Custom Minifigure Designs?

[Climperoonie]

Is there a program anywhere that allows you to import custom designs for minifigures? I design a lot of decals in my spare time and would like to have a program which allows me to see how they'd look on an actual minifigure so that I can see what needs tweaking before printing. Any help would be greatly appreciated

[legolijntje]

Well, the only thing I can think of is to use the Lego Sticker Generator to make a .dat file of an image.

Then, use that .dat file (so the image is actually converted to a Cad Piece) in a Lego cad program such as Mlcad or SR3d Builder (so put it on a blank minifig part).

Not very easy, I admit

[Climperoonie]

Well, the only thing I can think of is to use the Lego Sticker Generator to make a .dat file of an image.

Then, use that .dat file (so the image is actually converted to a Cad Piece) in a Lego cad program such as Mlcad or SR3d Builder (so put it on a blank minifig part).

Not very easy, I admit

Actually, that'd probably do quite nicely Thank you for your help!

EDIT: Ah, the download link appears to be broken...

Edited June 22, 2012 by Climperoonie

[natesroom]

im surprised that no one has a vector blank Minifigure that you could just lay your stickers over the top of so you could see what they look like.

If your trying to see them in 3d its a little harder then that, but i also dont see why there wouldn't also be floating around a 3d vector minifigure in one angle and then transform the decal onto the body

I checked this file one out in Illustrator and its pretty good..

http://www.toddle.com/stuff/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Lego_Minifig.zip

or this one

http://www.clker.com/cliparts/f/0/5/a/12178624511600349944pitr_LEGO_Town_--_fireman_2.svg (you'll have to change the strokes after opening)

Edited June 22, 2012 by natesroom

[Climperoonie]

im surprised that no one has a vector blank Minifigure that you could just lay your stickers over the top of so you could see what they look like.

If your trying to see them in 3d its a little harder then that, but i also dont see why there wouldn't also be floating around a 3d vector minifigure in one angle and then transform the decal onto the body

Well it seems as if that sticker generator would have done the trick, but unfortunately the guy seems to have removed his site I'm having a look round to see if I can find a mirror download link

[Calabar]

The download link is correct, it seems the site of the author is down.

Perhaps you can find the software in the LDRAW All in One Installar.

Or perhaps you can try BMP2DAT, another software that should have the same function.

[Climperoonie]

The download link is correct, it seems the site of the author is down.

Perhaps you can find the software in the LDRAW All in One Installar.

Or perhaps you can try BMP2DAT, another software that should have the same function.

BMP2DAT doesn't run on Windows 7 so I shall try to find an LDRAW all in one installer (I don't seem to be having much luck here )

EDIT: Yeah, I'm really not having much luck. The installer includes Sticker Generator but won't work on my computer either. It goes through the options okay but as soon as it comes to starting the actual install it tells me it cannot create the uninstall file and closes. Think I'm just going to have to give up on this.

Edited June 22, 2012 by Climperoonie

[natesroom]

BMP2DAT doesn't run on Windows 7 so I shall try to find an LDRAW all in one installer (I don't seem to be having much luck here )

EDIT: Yeah, I'm really not having much luck. The installer includes Sticker Generator but won't work on my computer either. It goes through the options okay but as soon as it comes to starting the actual install it tells me it cannot create the uninstall file and closes. Think I'm just going to have to give up on this.

So doing the artwork in a Vector program for viewing purposes is nogo?

[Calabar]

EDIT: Yeah, I'm really not having much luck. The installer includes Sticker Generator but won't work on my computer either.

What don't work on your computer, the sticker generator or the whole "all in one installer"?

In the second case I think the problem is easily solvable.

[Climperoonie]

So doing the artwork in a Vector program for viewing purposes is nogo?

Hmm, I do think viewing in a 3D program would probably be more beneficial to me

What don't work on your computer, the sticker generator or the whole "all in one installer"?

In the second case I think the problem is easily solvable.

The whole all in one installer doesn't work... It starts to install then says it can't create the uninstall file so crashes

[legolijntje]

I have the sticker generator on my pc. Just wait a minute, I post a (tempory) download link in a few minutes.

EDIT: here it is. Just copy all the files to a folder on your pc and use the .exe

I remove this tomorrow, because I don't know if it's allowed to do this with someone else's software

Edited June 22, 2012 by legolijntje

[Climperoonie]

I have the sticker generator on my pc. Just wait a minute, I post a (tempory) download link in a few minutes.

EDIT: here it is. Just copy all the files to a folder on your pc and use the .exe

I remove this tomorrow, because I don't know if it's allowed to do this with someone else's software

You are awesome! Thank you

[Philo]

Or you may use LDraw Pattern Creator. Significantly more work than with sticker generator, but result has a much better quality!

[Climperoonie]

Or you may use LDraw Pattern Creator. Significantly more work than with sticker generator, but result has a much better quality!

I'll download and have a look at this too Thank you for the link!

[Calabar]

Or you may use LDraw Pattern Creator. Significantly more work than with sticker generator, but result has a much better quality!

Thanks for the hint, I'll add this software to the index.

[pbk420]

One program ive used in the past is Quad2Dat but for the life of me i dont remember where i got it. Its buggy and crashes sometimes but ive made alot of custom minifig designs that you can convert to a Ldraw file.

[Emperor Krulos]

Well you could use Blender. HjMediaStudios created a nicely rigged minifigure.

But the learning curve is steep. I'm still trying to figure out Blender 2.6, which looks totally different from 2.4. Maybe we can get HjMediaStudios to write a tutorial.

[Daiman]

I am in the middle of testing out the LDD to PovRAY working cycle from a recent front page article to see some of my own designs better rendered.

One thing I noticed on the test run is the ability to replace the decals on your LDD model with your own with a click or two in the converter.

The downside seems the render time but I did a minifig in around seven minutes.

Go to the site on the page article and download the converter then download Povray 3.7 beta.

If you haven't used it don't panic they all work together pretty well.

Make a fig in colour with a decal on the torso and save it as a file.

Close LDD.

Open up the new fig file in LDD2Povray to generate a Povray file.

In the decorations tab select custom and scroll to the one you wish to replace.

Replace with your own file.

After the converter has made the povray file it will ask if you want to open Povray and render it.

Say yes and wait.

Not the quickest way to get the feedback your after but you may end up with a very pretty prototype image.

Good Luck.