Future of LDD: Next Lego Digital Designer Update?

[AndyC]

I own one of the rare 4598's in DBG btw.

But quite often when a new part pops up, it's in many sets at the same time, even if it's one of those obscure parts that probably "no one asked for", like this . Seeing it in a whooping 49 sets this year looks more like "I've been asked to place this part somewhere" than "it was the part I really needed here".

I'm not complaining, when a good part is made, it's good to have plenty available for cheap. So much more useful parts could have been made, though.

..this said, I've found myself already using it in my MOCs, so it's not a stupid part, however it's weird to see a compound version of a part that doesn't exist yet. We should be getting a 1x1 with bar first. Plus, if a 1x1 existed, that new part would be more easily (not really hard, though) substituted in the LDD.

From what I've heard in the past, one of the conditions for getting a new part design (with the exception of some licensed pieces) is getting a certain amount of "buy in" from different teams to confirm that the design is actually useful in more than a single situation. So, I'd assume that if designers from different teams have been playing around with a possible new part, it's probably quite likely they've got a few useful cases lined up that they put into sets once it becomes available. This is also why there sometimes seem to be odd gaps in parts, it may just be that nobody has ever found a compelling need for a 1x1 with bar or even that they just couldn't convince other teams of a need for one that couldn't be accomplished by existing parts.

[teabox]

Our Ambassador over at Swebrick has gotten this information out of the Ambassador forum:

I've just touched base with one of our Digital Product Specialists within the Consumer Services team. A business decision has been made to no longer allocate resources towards the LDD program / initiative. For now, the program will continue to be offered to anyone interested in utilizing it but please do not expect any updates regarding functionality, the adding of new LEGO elements or glitch fixes. We have decided to pursue other digital experiences. Although this may not be the answer you were hoping for, I hope this information will be of use to your RLUG members. Thank you for your time and continued support for the LEGO Brand & hobby.

*sigh*

[The Mugbearer]

Welp.

[anothergol]

ok so the next step is to convince Lego to release the format for the part database

[Umbra-Manis]

[Immo]

That's bad news

Maybe they'll change their minds in the future, when facing intense pressure... How about starting a petition?

[The Mugbearer]

That's bad news

Maybe they'll change their minds in the future, when facing intense pressure... How about starting a petition?

I am curious as of why nobody did so already because there were talks in this very topic. =P

[Immo]

I am curious as of why nobody did so already because there were talks in this very topic. =P

Let's do it, then!

[RoxYourBlox]

My 2 cents:

• Online petitions or user updates would be a waste of our time.
  
• Speak directly to a "Special Guest" from LEGO at a convention re: the intangibles of LDD (or a successor) in promoting their company brand. To abandon support for LDD must have been a conscious decision of an ignoramus someone within TLG.
  

Hard to post more about this, even though it's constantly in the back of my mind. After all, I've been on LDD nearly every spare minute at night since 2011. I am so upset.

Our Ambassador over at Swebrick has gotten this information out of the Ambassador forum:

I've just touched base with one of our Digital Product Specialists within the Consumer Services team. A business decision has been made to no longer allocate resources towards the LDD program / initiative. For now, the program will continue to be offered to anyone interested in utilizing it but please do not expect any updates regarding functionality, the adding of new LEGO elements or glitch fixes. We have decided to pursue other digital experiences. Although this may not be the answer you were hoping for, I hope this information will be of use to your RLUG members. Thank you for your time and continued support for the LEGO Brand & hobby.

*sigh*

I can't say I'm surprised, although with Lego's current position in the toy market they could have made an altruistic decision that to maintain a high level of LDD support positively affects the LEGO Brand.

To those thinking of a petition:

What do you think could be said that hasn't already been considered to change the mind(s) of the person(s) responsible for this "business decision"?

Edited January 20, 2016 by RoxYourBlox

[mediumsnowman]

That's too bad. LDD is a great tool.

[The Mugbearer]

What do you think could be said that hasn't already been considered to change the mind(s) of the person(s) responsible for this "business decision"?

Like we know what has been considered? As far as I am concerned, the Lego Group did not make any public announcements about discontinued support of LDD, so people find out on their own a YEAR after the decision was made. It's not about their decision, it's about miscommunication that happened between the Lego Group and its userbase.

