The printer

Use it #

1. 1Press B, click the gear at the bottom right and turn on Printer mode (auto-build) in the Building tab. Or set a key for Toggle Printer, see Shortcuts.
2. 2Stand in or next to the build and turn the printer on.
3. 3Move through the build. The printer places what is missing around you.

• 
  On the status panel

  This icon shows while the printer is on. See Status panel.

How it works #

• It places blocks the same way Easy place does: direction, state, tools and sign text all work the same.
• It only uses blocks you carry. In creative it uses any block.
• It stays within the Printer reach you set, 4 blocks by default.
• It builds layer by layer from the bottom up. In each layer it places full blocks first, then stairs, slabs, glass and doors, and decoration such as torches, plants and redstone last.
• The layer under your feet goes in first, so you can fly at a sky base and land on it. The blocks right around you at your own height go in last, so the way out stays open.
• It never fills the block you stand in.
• It only builds against a block once the server has confirmed it. At high speed that keeps a block from ending up one cell off.
• A block that failed is tried again when something changes: a block is placed, or you move.
• Blocks you do not carry, and blocks with no item such as water, are skipped until your inventory changes. A block resting on one you do not carry does not stop it.
• It builds into water, lava, short grass and other plants a block can replace.
• It places item frames, paintings, armor stands and cushions too, from the items you carry.
• While it is on, chests, furnaces and sign screens do not open on you. Your own inventory and menus do.
• With the Layer view on it prints only the layers on screen. With only some materials on show it prints only those.
• Where the build's own cover would turn grass to dirt anyway, it uses dirt, so your real grass stays for the spots that keep it.

Settings #

Printer speed default 4 blocks/tick

How many blocks are placed each tick, from 1 to 16. Higher is faster and more likely to be noticed by anti-cheat.

Printer reach default 4 blocks

How far from you the printer places, from 1 to 6 blocks. 4 stays inside normal hand reach. On a server that refuses blocks placed further, the printer pulls back to what that server accepts and remembers it.

Fix wrong states default On

Also fixes blocks that are placed but set wrong, such as a gate that should be open.

Face directional blocks yourself default On

Barrels, pistons, observers, droppers, dispensers and crafters are only placed while you look the right way.

Barrels, pistons and observers #

These blocks point where you look. Turning your view for several of them in one tick goes wrong on servers, so by default the printer waits until you face the right way. Turn Face directional blocks yourself off to let the printer turn your view. That is faster, and some will land turned wrong.

What it does not place #

• Waterlogged blocks, unless the experimental water bucket setting is on.
• What is inside chests and other containers. Use Fill in the open container, see Container contents.
• Heads, banners and decorated pots with patterns, whose look comes from data the printer cannot set. Place those by hand.

When it stops #

The printer says so above the hotbar when it has nothing left to place around you: No items in your inventory for the blocks here. If what you carry goes somewhere else in the build, it says what and how many blocks away, and shows where. It picks a block up again as soon as you refill it.

/buildprintdebug printlog on writes what the printer tries, and what holds it back, to the game log. Send that with a bug report about the printer stopping.