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The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Circuit Power!
By Joe Funk Triumph Books
Copyright © 2014 Triumph Books LLC
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-62937-094-1
CHAPTER 1
The Basics
Ready to start your journey to becoming a master of all that is Redstone? Well then, let's dive right on in and get familiar with the basics of the Redstone world!
Before we do so, however, let's talk for a moment about how to best use this book to get the most out of it and to become the most knowledgable Redstone engineer you can:
How to Use This Book
Redstone is a massive topic, almost infinitely so because there are always players finding new ways to use it, and also because it often gets updated when Minecraft itself gets an update. This book is not meant to contain every single piece of information about Redstone, as that would be impossible, at the worst, or require a book that was a few thousand pages longer at best.
What this book is meant to do is to give you all of the basic information you need to begin learning how to use Redstone in the easiest and most pain-free way we can teach it to you. We want to make Redstone fun and inviting, and to dispel the air of intimidation and difficulty that often surrounds the subject.
We'll take you from the very most basic concepts of Redstone, starting here in this chapter, and as we go through the book, we'll add a little more with each chapter, stopping along the way to test out the ideas we present with some fun builds and cool applications.
We suggest that you approach this book from one end to the other, working through each chapter in turn and learning its lessons before moving on to the next. By the end of the book, we'll have you building some pretty highly advanced Redstone constructions and starting to think like a real Redstone engineer!
That being said, these concepts are also very complex, and there's a lot of information to internalize, so we'd also make one more suggestion for how to have the best and most successful Redstone learning experience:
Don't worry about getting it all perfect. Even the best Redstone engineers out there took a long time to understand and memorize this information, and there's no rush to do so. The best way to learn Redstone is to read through this book and test out the different builds, and then to just keep messing around with the stuff, referring back to the book when you need to know something. Over time, you'll start to naturally remember the nitty gritty details of Redstone items, rules and concepts without having to look them up, so there's no need to get discouraged if you keep having to look back at the book as you go.
In fact, we'd even suggest seeking out more resources on Redstone as well, such as watching videos online or finding other players to learn from. This book is meant to be your introduction to the world of Redstone and a handy reference guide, but we won't have our feelings hurt if you need to seek out a little extra help! The goal here is to help you learn Redstone, and we are simply trying give you as many resources in these pages as possible to help you do that.
One final note before we get going: Almost everything we talk about in this book assumes that you are playing in Creative Mode. This is because the builds take very, very many items of different types, and while you might have them in your Survival World, they will be pretty expensive. Additionally, Creative Mode allows you to fly and to turn off hostile mobs, allowing you to be able to learn in peace. We can't suggest doing this enough to learn Redstone's rules. Additionally, this book is primarily focused on the full version of Minecraft as it is on the PC and Mac. This is because the console versions do not contain all Redstone items quite yet, but they are being updated frequently. If you are playing on a console, you'll have to wait to try some of these concepts until the updates happen, but the basic rules and many of the builds are still the same and will work.
With that in mind, let's get into this!
The Concept
In a nutshell, Redstone is a system that uses power signals to cause something to happen in the game of Minecraft. This "something" could be as simple as opening a Door or turning on a light, or it could be something a bit more complex like causing a mechanism such as a Piston to activate and interact with the world, or it could be as complex as causing a mini-game to begin. A simple Redstone power signal can even cause something as intricate and massive as a player-built Redstone simulation of a computer to turn on and function!
Redstone power is somewhat like real-life electricity, and thinking of it like this is very useful, especially when first starting out with the stuff. Here are the ways in which Redstone and real-world electricity are similar:
• Redstone has an ON state and an OFF state.
• Redstone signals can have various levels of power, in the case of Redstone it goes from 0-15.
• Redstone signals can be carried through a Minecraft world through items called Redstone Dust (as well as others) that are very similar to real-life wires.
• A powered Redstone signal that is "wired" up so that it runs into certain items in the game called "mechanisms" will give those mechanisms power and cause them to activate.
• Redstone can be used to build "circuits" that function in much the same way as real-life circuits function in computers and other electronics.
