CHUNKY Tutorial – Start to end text-based introduction to rendering

How you present your Minecraft build matters. Step up your professionalism using Chunky. A good render can improve any build – but don’t overdo it and create false expectations when the render is compared to the in-game Minecraft build or a screenshot.

STEP 1
Choosing world = “MAP” TAB AT TOP & RIGHT OPTIONS PANE

1. “Browse for another world” or “Change world directory” if you have a whole folder
   -> Your world needs to be a folder, not ZIP, RAR or World Edit schematic
   -> For schematics, paste them into a flat or void world and import the world
2. Left click or shift+left drag to select chunks to render in red
3. Right click and click “New scene from selection” to create render

IF YOU NEED A TEXTUREPACK

->Go into “options” and “edit resource packs” top right
-> “Add” your texture pack ZIP and “Apply” (for multiple packs, the one at the top will override others)

STEP 2
Render settings = “RENDER PREVIEW” TAB AT TOP & LEFT OPTIONS PANE

-> Your camera will appear at the center of your build on the highest block
-> Controls: WASDRD and right mouse drag (see HELP tab at left bottom)
-> You can also go back to “Map” view anytime and right click > “move camera here”
There are many options. Main ones to note in order:

1. SCENE tab (important)
   -> Leave your canvas size default small 400×400 for getting into camera position (no lag)!
   -> Later once your camera is where you desire, make canvas bigger + correct camera angle
   -> WARNING! Typical monitors are 1080×1920! After increasing canvas size, right click on canvas and change “canvas scale” to fit the whole canvas on your screen and prevent your render from being a tiny build in the corner of a blank page!
   -> Under “Load entities” remove entities like player model at spawn (if any) as desired
   -> Change Y min and max clip sliders to e.g. remove excess underground terrain in render. You must reload chunks at the top of the scene tab.
2. LIGHTING tab
   -> If the sun lighting and shadows aren’t what you desire, play around with the options
   -> The two ball things change the location and angle of the sun (drag the smaller circle)
   -> Check “Enable emmiters” to enable glowstore etc. Reduce intensity to remove grain and prevent strange looking “light shadows”.
3. SKY & FOG tab
   -> Change “Sky mode” and play with the options to get different sky or upload skymaps
4. WATER tab
   -> If you have water in your map, these options change how it looks and feels
5. CAMERA tab (important)
   -> Change “Projection mode” to change how the camera sees your world
   -> Under “Pos & Orientation” you can input custom location (XYZ) & angle instead of WASDRD
   -> Use “Field of View” to zoom quickly. Dragging allows 180 max but text field allows >180
   -> “Depth of Field”, “Subject distance” & “Autofocus” allows tilt-shift or background blur
6. ENTITIES tab
   -> If you have and didn’t remove entities like the player, you can set location, pose etc
7. MATERIALS tab (not needed)
   -> Advanced properties of individual block textures if such detailed change is desired
   -> Look here if e.g. a certain block is rendered black (I had that happen with trapdoors)
8. POST-PROCESSING tab (not needed)
   -> Extra exposure correction
9. ADVANCED (not needed)
   -> Extra options regarding the actual rendering process, output file etc

STEP 3
Making render = “START, PAUSE & RESET” BUTTONS BOTTOM LEFT

Once your camera, canvas size and options are set:

1. “Target SPP” sets how many times Chunky should go over the render to make it better
   -> Default 1000 SPP should be good, anything more won’t make much difference
2. Choose “Start” to render your image (there’s a yellow progress bar)
   -> Choose “Pause” to temporary pause without changing render settings
   -> “Reset” if you decide to change settings mid-render (and restart the render)
3. Once you render is done, click “Save current frame” at top to save as PNG
   -> Other options at the top include saving the scene (saving Chunky project)

My first renders (click for HD)

Chunky “Introduction” series

• CHUNKY Tutorial – Start to end text-based introduction to rendering – PREMIUM MINECRAFT BLOG
• CHUNKY Tutorial – Introduction to the animated renders plugin – PREMIUM MINECRAFT BLOG

Chunky troubleshooting help

• CHUNKY – Quick FIX missing textures / textures not rendering – PREMIUM MINECRAFT BLOG
• CHUNKY – Negative Y not rendering FIX (1.18/1.19 height limit) – PREMIUM MINECRAFT BLOG
• CHUNKY – “Missing assets directory in resource pack” (Error 2) – PREMIUM MINECRAFT BLOG