Photoreal LEGO Rendering with MECABRICKS

[Renderbricks]

Looking really good. Let's improve it.

[___]

guys, just a question maybe I still do not get it but what for do you need those super high res images??? Really,,where you can see it in its whole real size not reduced? It seems even more more strange to me when you realize that you hosting those images on a server that shows it shrinked by default and there is still so few ppl that actualy care/mind to click on the preview shrinken picture and see it in its real dimensions...and again most of them,,if they do,,cannot see it unshrinked either on their 1920x1080 LCDs...

See, I understand that theoretically the higher resolution the better image, but practically at least at this given time and space there is just still only very small amount of ppl that can see it in its whole 4k resolution beauty state, so...

And that said: as you may know smaller images give you much smaller rendering times

Edited March 14, 2015 by bublible

[Scrubs]

I guess it will become more and more common soon. I am lucky enough to have a retina imac 27" and I can tell you that the 5K resolution for pictures is awesome. I really struggle at work when i go back to a normal display.

[Scrubs]

Here is a rendering of a MOC built on Mecabricks by user RuMontag -

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Lola VS. Deathlok by mecabricks, on Flickr

[gerkenz]

I still need a lot time adding the right material to blender after importing. Scrubs, share your nodes, please. ;-) Which export do you prefer to be imported to blender? *obj, *stl ?

Thanks.

[Scrubs]

Hello,

I'm also still doing the material replacement manually, but it doesn't take that long. I import my node group for each type of material and copy and paste.

I want to do the things properly when sharing my nodes - tutorial etc. But if you want to have a play before, I'll send you a PM with the link to the file.

I generally export the model as collada. This format keeps the part origins and transformation matrices so it is a lot easier to handle in Blender if any little modifications have to be made. Besides you can choose the option "Group by Geometry" which means that for a same part design, the geometry will be shared. If you want to modify the geometry of a part, you only do it once for all the occurrences of this part.

With the Collada format, scene appears very small in Blender, just rescale it or adjust the focus of the Camera.

Edited April 10, 2015 by Scrubs

[Scrubs]

A render of the Bike Shop & Café set built by Veon on mecabricks:

Bike Shop & Café by mecabricks, on Flickr

Edited April 11, 2015 by Scrubs

[bemuser]

Maybe I'm missing something, but isn't this basically importing the mesh contained in the obj, stl, and then manually adding materials to each brick by hand? Isn't that incredibly time consuming? Is it not possible to automate that somehow. The modo renders look amazing. I'm assimung that's manual too.

[Scrubs]

Hello,

You don't replace the materials for each brick. If 2 bricks have the same material, you only replace it once. For a model like the taj mahal with 5000 parts but very little colours, it only takes a couple of minutes :-)

It shouldn't be too hard to do automatically, probably in python for Blender, but I don't really have the time to learn how to write scripts. So I prefer to waste a few minutes for the few renderings I do . If someone is keen to write it, I'd be more than happy!

[Scrubs]

Hello everybody,

I bought the real Helicarrier a couple of months ago and I used this opportunity to improve the mesh of the ~300 part designs included in this model. I basically built the digital version in the same time as the real stuff. Here is my rendering of it:

SHIELD Helicarrier by Nicolas Jarraud, on Flickr

To see the model in mecabricks it's here

Edited May 20, 2015 by Scrubs

[gme]

Fantastic quality.

Did you render this in Blender?

Can you share some of your workflow?

Are the beveled edges real geometry or part of the shader?

Is the logo on the studs the one exported from Mecabricks or a custom solution?

I am really looking into getting high-res bricks in Cinema 4D in order to render it via VRay or perhaps even Arnold.

Unfortunately until now I am often struggling with the low-res bricks coming from LDraw.

[Scrubs]

Hello,

Yes, it has been rendered with Blender Cycles.

Bevels are actually part of the shader. I made experiments with real bevels but the extra geometry made it unmanageable with big models.

Regarding the LEGO logo on studs it is the one exported from mecabricks.

The only things I did are: import the model -> scale it -> replace materials -> set my scene -> render

I will make available the shaders at some stage but I waiting to add a new feature to mecabricks for that.

