You don’t have to own a single LEGO brick to have fun building with LEGO. Software like LDraw and LEGO Digital Designer empowers people to create virtual LEGO models unconstrained by the scarcity of a particular LEGO brick (or even its availability in a specific color).
We’ve hardly blogged digitally constructed and rendered creations, but Kevin Walter‘s Klingon Bird of Prey needs no explanation to be featured. This 13’5″ X 11′ X 5’1″ mega sculpture is the culmination of two years of work. You should check out the large image on Flickr, on which it is still difficult to identify a Continue reading →
According to my Future of LDraw? post there are a bunch of readers of this blog who use LDraw. But LDraw can only work with a steady stream of volunteers to make and review parts for use in new parts releases. (I also forgot to pimp the Flickr group for LDraw) Reviewing parts is a Continue reading →
A recent discussion at LUGNET raised questions about the future of LDraw in the fan community. Oddly enough I feel I’ve seen a resurgence in LDraw work recently but of course like all of us I tend to see what I want to see so I figured I’d throw some questions out to a wider Continue reading →
Andrew’s blast from the past reminded me to check my own list and I discovered that I hadn’t blogged this masterpiece. Steven Marshall makes use of his design talents and, I suspect, the TLG rendering libraries to present this excellent virtual recreation of the Eiffel Tower under construction. It’s really, really, really excellent.
The BBC’s Teck Know section currently has an article on the LEGO hobby with a focus on LDraw and virtual building. It includes discussion with Chris Dee who is the man responsible for quality control and library management for LDraw (and who does an excellent job). It also highlights the excellent work of Warren Elsmore, Continue reading →
For once the answer is yes. Ronald Vallenduuk (Duq) has recently added a couple of sets of instructions to Flickr and kindly showed me how to get LPub working again. I actually reverse engineered the seat gondola many years back after seeing a picture of it and coveting it so it’s great to see Ronald Continue reading →
And to continue with some trains this one from Peter Normal (swoofty) has a fabulous brick-built eagle logo for the US bicentennial.
Brickshelf user Bambi not only makes some of the nicest steam and old-fashioned town models around, he (I assume) also takes excellent photographs. What’s more for this BR01-10 he has included photos and renders of the crucial bits to allow us to see how it all works. It works brilliantly in my opinion. Of special Continue reading →
The first screenshots of LEGO Universe have just been released and Jim Foulds has asked us to share them with the world. In his words The first screenshots for LEGO Universe make their world premiere this week. These images show off the diversity the players will encounter in the game. It’s scheduled to launch in Continue reading →
Matt Wagner (jedimasterwagner) has created a CAD version of the LEGO Architecture Empire State Building, complete with King Kong and a bunch of angry humans. I also really like this Space Shuttle launch scene that incorporates a shuttle designed by Matt Holland.
Very few people render castle models and even fewer do it well. Aellaron is a rare and exciting exception. He even manages to put good minifig life in his scenes which is, from my experience, quite difficult.
Today we feature a guest editorial by Matt Wagner on virtual building. As some of you may have noticed I share a lot of these thoughts with Matt and find the prejudice against LDraw to be quite thoughtfree. Anyway, I’ll pass you over to Matt. Thanks to Andrew and Tim for the chance to share Continue reading →
Andreas Weissenburg (grubaluk) is a mixed virtual and real life builder who is both one of my favourite renderers and one of my favourite designers. He doesn’t fail in either regard with this beautiful rendition of a working BR 78 DRG tank engine. Not only is it an absolutely excellent render but the model itself Continue reading →
Matt Wagner‘s latest virtual LEGO creation places an unlikely character in a church: Amusing subject matter aside, Matt’s design for the pipe organ is excellent.
As part of my Wild West Train project I’ve been trying to vary the presentation as well as produce useful instructions for each stage. The final stage let me try a new experiment: packaging the ‘train set’ in its own satin lined wooden box. Fabric is kind of difficult to render without special tools so Continue reading →
