Make digital scheme or build directly

[Kompye]

Hello. I am kind of new into Lego and I don't know which way is better to build. Is it better to do it in Lego Digital Designer first and then buy the pieces I need or try to make it with what I have right now?

[1963maniac]

It's usually best to try it in plastic first. You really need to feel the pieces and how well they fit together and how well your ideas work. If you don't have enough Lego then try it digitally. Whenever I try the digital first, I almost always have to rebuild with bricks again; and order more parts. 

[knotian]

I agree, unless you intend on producing instructions. In that case I have found it better to do in parallel since it makes determining steps easier.

[Andman]

@Kompye, at first I would recommend to get your hands on the bricks. Get experience, know your bricks, learn building techniques etc. But in the end it is up to what feels better for you.

[neonic]

I'm from the stoneage so in my time they didn't have it so ... But a while ago, I heard about it and first I thought it's sad, but I must say it's pretty addictive. I wanted to rebuild my truck so I made version of the cab digitally, just for fun and later a sleepingcab and before I know I made the whole truck. the Only problem is that I can use a lot of bricks I don't have, in my days they didn't exist.

In your case, digital is nice, makes no noise / mess, but just building is much more fun. I don't know is you already have Lego and how much? Otherwise I would say start building and have fun. And you can always, with or without the digital scheme, order some parts you miss or think it will look better with it.
 

[TeriXeri]

To me the true fun of LEGO comes from building with whatever parts are owned.

Digitally designing with only using parts that are owned is of course a middle ground.

However that does not mean that designing digitally and then ordering parts to build it in bricks is a bad thing, it's just a very different approach.

 

Edited November 26, 2019 by TeriXeri

[dr_spock]

Everyone is different. Try out each method and see which works best for you.