There are, however, quite a few ways in which Redstone and normal electricity differ, and they are equally important:
The power that Redstone builds use is not always held in a storage unit like a battery, or piped through from the outside, but is instead almost always created by the items that toggle the power ON and OFF. To further explain the difference, a real-world light switch controls electric power, but it does not create the power. In Minecraft, Levers, which are very similar in look to light-switches, can control Redstone power, but they also create that power themselves. Redstone items that create power are called "power components," and there are many types of these, including two that do act somewhat like a battery and/or permanent power source (Redstone Torches and Blocks of Redstone).
Redstone power signals only go 15 blocks in one direction before their power signal fades away. To get it to go farther, it must be boosted. This is actually similar to real electricity, except that the rules that govern the distance of real electric signals are far more complex.
Redstone signals can and often are influenced by the passage of time. This is also actually similar to real electricity, but again there is a major difference. This time the difference is that the time delays on real electricity are often so fast that we do not even recognize them, while in Redstone this is essentially slowed way down so that players can manipulate and use these delays. Time in Redstone is measured in "ticks," where each a tick happens 10 times a second, or once every 0.1 seconds in real time. Redstone components and mechanisms update their status every tick, checking to see if their inputs have changed in any way, and when the input does change, they respond by activating, deactivating or performing a special action. Note: time in the rest of Minecraft also operates on "ticks," but a regular Minecraft ticks happen 20 times a second, making them twice as fast. This often confuses players who are aware of regular Minecraft ticks, so it's a good idea to note the difference here. Additionally, when we refer to "ticks" from here on out in this book, we are referring exclusively to Redstone ticks.
When you know how to use these and the many other rules of Redstone together, you will be able to build incredible contraptions and systems, and the range of things you can do in everyone's favorite builder game expands in a huge way. In fact, Redstone is considered by many players to be the pinnacle of Minecraft knowledge, and many of the things that people build in the game that will cause less-experienced players to scratch their head and wonder how it even happened are made with Redstone.
The Components
Redstone is possible because of certain items and blocks in the game and the way they work together. In the next chapter, we'll look at each and every one of these very closely and give you all the details of how they work and what they're used in, but for now let's break the various Redstone components down into their most simple forms and talk about how they relate.
All Redstone items fall into one of the following categories:
1. Power & control components (usually just referred to as power components)
2. Transmission components
3. Mechanisms
4. Basic blocks
5. Rails and Rail-related items
6. Other items that interact with Redstone
In its most simple form, a Redstone build will have a power component and a mechanism, but most Redstone builds use items from at least three of these categories, and some can even use many items from all of these categories.
Let's take a second to get the basics of how the first three of these components interact with each other set in our minds. A typical simple Redstone build starts with a power component, which sends a power signal out. This is often carried by transmission components to either other Redstone circuits or to mechanisms. When mechanisms receive an ON power signal, they activate.
Somewhere in this process of sending a power signal from power component>transmission component>mechanism, the signal may interact with basic blocks of the game. What we mean by this is blocks that are usually used for building purposes, such as Cobblestone, Dirt, Wool, Glass, etc. There are two important types of blocks when it comes to Redstone, and they interact with Redstone in different ways:
Opaque blocks: "Opaque" is a word that means an object through which light does not travel. In Minecraft, this definition usually applies as well. Opaque blocks are important to Redstone because they can be powered by a Redstone signal. When a block is "powered," this means that a Redstone signal is going into it, and that Redstone mechanisms, as well as Repeaters and Comparators (more on these in the Items chapter), will be activated by the block. This property of allowing Redstone signals to travel through themselves makes opaque blocks very important to Redstone.
Transparent blocks: As you might guess "transparent" blocks are typically those that can be "seen through" in the game, though this term also refers to a few such as Glowstone and Slabs that the game merely treats as transparent, though they themselves block vision. In terms of Redstone, transparent blocks are important because they do not take a Redstone power signal, even if one is going straight into them. This makes transparent blocks very useful to separate and block currents in Redstone building.
