character is 64 pixels high by 32 pixels wide (64 x 32) in PNG format (with transparency where required).

Additional Resources
https://minecraft.net/community (https://minecraft.net/community) (official resources page)
http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/The_Player (http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/The_Player) (official Wiki)
http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Skin (http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Skin)
- http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/File:Char.png (http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/File:Char.png)
- http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Player#Trivia (http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Player#Trivia)
- http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Blocks (http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Blocks)