You don't. You can emulate the appearance of a 3D on a 2D surface using artistic concepts like perspective. But in this case, the object is built in a virtual 3D world where you see a 2D image on the computer screen, in the same way a photograph does of the real world. I can understand visual concepts not making much sense to a non-visual person. For a great perspective on this, there's the classic short story "Flatland" written by Edwin A. Abbot back in 1884. It's about how "people" living in a 2-dimensional world "see" and react and respond to us 3-dimensional folks. But I digress . . .
Minecraft allows you to create the objects in a simulated 3D world. Technology has now advanced to the point where computers can control machinery to create objects in 3D. "Printing" 3D objects probably isn't the best terminology, but it's what the industry has opted to use. There are several ways to make the 3D object. One simple way is to start with a block of something and use computer guided saws and drills to carve the shape out of the block. A second method used is light/heat sensitive liquid gel. You fill a chamber with the gel, and then use computer guided laser beams. You shine two laser beams into the gel; where the two beams intersect, the gel solidifies. So, but moving the laser beams, you can essentially draw the shape of the object leaving a solid object suspended in the gel.
A third way, the way used to create this pleo, is a lot closer to "printing" a stack of paper on an ink-jet printer. You build the object by stacking very thin layers on top of each other. The "printer" spreads a very thin flat layer of "sand". Then, colored ink is sprayed onto the sand. The ink makes the sand stick together. The printer then spreads another thin layer of sand on top of the first one. Then another pass of ink is sprayed on. This process is repeated hundreds or even thousands of times. Each pass makes the pile of sand thicker, just like each page of paper printed makes the stack of paper thicker. Once finished, the areas sprayed with ink stick together and dry solid, while the areas not sprayed stays loose sand that simply falls away, leaving the now solid object behind.
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Topic: Virtual meets Reality (Read 3220 times)