[msx80]

that car on the table is so realistic.. impressive work!

[OLDNUT]

Hello,

Bevels are actually part of the shader. I made experiments with real bevels but the extra geometry made it unmanageable with big models.

Regarding the LEGO logo on studs it is the one exported from mecabricks.

The only things I did are: import the model -> scale it -> replace materials -> set my scene -> render

I will make available the shaders at some stage but I waiting to add a new feature to mecabricks for that.

I’m eagerly waiting for your posting of the nodes you use (just one would help) and the use of shader to get the brick bevels. Your use of Blender far exceeds my newbie study and others could benefit from your knowledge. The bevel problem is the last item to overcome on the list of things I want Blender to render.

[Scrubs]

Hehe, it shall come soon! I finally got motivated to learn python for Blender, and I started to write a script that automatically replaces the materials exported from mecabricks by my custom shaders. It shall be very easy to get nice rendering.

I'm still a newbie in rendering with Blender. I only got interested in Cycles a few months ago

[gme]

Looking forward to it.

Actually LEGO motivated me to improve my python skills and now I'm bouncing back and forth between Blender and C4D.

I tired to export some of the heavier models out of MECA but Chrome and Firefox crash or hang on the Helicarrier and others.

Lighter models work.

[Scrubs]

Hello,

Which export format do you choose?

I know that for big models, it is a lot to ask to the STL and OBJ exporters. It also happened to me that it crashed.

You shall try the Collada exporter and choose the option "Group by Geometry" if you use Blender. It is much faster, produces much smaller files and is a lot easier to handle - position and rotation are retained and same geometry is shared parts. Alternatively if you use a software that cannot mix a same geometry with different type of materials like Modo, you can choose "Group by geometry and colour".

[juraj3579]

@Scrubs Looking forward to your tutorial/setup for blender. I'm using LDR-importer for importing LDRAW Models to Blender (Seems, that development of the importer is not going forward right now :-( ). So, I hope to improve the renders with your setup, as the colors of the bricks from the importer are not really good.

Edited May 29, 2015 by juraj3579

[gme]

Which export format do you choose?

I tried both OBJ and Collada without any grouping. I'll keep trying.

[BEAVeR]

Awesome looking renders, Scruvs. I'm very impressed with the last one, it almost fooled me.As for the bevel shader, I assume you're using the one piotr posted on the Blender forum. That means you have to rendrr with your CPU. So how long do your rdndrrs take? I ran onetoday and it took 3 hours...

I'm also curious about the logos on the studs. Are they actual geometry,or could you conjure up somethung with a bump map? Anyway, very interested to see your setup!

@Scrubs Looking forward to your tutorial/setup for blender. I'm using LDR-importer for importing LDRAW Models to Blender (Seems, that development of the importer is not going forward right now :-( ). So, I hope to improve the renders with your setup, as the colors of the bricks from the importer are not really good.

I've been working with the LDR importer myself, and discovered that those weird coloes are due to the fact that no famma correction is being used on the colors thar are pulled from the LDConfig file. Now, I can get very decent renders. I'll post the code on the project on github, but it's not very pretty, so I'm not sure it will make it. If you really want it, I can send you my code though.

[Renderbricks]

Hello LEGO maniacs,

I had some time for more LEGO research with MODO. Still not satisfied and working on a more perfect material setup. Scub's BLENDER renderings are fantastic. So clean and nice.

Click on picture for HD.

Edited June 4, 2015 by virtualrepublic

[Umbra-Manis]

Nice one VR!

Scrubs, will you be releasing your nodes soon?

[Renderbricks]

Click on picture for HD.

Edited June 4, 2015 by virtualrepublic

[Scrubs]

Yep, soon soon! Probably some time next week. I finally finished to write the script to automatically replace the materials.

I'm currently coding a new model display page for the website where there will be the possibility to display and upload renderings. When this page will be finished, I will make a tutorial on how to render mecabricks models with my Blender file that will be released in the same time.

Here is my plan ;-)

Edited June 4, 2015 by Scrubs

[Renderbricks]

Click on picture for HD.

Edited June 4, 2015 by virtualrepublic