170 replies to this topic

[jojoguy10]

Hey there!

I thought of a cool feature that is not yet on Rebrickable: Export "My Parts" or "My Sets" to a Peeron or Bricklink, or Brickset format.

jojoguy10

[technicmad]

jojoguy10, on 26 January 2012 - 08:58 PM, said:

Hey there!

I thought of a cool feature that is not yet on Rebrickable: Export "My Parts" or "My Sets" to a Peeron or Bricklink, or Brickset format.

jojoguy10

I know, I've been meaning to add them but other things keep jumping in front of the queue :)

[DLuders]

Technicmad (Nathan Thom) has added new features to his Rebrickable website.      As reported on his Blog, he wrote:

"I have just finished with a number of site improvements:

"Using My Parts To See All Set Parts"

"I have updated the My Parts page to be a bit more flexible. In addition to changing the grouping/ordering behaviour you can now also choose to display your loose parts and/or your set parts all together. By default it will still display as it always has – only displaying your loose parts, grouped by part type, ordered by part description (which is useful for eg keeping beams in order of size).

"If you choose to display both Loose Parts and Set Parts you can view your entire parts collection on one page.



"Importing Bricklink Orders"

"In your My Parts page, click the “Import Bricklink Orders (XML)” link. For now only the XML format works but I hope to add the other formats later. A section will display where you can browse to your XML file for processing.



"When done, it will display how many parts were imported as well as how many Orders were in the file (if there were more than one). If there were any errors they will be displayed.



"Sets/Parts Import Error Handling"

"When importing sets or parts from external sites, there are often incompatibilities. For example, there are still sets that don’t exist in Rebrickable that do exist on Brickset (e.g. most advent calendar minifigs!). There are also some parts that I have not created in Rebrickable such as Sticker Sheets etc, that might make their way into your Peeron parts export file. Now, when you import your files you will get a list of all sets/parts that could not be processed. It will still import all the other sets/parts in the file. I am also notified of every missing set/part that shows up in these errors so I can now more easily identify what I need to get into the database."  

[markz68]

Wow, love this!  Especially instructions to build train cars!

I am new to LEGO trains and customizing sets.  Other than as a kid, I have only built actual sets.  

I really wanna build a few train cars to add to my new Maersk (yes, I know the style may not match).

Edited by markz68, 30 January 2012 - 07:45 PM.

[technicmad]

Pity Brickshelf is down, as Tim has some nice Trains on there :)

On a related note, with Brickshelf going down fairly regularly I have a question for you guys. I am currently working on a feature that allows you to upload your own CAD files for analysis (eg find the right part ids or colors etc), but it occurred to me that I could expand it to be a more generic hosting service similar to Brickshelf. The idea would be you can store your MOC files linked to your Rebrickable profile, and make each of them either private or public. The MOCs that have parts lists can be integrated with the rest of the site (build, search, etc), but for the rest you can just put up the files for others to access. I guess it would be a blend of flickr/mocpages/brickshelf but want to make better use of the lego data I have available.

I am quite familiar with the technical requirements such a hosting feature would have, but it's not quite where I was heading with Rebrickable. What do you guys think?

[DLuders]

I like the idea of Rebrickable hosting the files.      MOCpages has a slow server, and new entries on Brickshelf takes 2 days to get moderated and "made public".  Flickr is quite diverse and easy to use, but it cannot host LDD or LDRAW files.  None of those three websites host PDFs.

Edited by DLuders, 30 January 2012 - 04:05 AM.

[jojoguy10]

Hello there.  I don't know what features your going to add soon, but I think it would be cool that, as you look at the inventory of a set, you can see how many you NEED along with how many you HAVE in your "Sets" or "Parts" libraries.

Can't wait to see the new improvements!  :-D

jojoguy10

[DLuders]

Here's an interesting article on the Rebrickable blog about "2011 LEGO Set Popularity" -- Nathan Thom (Technicmad) wrote:

"Inspired by Technicbricks poll on popular 2011 technic sets I have done a quick query to see how his results matched the data at Rebrickable. Based on:

* Over 2000 users have stored their set collections

* There are 13000 sets released in 2011 in the collections

"The top 10 most popular sets based on the number of unique users who own them are:



"The top 3 are the same as those on Technicbricks which is no real surprise as they are fantastic sets.     It’s also nice to see the Creator/Star Wars sets take out some high ranking positions.

  

"The 8043 Motorized Excavator seems to be the most popular set of all time. At least until the 8110 Unimog comes down in price! It was certainly one of the most enjoyable ones to put together for me. I remember loving my first 8851 Excavator set, we’ve come a long way.     



"There are also some great mods out there of this set, one of which is Jurgen Krooshoop’s Ultimate 8043:"

Edited by DLuders, 09 February 2012 - 02:41 PM.

[roamingstudio]

I dont have any set lists anywhere... and thought I should perhaps start for rebrickable. I exported a basebrick TSV file with 1 Maersk Train and 1 Western Train Chase, and replaced quantity with 3. However the import the amended TSV file failed...  

