u/alienfelix

I keep getting asked how I create renders from my world so I thought I would make a guide! This also isn't exclusively to create isometric renders, you can basically create any render you want using the program I'll mention. *This process could also work for other golden/silver age versions of the game, but I've only ever used Beta 1.7.3!

Step 0: Make sure your Beta world is in the standard beta world format! I'm sure for many players this won't be an issue, but atleast for me, I play on Beta Unleashed 2.x, which converts the world to a different format. For anyone else playing Beta Unleashed, clicking 'Edit' with your world selected and then clicking 'Convert to McRegion' will change it back to a regular beta world format.

Step 1: Create a release version 1.6.4 instance of Minecraft using the new launcher.

Step 2: Copy your beta save file into the saves folder of the new 1.6.4 Minecraft instance.

Step 3: Launch the new Minecraft 1.6.4 instance and load your beta save file. This will convert the world format and update it to 1.6.4.

Step 4: Download Chunky, the program used to create the renders from your world. The installation process will be different depending on your computer.

Step 5 (optional): Download Amulet, or any other 1.6.4 compatible world editing program that allows you to change biomes. When converting the world from beta to 1.6.4, the old beta biomes will get overwritten with new ones and the foliage colours of your world will likely change. Using a program like Amulet, you can re-paint the biomes for sections of your world so that the foliage colours will be correct in renders. This step is optional if you do not care about biome foliage colours.

Step 6: Load your converted 1.6.4 format save file into Chunky and make some renders! Chunky allows you to make lots of different styles of renders (Isometric, Fisheye, Tilt-shift, etc.) which just allows you to show off your builds in fun and interesting ways!

Some extra info that might be helpful:

There may be easier ways to do world conversion and biome editing but this is what has worked for me. I personally play on an Apple Silicon Mac, which makes using legacy programs quite difficult, so if I can get it to work on Mac it'll probably be way easier on Windows!

The reason for using version 1.6.4 is to do with how far forward you can update beta world formats, but truth be told I can't exactly remember all the specifics, as I researched and learnt how to do this quite a few months ago now. I seem to remember testing a few different 1.6.x versions and 1.6.4 is what worked for me.

I've also found Chunky can crash quite easily if you change too many parameters too quickly and don't give the program enough time to load. This may well be a mac-specific problem, but whenever I try and change the angle of the lighting too quickly or make any other change without giving it time to load, the spinning wheel of loading comes up and essentially bricks the program, with the only way to resolve it being to shut down the program entirely and reload it. This can be quite frustrating as it means you have to reload the world chunks into the program again and re setup your photo composition and lighting etc., which can take a bit of time.

This is really an extension of my previous post, but I've built so much in this area I couldn't fit it all in one post! I've still had to miss out screenshots I couldn't fit in the post limit :,)

The Italian town in my previous post is called 'Perenne', but this post focuses more on what I've called the 'South Estate' (this whole area is in the south of my world).

The main inspiration for this build was the Vatican, and I wanted to have lots of corridors and rooms all melded together in a seemingly endless maze. I was also inspired by some other Italian architecture, most obviously the main tower, which is a copy of the tower in St Marks square, Venice, although there's also a little recreation of the Sistine Chapel in there too!

This area of the world is about 2500 blocks south of the main part of my world, so I created a train station in the style of a greek temple because I think it looked cool framed on the island across the sea from the South Estate.

One of my favorite things about this area are all the fields with trees, which look really cool when viewed through the windows of buildings, so I tried to add some gifs in to give a sense of this (sorry for the quality!).

Funnily enough, the coastal town I built was really only meant as a scenic backdrop to the South Estate, but I quite like how its become its own little area :D

A small Italian inspired coastal town, with a town square, monastery on a hill, outdoor amphitheatre, orchard and port. Surrounded by large fields with rows of trees which I think add a cool Mediterranean atmosphere to the area!

The ships are a design by Jack Kerwood on youtube, who I think has the best looking sailing ships I've seen built in beta! His world is super cool and you should definitely check it out.

I've got another large build in this area that I'll probably share this weekend too :D