Tutorial: Exporting a Biome Object

# OTG Export Tutorial

This is a basic introduction to the Export command in OTG

First, start by finding or building something you want to export. In this case, I have found a tree in a biome bundle world I want to export:

As you can see, we need to do some work. First off, let's start by marking the area we will be exporting. In this case I do this with wool, as wool is not part of the build and it can be coloured if that's needed. This step is also optional, but can be helpful for beginners. After marking off the export area, the tree looks like this:

This helps illustrate the parts of the terrain which stick into the area, and need to be cleared out. Technically they do not need to be cleared out - they could also be filtered - but for the basics, let us stick to just clearing the area.

Here, we see how much we need to clear out in order to get every block of the tree exported. The area being exported is a cube, so all the blocks out to the corners need to be cleared or filtered if they are not supposed to be part of the exported object.

## Configuring the export

Now we move on to the configuration. First we set the center block. The standard way to do this is to insert a block that is otherwise not used in the object - like a gold block - and place it where you want the center to be, like so:

This gold block is placed where I want the center to be. But in order to actually make this the center of the exported area, we need to do a command:

> `/otg configexport centerblock minecraft:gold_block`
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With this setting, the region will now search for a gold block, and set the first one it finds as the center block. You also have the option of using the command `/otg region mark center`, which sets the center to be your current player position. However, this can be more finnicky and less clear, though this way you don't need to change the gold block after exporting.

Speaking of the area, let's mark it. There are two ways of marking an area for an OTG export. The first is to simply mark a WorldEdit region. Having a WorldEdit region selected will be prioritised over an OTG region, and it is easier to use a WE wand than manually marking OTG regions. However, we do have the capability to manually mark an area, like so:

> `/otg region mark 1`
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You need to mark corner 1 and corner 2 in order for it to be recognized as an OTG region, but the center is optional. The marked location is the block where your feet are located, not where you are looking or the block beneath you.

## Filter

The filter is a powerful part of the export toolset. By default, the filter contains only air blocks. Additionally, Structure Blocks and Structure Void Blocks are always ignored. In this case, I want to add white wool to the filter so that my scaffolding is ignored:

> `/otg configexport filter add minecraft:white_wool`
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This will add wool to the filter. If you instead want to keep the air in your object, you can remove air from the filter like so:

> `/otg configexport filter remove minecraft:air`
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You could also here add dirt, grass, clay and sand to the filter to avoid clearing that out earlier. However, this does leave room for error if you accidentally filter out something you wanted to keep, or forget to filter out a block you wanted to remove. Use it with care.

## Other options

There are a few other options you can set:

> `/otg configexport preset <preset>`
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This specifies which preset to fetch templates from, and potentially save to. Does not need to be set if you are not using templates, and are just exporting to the GlobalObjects folder. Defaults to the default preset.

> `/otg configexport global <true/false>`
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If global is set to true, exports will be placed in the GlobalObjects folder instead of the preset WorldObject folder. Defaults to True.

> `/otg configexport overwrite <true/false>`
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This toggle sets whether your files overwrite existing files. Use with caution, as OTG only keeps a single backup file (.bak) when you export.

> `/otg configexport template <template>`
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A template is a set of options that get applied to the object on export. For example, you can define a simple Tree template which has your desired settings for frequency, rarity, spawn height, author, description, settings mode, extrusion, et cetera. This is not useful if you are exporting only one or two objects, but if you are exporting a dozen or a hundred, this can save you a lot of time with configuration. The template is simply a BO3 file with the file extension changed to BO3Template.

The template can *not* keep any block functions, though it is recommended to remove BlockChecks and RandomBlocks from the template as they may be kept, but this is unintended behaviour.

Finally, you can specify the type of the object:

> `/otg configexport type <BO3/BO4>`
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This setting lets you specify whether the exported object is a BO3 or a BO4. This defaults to BO3, and so is only necessary if you intend to export a BO4 structure.

## Editing the Biome Object after export

Once you're done configuring all the settings and preparing your area for exporting, simply do the command:

> /otg export <object name>
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If you used the gold block or similar to center your object, you will now find this somewhere in your BO3 file:

You will also see that this block function has the coordinate (0,0,0) because it has been set as the center of the object. Now, unless you want the object to actually spawn with a gold block here, you simply change the block back to its original. If the original was air, you either place air or remove the block function entirely. If the original was something else, you set it to this something else. In this case, I replace the gold block with an oak log:

And that's the basics of exporting BO3 objects!