[technicmad]

roamingstudio, on 09 February 2012 - 03:43 PM, said:

I dont have any set lists anywhere... and thought I should perhaps start for rebrickable. I exported a basebrick TSV file with 1 Maersk Train and 1 Western Train Chase, and replaced quantity with 3. However the import the amended TSV file failed...  

It should still work, send me your file to support@rebrickable.com and I'll see whats happening.

[technicmad]

jojoguy10, on 09 February 2012 - 02:25 PM, said:

Hello there.  I don't know what features your going to add soon, but I think it would be cool that, as you look at the inventory of a set, you can see how many you NEED along with how many you HAVE in your "Sets" or "Parts" libraries.

Can't wait to see the new improvements!  :-D

jojoguy10

Thakns for the suggestion, I'll see what I can do to incorporate that :)

[Gekke Ted]

Hi Technicmad,

Lately I have been using your website again. It's great, but you must be getting tired of hearing that

I do, however, have two questions/requests and correct me if I am not looking good enough:

1. Can I set the default build option to Exact color? I always use Exact, so I always need to change it after the first "Build this" action.

2. There's an option called "Search for parts". This options shows which sets are best for the parts you need. Actually I am more interested in showing the sets which would be best for the parts I am missing. So a "Search for missing parts" option would be awesome.

Any chance of implementing these two requests?

Keep up the good work!

[technicmad]

Gekke Ted, on 19 March 2012 - 08:31 AM, said:

Lately I have been using your website again. It's great, but you must be getting tired of hearing that

Yeah it really sucks hearing that  

Gekke Ted, on 19 March 2012 - 08:31 AM, said:

1. Can I set the default build option to Exact color? I always use Exact, so I always need to change it after the first "Build this" action.

Nope, but it's a good idea and is now on my todo list :)

Gekke Ted, on 19 March 2012 - 08:31 AM, said:

2. There's an option called "Search for parts". This options shows which sets are best for the parts you need. Actually I am more interested in showing the sets which would be best for the parts I am missing. So a "Search for missing parts" option would be awesome.

When you try to build a set it will show you the best 5 sets that contain the parts you are missing. For example http://rebrickable.c...258&s3=8070&c=2 this shows that the 8285 Tow Truck has 166 of the parts you are missing etc. Is this what you mean, or something a bit more flexible with more search criteria/filters?

[Gekke Ted]

technicmad, on 19 March 2012 - 11:39 AM, said:

Yeah it really sucks hearing that  


Nope, but it's a good idea and is now on my todo list :)


When you try to build a set it will show you the best 5 sets that contain the parts you are missing. For example http://rebrickable.c...258&s3=8070&c=2 this shows that the 8285 Tow Truck has 166 of the parts you are missing etc. Is this what you mean, or something a bit more flexible with more search criteria/filters?

Great. I think it's a minor technical change, but it will improve usability. Setting the default to Exact would be sufficient for me too, but's not for me to judge how other users experience this.

That is indeed what I mean. However, it doesn't show the expected result. That's probably because it matches all the missing parts, and I am only interested in certain parts. Axles, connectors, pins etc can be used in different colors. However, the panels (Black Vampire is the model I am trying to build) are mission critical, so I would have expected the Extreme Cruiser and new Log Truck would be high on the list.

So my suggestion would be; When I hide parts in the missing parts list, there should be a kind of Refresh button for the suggested sets. And/or show a list like the "Find MISSING parts to build" with the option to ignore/hide certain parts.

In my opinion that's how you search for missing parts. Use "Build it", check which parts you are missing, hide the parts you don't care about, and get a suggestion for sets you can buy, instead of buying those parts separately.

Edited by Gekke Ted, 19 March 2012 - 12:14 PM.

[mahjqa]

Is there, or will there be, an option to allow similar parts to be used? For example, there's this mold change:

->

In roughly 90% of the cases, one can be substituted for the other. Or this one:

->

I'm willing to bet that in 99% of the cases there's no functional difference between the two.

Would it be possible to insert an 'or' function, as in "You're going to need 4 of this brick. Or 4 of that one. Doesn't matter, really."

[technicmad]

Gekke Ted, on 19 March 2012 - 11:59 AM, said:

Great. I think it's a minor technical change, but it will improve usability. Setting the default to Exact would be sufficient for me too, but's not for me to judge how other users experience this.

That is indeed what I mean. However, it doesn't show the expected result. That's probably because it matches all the missing parts, and I am only interested in certain parts. Axles, connectors, pins etc can be used in different colors. However, the panels (Black Vampire is the model I am trying to build) are mission critical, so I would have expected the Extreme Cruiser and new Log Truck would be high on the list.

So my suggestion would be; When I hide parts in the missing parts list, there should be a kind of Refresh button for the suggested sets. And/or show a list like the "Find MISSING parts to build" with the option to ignore/hide certain parts.

In my opinion that's how you search for missing parts. Use "Build it", check which parts you are missing, hide the parts you don't care about, and get a suggestion for sets you can buy, instead of buying those parts separately.