Our final two types of Redstone items (Rail items, and other interactable blocks) are not nearly as core to Redstone concepts and building as the first four, though they can be integral parts of specific Redstone builds. These are essentially specialty items that can be used to create very specific results, as opposed to items that you'll be using in every build. More on these in the next chapter; all you really need to do now is to be aware that Rails and rail- related items as well as a few unique items can also interact with Redstone builds.
Putting it All Together for the First Time
Okay! So we know a bit about what Redstone is, we know a few of its rules, and we know the basic types of items that are used in Redstone builds, so it's time to actually test the stuff out!
We'll wrap this first chapter up by doing some small Redstone placement, and talk a bit about what's happening with each thing we do. Open up your Minecraft, get a new world started in Creative Mode, and let's play with a little Redstone.
1. Component + Redstone Dust
First thing's first: let's see some Redstone actually powered up. Put a Lever, a Button (either kind) and some Redstone into your inventory. Place the Lever on the ground, and then place Redstone Dust on the ground right next to it. Now scoot over a bit and place the Button on a block (any opaque block is fine) and place Redstone Dust on the ground right in front of this. Make sure this second Dust is not touching the first and is not adjacent to the Lever. Now, activate the Lever. See how the Redstone Dust lights up when you flick the Lever? This means it's powered, and that the power state is constant. If you want to turn it OFF, just flip the Lever to the other state. Now press the Button. See the difference? For the Button, the Redstone was only powered for a brief moment, and then it went off. This example is just to show you how Redstone Dust can be powered, and that different power components power it differently (in this case a constant signal vs. a temporary one).
2. Trying A Mechanism
Now flip your Lever OFF, and then put a Piston into your inventory. Place the Piston down adjacent to the Redstone Dust you placed next to your Lever, and then flip the Lever ON. As you can see, as soon as you flip the Lever, the Piston will activate, extending. This is the simplest form of a Redstone build (perhaps your first ever!). All that's happening here is that the Lever is providing a signal, the Dust is carrying the signal to the Piston, and the Piston is recognizing that it is powered and is firing. Though most Redstone builds get much more complicated than this, essentially this is what is happening at the basic level in almost all Redstone creations.
3. Powering An Opaque Block
Next, get a second Piston in your inventory, as well as a Redstone Torch and an opaque block. Move away from the Redstone items you have already placed, and put the opaque block down on the ground. Place a dot of Redstone Dust on the ground adjacent to the block (not on top of it though, for now), and then place the Redstone Torch on the opposite side of this Dust from the block. Now, go around to the opposite side of the block, and place the Piston down adjacent to this side of the block so that it is touching the block. For this example, make sure that the Piston is not adjacent to the Dust. You'll notice that the Piston also fires in this situation. This is because the block it is on is now "powered," which we talked about earlier in this chapter. The Redstone Torch, in this case, is providing the power signal to the Dust, which goes into the block and powers it, which then transfers the power to the mechanism. In this way we can see how powering blocks works and can be useful in Redstone.
4. Making Things More Complex With A Repeater
We're going to look at a very basic example of how we can make a Redstone build more complex for our final example. We'll need another Piston, another Lever and a Redstone Repeater for this one. Move away from your other Redstone builds, and place your Lever down on the ground. Put one dot of Redstone Dust adjacent to this Lever, and then stand on that Dust so that you are facing the opposite direction of the Lever. Aim down at the block on the opposite side of the Dust from the Lever while still standing on the Dust, and place your Repeater down. Now place the Piston on the block just after the Repeater, so you have a line of items that goes Lever>Dust>Repeater>Piston. Now flip the Lever. As you'll see, the Redstone current will go through the Dust, hit the Repeater, and then a slight amount of time later the Piston will fire. One of the features of Repeaters is that they output a signal at a slight delay, which in this case causes the Piston to fire, but which also has many other uses. We'll get to those later, but for now just notice how we can make the standard Redstone configuration more complex with other items.
Alrighty, we've done a little Redstone! That wasn't so bad, was it? Now you've got a bit of experience with the stuff, are starting to understand how it works, and hey! You can even tell your friends that you've started using Redstone. Good job miner!
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Circuit Power! by Joe Funk. Copyright © 2014 Triumph Books LLC. Excerpted by permission of Triumph Books.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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