Tag Archives: Render

This rusted-out Fiat 500 is heartbreakingly beautiful

Gabriele Zannotti is one of the most talented virtual LEGO builders creating non-physical LEGO models these days, using Mecabricks.com with Bluerender to create images essentially undistinguishable from the real thing. When I saw this gorgeous, rusty Fiat 500 wreck, I zoomed in as close as I could, trying to figure out if I just wasn’t aware of some of these bricks in the colors Gabriele used, and I was convinced by the sticker on the license plate as well as what I could swear are genuine pieces of dust on the bricks. But then I was heartbroken to see that Gabriele had included this image in his Lego renders album. From the composition to the lighting, along with the design of the vehicle itself, this is a stellar piece of LEGO art, even if there isn’t a single piece of physical LEGO in it.

Rusted FIAT 500

You can see a shiny new red version of the Fiat 500 in this other render.

Finally revealed!

Classic sci-fi movie Silent Running brought to life with LEGO

Before his work on more widely-known sci-fi movies such as Bladerunnner and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, legendary visual effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull directed the 1972 sci-fi movie Silent Running, a beautifully written, performed and photographed tale of one man’s fight to preserve the last remnants of Earth nature.

In creating a LEGO version of the Valley Forge (the ship where the movie’s action takes place) Cornish builder Louie Tommo clearly felt that only a larger scale would do it justice. The result is this very accurate digitally designed LEGO version that perfectly captures the ship’s functional looking design complete with its distinctive cluster of domed forest habitats.

Even though the movie has plenty of action and some first class visual effects for the era, the characters of astronaut Freeman Lowell and his robot companions Huey, Louie and Dewey are central to the story. So it’s a nice touch that Louie has created LEGO versions of them as well, and even portrayed them at work on the outer hull of the spacecraft.

Citroën 2CV involved in croissant call with patisserie chef

As this unfortunate little French chef has discovered, a female behind the wheel can be a scary experience especially when she is after your croissant! Gabriele Zannotti is skilled at bringing virtual LEGO creations to life and this time he has worked his digital rendering magic on a Citroën 2CV Mecabricks project by actioncharles. This Citroën 2CV is a lovely little build, but the rendering really raises it up a level with lights, action, movement and… glass refraction!

Citroën 2CV

Gabriele has been featured here before for his rendering work. We covered his excellent M.C. Escher’s “Hand with Reflecting Sphere” last year. How do you feel about TBB featuring rendered work as well as ‘in the brick’ creations?

LEGO Digital Designer updated [News]

LEGO has released an update for LEGO Digital Designer (LDD), the company’s proprietary virtual building program. Update 4.3.9 is available for free on both OSX and Windows operating platforms. If you already have LDD, the latest update will install automatically when connected to the internet. The update is approximately 275MB in size and includes over 300 new parts such as CMF Series 15 minifigure parts, Speed Champions, Elves, Jurassic Park, Nexo Knights and so on. The new parts are available by opening a project using LDD’s Extended tab.

LEGO Digital Designer Update

After bringing you the news that LEGO Digital Designer was officially defunded and unsupported back in January, it’s safe to say that this latest update was unexpected. It is hard not to believe that the huge backlash in response to that sudden announcement of LDD’s demise was a factor in the decision to now release a long awaited update.

Since the LDD community has waited over 2 years since the previous update, there is no doubt that the new one will be well received. Enjoy the update, there’s no knowing when/if another update will be released in the future. Flickr user Nachapon S. has put together an image showing all the new pieces.

We found Nemo! And Dory!

Thirteen years ago, we met Marlin and Dory as they searched everywhere to find Nemo, befriending sea turtles, sharks (fish are friends, not food!), and learned to speak whale. This year, we’ll join familiar fishes once again to find Dory.

To help us out, BuildFiend has partnered with Nunki-psi bringing us these fantastic digital sculptures of Nemo, Marlin, and Dory.

Finding Dory Collaboration

M.C. Escher’s “Hand with Reflecting Sphere” rendered in LEGO

While I share a certain ambivalence about LEGO renders with the Grumpy Old Man contingent of TBB contributors, I have to admit that I’m increasingly impressed with the high quality we’ve begun seeing from “virtual” builders. One of my recent favorites is this LEGO-ized version of M.C. Escher’s print “Hand with Reflecting Sphere” by Gabriele Zannotti. Gabriele used Mecabricks to build the scene, and Blender for the final 3D rendering. Spend some time looking at all the details reflected in that sphere…

Hand With Reflecting Sphere

Tiny tanks advance to victory!

I’ve been following the recent builds of Thomas of Tortuga with interest and expressing little yelps of delight whenever a new creation pops up. He’s embroiled in a Flickr-based LEGO wargame called Divide And Conquer which I’m not even going to pretend to understand. However, the creations he’s putting together to represent his fictional nation’s military are fantastic. I particularly liked these armored tractor tank things…

Tractors

I must admit to a certain ambivalence about rendered LEGO creations – I generally like to see builders put bits of plastic together in the real world. And I’m a firm believer that restrictions on quantity and color drive creativity, pushing builders to develop new techniques. However, these vehicles are absolute class, and I figured I’d let the handful of “impossibly colored” parts slide this time. (Those are pieces which LEGO has never produced in that particular color. But digital parts, of course, can be any color.)

The rest of Thomas’ photostream is stuffed with similarly cool and slightly steampunk military creations – well worth checking out. I’m loving his series of naval vessels (especially this dreadnought), although again some of the “impossible part” use does make me twitchy.

I know some people say rendering isn’t “LEGO building” at all. I’m not sure I’d go that far, and builders like Thomas are making me pay more attention to rendered works. I reckon LEGO creativity shines through, regardless of medium. What do you think?

Blood for the blood god, skulls for the skull throne

There’s been something of a renaissance in computer rendered Lego builds lately, and leading the charge is the prolific Garry (Garry_rocks).

Using parts in colors that have never been available toes the line of what I consider cheating, but there’s no question that the results are stunning. I’m particularly fond of these two fearsome builds from the Warhammer 40k universe.