[Software] MecaBricks - Online Design Tool

[Scrubs]

Yes, the number of parts kinda refers to Design IDs but also includes the decorated elements (~100 mainly minifigs torsos and heads). For now there is a mix of new and old parts. I brought to new zealand a lot of my old sets from the 80s - early 90s and I also have new ones from 2011 up to today. So depending on which one I want to model it can be new or old parts. If a user needs a part(s) I have no problem to make it (them) straight away. It generally takes a few minutes for the most simple parts to an hour for more complex ones (I don't really like making minifig wigs they are pretty hard ). You can send me a message using the contact us form in the help menu of the tool bar in the workshop or even here on eurobricks. Just indicate the part IDs you want.

For now there is no compatibility with LDD or LDraw. I was thinking about it at some stage but it's quite a big work as I would need to create a translation table for the position/rotation for each parts. It's more a time issue.

Otherwise for the performances, I didn't reach the limit of the system but I didn't really do any tests. I already opened a model with about 10,000 parts and it was ok to use on my computer which is from 2008 with the antialiasing activated. A year ago I tried to generate and display a wall of 100,000 2X2 bricks. I managed to display it in safari even if it was slow to move or rotate but chrome had a limit for the number of 3D objects that could be displayed if I remember.

For the language files, I could do that actually. The dutch language is already coming from a user who translated my files. I'll tried to tidy it up and set up something at some stage to simplify the translation process.

I just saw your last question about the files that wasn't here when I started to write my answer .

So the files are actually saved on the mecabricks server. They can be public or private (default setting). There is a file manager that you can access when you are logged in. You can create folders and organise your models using the drag & drog method. Anybody can also access the gallery page to view and search for all the public models.

So basically you can work on your models from any computer having the WebGL capability.

As a safety net, even if you can only access the last version of your model, I keep all of them on the server (however if you delete the model, all the other backups are deleted too). It already happened that users asked me to recover a previous version of their model!

Edited September 16, 2014 by Scrubs

[Calabar]

Thanks for the answers.

About parts count, you use a bricklink-like approach, where a decorated part is considered a distinct part. I consider more "clean" an approach that consider geometry only, so that you have a design and you can apply a colour and a decoration (if any suitable) on it.

Besides I think tha the limited number of decorations is one of the greatest limits of LDD, and your online approach is ideal to have a great quantity of decorations. In this case maybe consider a decorated part as a distinct part would be difficult to manage for builders.

About part request, I thought about an automatic mechanism: when a user built a model if he don't find the part he needs, he can immediately submit the request from the bricks palette... and maybe the part will be available before he finish his work!

Or maybe the software can automatically generate a list of missing parts when an official set is created (this require that the builder will specify the set he/she is trying to build, and an access to a database containing bricklists for each set).

About saving files, I think that store that on mecabricks server is a great solution. But perhaps it would be useful to give the chance to save a copy in locale too, for safety. I think this solution could help to make builders feel more "safe".

A feature I'd like to have would be a set-personalized palette. For example I decide to built the set 6073-1: I specified it to the software and it consults the BL database (or any other, or even an internal one) and provide me a personalized palette that contains only the necessary parts in the right amount. Obviously I should be able to easily switch to the standard palette if necessary (for example to add a replacement of a missing part).

[Scrubs]

For the decorated parts, the technical way it actually works is the one you described. I have only one geometry file for the part and the only difference is the image file loaded as a texture.

However in my part table, effectively if the texture is different, it actually counts as one more part.

Your part request system is pretty interresting. I really like the idea. I'll try to see how easy it is to quickly include it.

For now, in the properties menu, you can specify if the model you are building is an official set, an official minifigure or a moc (it is used to sort the models in the gallery). For the official sets, the user only needs to enter the set ID and mecabricks retrieves the information from brickset. However i don't think they provide a part list.

Yes, I really need to provide the possibility to save a local copy. I'd feel safer too when I build a model! It's always stressful when it's time to save. I pray for my internet connection to be good... even if it never crashed yet for me.

The last idea you developped is also really interesting. I never really thought about that custom palette system but it could be really useful. I need to think about too.

Thanks a lot for all those great ideas!

[Calabar]

Thanks to you for your availability.

However in my part table, effectively if the texture is different, it actually counts as one more part.

With the increase of the number of decorations, I think this display method will be a bit "tight".

Can I hope for a change, in the future?

For now, in the properties menu, you can specify if the model you are building is an official set, an official minifigure or a moc [...]

That's a very good start point. You could ask if the user want to use a custom palette if he select that it is an official set.

You could even add a feature to import a csv file with the bricklist (id,colour,quantity), very useful for example to design a MOC when you try to build something starting from a bunch of bricks you have at disposal.

For the official sets, the user only needs to enter the set ID and mecabricks retrieves the information from brickset. However i don't think they provide a part list.

Now brickset has part lists too, but it takes the data from lego site.

That means that only recent sets (year 2006 and newer) have a part list and that these part list are very accurate for part ids and colours but often incomplete. For example, take a look at the set 7915-1, it results only 97.8% complete.

Anyway I don't know if these data are available through brickset's API (maybe not, because it seems the data are taken from TLG site "on the fly", but I'm not sure about that).

Surely bricklink is a better resource for that, but there could be the problem due to the use of part ids that not ever match with LEGO ones (if you use BL part ids for your software, this is not a problem, obviously).

[vynsane]

I wasn't surprised to find out iOS doesn't support WebGL unless you recompile the build of Safari, but it was funny that I could run it on my Droid Bionic and not my iPad...

[Scrubs]

Yeah, apparently WebGL is only activated for iAd on iOS... It's a little bit of a shame. I'd be happy to create a version optimised for touchscreen devices otherwise .

