If you’ve ever played with Lego (and who hasn’t?) as an adult, you’ve inevitably looked at the tiny bits of plastic in your hand and thought, Damn, these things are small. That’s what Arnon Rosan thought, anyway. “You get older,” he says, “and you kinda wish you had a life-size version of that.” Most people might stop at fantasizing about life-size building blocks, but not Rosan. Rosan is the founder of EverBlock, a modular system of full-scale plastic blocks that, like Lego, stack atop each another and lock together with raised lugs. But EverBlock is more tool than toy. You can use the polypropylene blocks to build fully-functioning furniture and structures. They come in 14 colors and three sizes: full (one foot long), half (six inches), and quarter (three inches), and vary in weight from two pounds (full size) to a quarter pound. EverBlocks assemble more or less like any other modular building blocks, but on a larger scale. But as the blocks get bigger, building with them gets more complicated.
“When we first started, I envisioned that people would know instinctively how to build with them,” Rosan says. That wasn’t the case. In miniature scale, it’s easy to gain perspective on how blocks fit together. At life-size scale, it gets more challenging. “People start to worry about stability,” he says. It’s no big deal if your 3-inch wall topples, but it is a problem if your 15-foot wall does. The key is to take lessons from Lego, and stack the blocks like bricks, staggering them so a brick covers the seam of the two below it. Each block also has at least one channel that allows power cables, reinforcing wooden dowels, or LED strips to snake through as a means of illuminating or stabilizing larger structures. Rosan created EverBlock as a way of easily constructing furniture like couches and coffee tables, but he quickly realized the big blocks have applications far beyond that. People have built house-like structures, room dividers, and art. The product’s website features a virtual builder tool people can use to create designs and determine how many bricks they’ll need.
The company is compiling a library of instructions guiding people through some designs. When Rosan outlines his desire to expand EverBlock to include windows and doors, it’s easy to see it becoming a new substrate for construction. That’s not a bad idea. Like all modular systems, EverBlock’s real benefit is in its efficiency. But with just three block versions, there are limitations to what you can build with the blocks. Don’t expect a life-size version of Lego’s architecture series just yet (though how cool would that be). Still, when you need to construct something quickly, something like this could be a smart solution. Think about emergency shelters: “You could drop two pallets of these by helicopter and the next thing you know you have a solid, rigid structure,” says Rosan. It’s an intriguing thought and a new play on prefab, modular housing. Will we one day be the IRL version of Emmet Brickowski, wandering cities built from plastic bricks? Probably not, but a girl can dream.
This article is about the various blocks found in Minecraft. For the blocking with swords or shields that reduces damage when performed, see Blocking. Blocks are the basic units of structure in Minecraft. Together, solid blocks and liquid blocks build up the in-game environment and can be harvested and utilized in various fashions. Some blocks, such as dirt and sandstone, are opaque, while other blocks, such as glass and ice, are transparent. Some blocks, such as torches and glowstone, will emit light. The amount of light they emit varies widely; see this table of light values for further information. Most opaque blocks will completely block light, while transparent blocks either have no effect on light or simply diffuse it. Almost all blocks will ignore gravity, with the exception of sand, red sand, gravel, anvils, dragon eggs, concrete powder and, in Pocket Edition, layer snow. Main article: Solid block § Height Most solid blocks are 1 meter high, but certain blocks (especially slabs and stairs) have non-standard block heights.
A player can automatically step up from a lower to a higher height, if the difference is at most 0.6 (3⁄5) of a block. The textures on the faces of blocks are 16×16 pixels. Most blocks are proportionately one cubic meter by default, but their shape can be changed using models. Most blocks also have static textures, though water, lava, Nether portal, End portal, End gateway, fire, sea lantern, command block, prismarine, and magma blocks are animated. Using resource packs, the player can change the textures and resolution of blocks, including whether their texture is animated. They can also change the shapes of blocks using models and the size of blocks to any size with equal width and height, though sizes that are a power of two tend to work better. Natural blocks are generated as part of the terrain in the Overworld, the Nether and the End. These also include ores and liquids. These blocks are generated as part of structures. Plants are Minecraft's representation of plant life.
Most of them can grow and be farmed to obtain resources. Manufactured blocks can be obtained via crafting or smelting. Utility blocks are used for a wide variety of specific purposes that are helpful to the player. Mechanisms can be used to perform a wide range of tasks. These blocks can only be accessed within the Creative mode inventory. These blocks can only be accessed with the use of commands, such as /give. These blocks can only be accessed in Pocket Edition and Windows 10 Edition.Blocks in this image are no longer available in the current Minecraft version, except farmland and mob spawner. Technical blocks are blocks whose main functions are strictly tied to the usage of other blocks. They cannot be acquired through normal gameplay, most of them cannot be obtained with commands, but other ones require commands or mods to obtain. They serve various purposes during events within the game. If acquired, they will usually have a missing texture. Issues relating to “Block” are maintained on the issue tracker.