Compass Rose

Introduction

This tutorial shows you how to create words and letters (text) from blocks. The text is placed in the Minecraft world at a position you choose using ||blocks:print||. The object you will make is called a compass rose. This is a 2D marker showing the North, South, East, and West directions. In the last step, you will add another dimension to the compass rose to show the Up and Down directions.

Step 1

Put in an ||player:on chat command|| and rename it to compassrose.

player.onChat("compassrose", function () {
})

Step 2

Insert a ||blocks:print|| into your chat command. Change “HELLO” to “E”. Change the block from Grass to Glowstone.

player.onChat("compassrose", function () {
    blocks.print(
    "E",
    GLOWSTONE,
    pos(0, 0, 0),
    WEST
    )
})

Step 3

Go to Minecraft, press t to open the chat and enter compassrose.

The ||blocks:print|| will place a big “E” in the Minecraft world at your current position.

Step 4

Change the position to ~20 ~0 ~0 so that ||blocks:print|| places the “E” letter 20 blocks East of your current position.

The 1st number, x of a position represents the East/West location. A positive value goes East, negative goes west.

The ~ symbol means that the position is relative to the player position rather than to the world. Thus, ~20 ~0 ~0 means 20 blocks East of the player position.

player.onChat("compassrose", function () {
    blocks.print(
        "E",
        GLOWSTONE,
        pos(20, 0, 0),
        WEST
    )
})

Step 5

Go to Minecraft and enter compassrose in the chat.

The “E” letter is now printed 20 blocks away.

Step 6

Put in another ||blocks:print|| to show “W” 20 blocks West. Try it in Minecraft.

West goes negative so the position is ~-20 ~0 ~0. Don’t move until all letters are printed!.

player.onChat("compassrose", function () {
    blocks.print(
        "E",
        GLOWSTONE,
        pos(20, 0, 0),
        WEST
    )
    blocks.print(
        "W",
        GLOWSTONE,
        pos(-20, 0, 0),
        WEST
    )
})

Step 7

Insert more ||blocks:print|| to show “N” 20 blocks North, “S” 20 blocks South. Try it in Minecraft.

The 3rd number, z, of the is the South/North coordinate. A positive value goes South, a negative value goes North.

    blocks.print(
        "N",
        GLOWSTONE,
        pos(0, 0, -20),
        WEST
    )
    blocks.print(
        "S",
        GLOWSTONE,
        pos(0, 0, 20),
        WEST
    )

Step 8

Inser more ||blocks:print|| to show “U” 20 blocks Up, “D” 20 blocks Down. Try it in Minecraft.

The 2nd number, y, of the position is the Up/Down elevation. A positive value goes Up, a negative value goes Down.

    blocks.print(
        "U",
        GLOWSTONE,
        pos(0, 20, 0),
        WEST
    )
    blocks.print(
        "D",
        GLOWSTONE,
        pos(0, -20, 0),
        WEST
    )