[Calabar]

Yeah, apparently WebGL is only activated for iAd on iOS... It's a little bit of a shame. I'd be happy to create a version optimised for touchscreen devices otherwise .

Why not?

vynsane told that mechabricks works fine on his Android Device, and surely it works on Windows (with Windows 8 there will be more and more touchscreen), a touch optimized interface could be a good thing even if iOS don't support it.

I wasn't surprised to find out iOS doesn't support WebGL unless you recompile the build of Safari, but it was funny that I could run it on my Droid Bionic and not my iPad...

Interesting. As in iOS alternative browsers are based on safary engine too, I imagine that the problem is not solved using another browser.

Is it possible to easy find the recompiled version of safari (or another browser) you are speaking about?

[vynsane]

vynsane told that mechabricks works fine on his Android Device, and surely it works on Windows (with Windows 8 there will be more and more touchscreen), a touch optimized interface could be a good thing even if iOS don't support it.

I agree, with Android gaining in marketshare, it would be awesome to be able to use this on a Galaxy Tab or Nexus 7 (not that I have either one, but still...) I can't speak for Windows support for WebGL. Firefox OS will definitely have it, their entire premise is web-based apps.

Interesting. As in iOS alternative browsers are based on safary engine too, I imagine that the problem is not solved using another browser.

Is it possible to easy find the recompiled version of safari (or another browser) you are speaking about?

There apparently is a hacky browser for WebGL use available on GitHub.

I don't see Apple supporting WebGL natively for a very long time, since it would greatly damage their iTunes money.

[Scrubs]

I tried it on the Galaxy S3 of a friend today. Effectively it works (except for the rotation & zoom controls). It looks pretty cool actually.

[legolijntje]

I tried it on the Galaxy S3 of a friend today. Effectively it works (except for the rotation & zoom controls). It looks pretty cool actually.

If it really works (and one has a good hardware device), it would be the first Lego CAD that works on mobile devices :thumbup:

[vynsane]

Yes, it would definitely be a great feature to support touch navigation for the rotation/zoom features, ^ that being the case.

[Scrubs]

I might try to make a test page sometime next week to load and visualise 3D models on a touchscreen including basic controls like rotation/move/zoom.

[Scrubs]

I created another post in this forum to index the official sets released with mecabricks.

[Nachapon Lego]

Very good job! Very easy to use.

Is it possible to import/export the models/parts froom/to LDD/Ldraw, or render your sail parts in Pov-ray etc?

Edited February 18, 2013 by bbqqq

[Lego Otaku]

LDD does have a way of exporting to LDraw but I found it to be a bit messy if you have several rotated parts or flexible parts. AFAIK there isn't a way to get from LDraw to LDD because LDraw has far more parts in their library and many would get deleted as unknown in LDD.

[Nachapon Lego]

LDD does have a way of exporting to LDraw but I found it to be a bit messy if you have several rotated parts or flexible parts. AFAIK there isn't a way to get from LDraw to LDD because LDraw has far more parts in their library and many would get deleted as unknown in LDD.

It would be nice if we can render Macabricks's parts (that LDD and Ldraw don't have) in POV-Ray.

It is easy to test some new part idea in Mecabricks.

Mecabricks: an easy way to test new parts design. by Nachapon S., on Flickr

Scrubs , would you please make this easy new part(s) for me?

The New Roof Tile Lego 2 by Nachapon S., on Flickr

[Scrubs]

Hello,

No, for now I didn't make any import/export functions for other formats. It's kinda tricky because the parts in the different softwares have different geometrical references and orientation so you need to create a conversion table for each of them.

Scrubs , would you please make this easy new part(s) for me?

Are you talking about the arch and roof tile? As they are not standard, would you have any 3D models or at least dimensions?

[Nachapon Lego]

Are you talking about the arch and roof tile? As they are not standard, would you have any 3D models or at least dimensions?

The new roof tiles are roof tile subtracted by themself. Please make green or blue one.

mecabricks test new parts 2 by Nachapon S., on Flickr

Edited February 18, 2013 by bbqqq

[Scrubs]

Ok, I might give it a go if I find some free time

[Nachapon Lego]

Ok, I might give it a go if I find some free time

Thank you very much.

I got a better idea. I can modeling many new parts for Mecabrick and e-mail to you. Would you please convert them into Mecabricks.(I can't do this myself right?)

The standard units / dimensions is brick_width : stud_dia : stud_height = 5:3:1.1 right? If not please tell me.

Please tell me all kind of 3D file formats that you can use to convert. (Surface modeling, not solid right?)

Edited February 19, 2013 by bbqqq

[Scrubs]

@bbqqq: I sent you a private message regarding your query

[Nachapon Lego]

Thank you so much! The detail you added to the part looks great.

Mecabricks_ New custom new part available now_ more coming soon_ all you need is chrome browser by Nachapon S., on Flickr

Edited February 19, 2013 by bbqqq

[Scrubs]

Thank you so much! The detail you added to the part looks great.

No worries, you are welcome.

[Superkalle]

It's kind of a cool idea to have brick-ideas available to build like this. Maybe something TLG could use when evaluating new brick ideas? Like, let the fans test them out in various MOCs and see how they work. Zero cost (almost), plenty of feedback.

[Nachapon Lego]

It's kind of a cool idea to have brick-ideas available to build like this. Maybe something TLG could use when evaluating new brick ideas? Like, let the fans test them out in various MOCs and see how they work. Zero cost (almost), plenty of feedback.

I totally agree with you. It even better if TLG make bricks idea as LDD addon download. Then bricks idea will be easier to test and can be rendered by LDD2Povray.

I have add this one to Mecabricks gallery.

Mecabricks_ New custom new part available now_ more coming soon_ all you need is chrome browser 2 by Nachapon S., on Flickr

Edited February 19, 2013 by bbqqq