I'll see what I can do :)

mahjqa, on 19 March 2012 - 12:54 PM, said:

Is there, or will there be, an option to allow similar parts to be used? For example, there's this mold change:

->

In roughly 90% of the cases, one can be substituted for the other. Or this one:

->

I'm willing to bet that in 99% of the cases there's no functional difference between the two.

Would it be possible to insert an 'or' function, as in "You're going to need 4 of this brick. Or 4 of that one. Doesn't matter, really."

I can already do that, I just need to identify the parts and those two have not been done yet. What happens is I can map one part to another so that any occurances of eg 99773 will be completely replaced with 2905. I only do this where there is no functional difference such as slight mold changes to improve the strength as in your examples.

[Gekke Ted]

technicmad, on 19 March 2012 - 01:21 PM, said:

I can already do that, I just need to identify the parts and those two have not been done yet. What happens is I can map one part to another so that any occurances of eg 99773 will be completely replaced with 2905. I only do this where there is no functional difference such as slight mold changes to improve the strength as in your examples.

Great! So get working on my stuff!!

Just kidding. Thanks for your reply. If you can find the time, it would be awesome

Edited by Gekke Ted, 19 March 2012 - 02:41 PM.

[DLuders]

Technicmad (Nathan Thom) has updated his Rebrickable.com MOCs webpage with a new look.  His blog has this news:

"New User Settings and Notifications"

"I have made some changes with the per-user settings. I removed the three checkboxes for email notifications as I no longer plan on sending those kinds of emails. Plus I added two new options described below:

1. Default color matching scheme

2. A % threshold for emailing new MOCs



"Default Color Matching"

"There are several places where the Build % for a set or MOC is automatically calculated for you other than the main build set search results. Previously these calculations assumed a color matching level of “Close”. Now you can also change it to “Exact” or “Ignore” as your default, which is used as:

- Default option when finding new sets to build

- Displaying your Build % on sets or MOCs

- Method used by API get_set_match function

"New MOC Threshold"

"Now when new MOCs are added to the database it will automatically calculate what % of parts you have in your collection, based on the default color matching scheme mentioned above. If that % is greater than the threshold you use for this option, you will receive an automatic email with details of the new MOC.

"For example, if you enter 0% you will receive an email for every MOC. If you enter 100% you will only receive emails for new MOCs that you are able to build completely with the parts you have. Leaving this field blank will prevent any emails from being sent, and is the default until you enter something."

[Gekke Ted]

Two very useful changes!! Thanks Nathan!

And DLuders for posting it here.

Edited by Gekke Ted, 16 April 2012 - 11:37 AM.

[DLuders]

Technicmad (Nathan Thom) recently posted these two new Rebrickable features on his Blog:

"There are several new features I’ll talk about here, with all of them pretty tightly connected. It’s taken some massive backend code rewriting to enable these features which is why there have been no other big updates in a while."

"MOC Designer -- The MOC Designer page is where you can submit your creation so the rest of us can build it. It’s been around for a while, but now has several improvements.

"Adding parts to your MOC has been simplified as much as I can. There is also a lot that happens behind the scenes to analyse the parts in your MOC to make sure it is buildable in real life. Designers commonly create MOCs in Lego Digital Designer or similar tool using parts in colors that you can’t actually buy anywhere...."  Read more about it, and see his demonstration pictures here.



He also added a feature for "Private MOCs -- A new feature that is now available are Private MOCs. These are MOCs that any user can create for their own private use. The full functionality of the MOC Designer shown above is available for Private MOCs...."  Again, read more about it on his Blog.

[Phoxtane]

I just spent my afternoon in wonderful nostalgia. Who knew I had so many of the old "Jack Stone" sets? The total partcount didn't help to deflate my mood either  

[bord4kop]

Such a great site, I 've said it before and will say it again, and again, and again  

Changed the setting to the new "MOC update e-mail" setting. Nice feature!

[technicmad]

bord4kop, on 06 June 2012 - 09:03 AM, said:

Such a great site, I 've said it before and will say it again, and again, and again  

Changed the setting to the new "MOC update e-mail" setting. Nice feature!

Thanks :) I've got a huuuuge list of things I want to add/improve on the site, but am always open to suggestions if anyone has anything.

[Therion]

technicmad, on 06 June 2012 - 10:34 AM, said:

Thanks :) I've got a huuuuge list of things I want to add/improve on the site, but am always open to suggestions if anyone has anything.

I was wondering why you're using the % of parts missing when searching for sets/mocs to build.  For example, when I have 99% of a 2000 piece set (20 parts missing), this set is showed before a set with say 500 pieces where I have only 98% of the parts (10 parts missing).  Why not order the list on the actual number of parts missing?  Doesn't that make more sense?

[legolijntje]

Therion, on 06 June 2012 - 02:41 PM, said:

I was wondering why you're using the % of parts missing when searching for sets/mocs to build.  For example, when I have 99% of a 2000 piece set (20 parts missing), this set is showed before a set with say 500 pieces where I have only 98% of the parts (10 parts missing).  Why not order the list on the actual number of parts missing?  Doesn't that make more sense?

Or make an option to choose between these 2 versions of sorting