What petition can change is, if enough people will sign it, will show that there's a ton of people who give a damn about their favorite building tool and maybe, just maybe, make The Lego Group consider to do something for them. Usually petitions are made to show how many people actually care! Because for all we know, The Lego Group may think that after DesignByMe service was closed, nobody cares about LDD anymore.

[RoastPotato]

At least it would show the demand for the product and an indication of active users.

If TLG don't want to support it after seeing the demand, another group might?

[deskp]

A petition won't hurt so why not.

[Murdoch17]

As I said on Brickset: I have been using LDD since 2005, and have been building models first in LDD and then in real life ever since LEGO Universe Mode (later called Extended) was hinted at. (You had to go add the section into a certain line of code... remember that?) This really makes me sad, as i have been hoping for a least a little update for release of source code since the last update "window" was missed in Fall 2014. I have build 99% of my trains, buildings and other stuff using this program, and feel like a long-time friend who was a in accident and was expected to pull though (new updates) or have transplant (LDD source code being opened) someday suddenly went critical.

In short: please LEGO, If your reading this: reconsider and don't let LEGO Digital Designer die this way!

Oh, and hell yes I support a petition to show them we really care about LDD.

[vean]

A mean value of almost 100€ per set, too delirious new themes and no future update for LDD, it's too much for me.....I will become a member of PCC Edited January 20, 2016 by vean

[___]

...I will become a member of PCC

...looks extremely promising (I think I'm gonna make some BR MODs for those )!

Edited January 20, 2016 by bublible

[Helgi]

http://brickset.com/article/18789/rip-ldd:

"Good Afternoon everyone, I've just touched base with one of our Digital Product Specialists within the Consumer Services team. A business decision has been made to no longer allocate resources towards the LDD program / initiative.

"For now, the program will continue to be offered to anyone interested in utilizing it but please do not expect any updates regarding functionality, the adding of new LEGO elements or glitch fixes. We have decided to pursue other digital experiences.

"Although this may not be the answer you were hoping for, I hope this information will be of use to your RLUG members. Thank you for your time and continued support for the LEGO Brand & hobby."

[xboxtravis7992]

Pity no more updates! I was hoping to see some new Bionicle parts on there. At least nearly every System brick is on there, but in a few years it will look out of date.

[TomKraut]

TLG knows how many users LDD has. How? Because they can track how many times the part updates have been downloaded. Of course that number isn't accurate, but it is enough for them to base their decision on. So a petition isn't going to change anything. We also don't know how extensive the work required for LDD was. Maybe the last team member that worked on the program quit and it would be too expensive to train someone to continue supporting it, which brought about this "business decision".

Hopefully they will dedicate some of the resources freed up from LDD to supporting free alternatives like LDraw, for example through part updates.

[jhuyser]

You know maybe its time some one made a new LEGO cad program better than LDraw that's more like LDD.

[Dornbi]

@teabox: Thanks for posting the response, at least it makes the situation clear. Btw. I think TLG would have created less confusion and better tune expectations if they would have announced this publicly at the time when the decision was made rather than forcing users have to go through special channels to get information well after the deal is done. But at least it is kept available for the time being.

Afaict the impact is:

- no part updates

- no support (see LDD on OS X El Capitan thread).

Yeah, I do not think a petition would change much. TLG already knows how many users the tool has. And also I do not think the number is that convincing by itself.

I think the best chance is to somehow show the impact of LDD on the community. Just to throw in random ideas:

- Poll creators of well-recognized publications (e.g. HispaBrick, BrickJournal).

- Do the same for some exhibitions: say X% of the exhibitors at BrickCon / wherever say they could not have done it without LDD.

It is also a good question what to push for:

- Ideally, keep LDD alive how it was before.

- I doubt TLG will make the part geometries public. They went to great lengths to prevent this with Ldd2PovRay for example. My guess is their biggest concern is to make the geometry available to competitors - TLG probably spent quite a lot of effort optimizing that the parts are safe, they last, etc. By releasing the geometry it would be pretty easy for others to copy them.

- I would be actually pretty happy if there would be a way to just fix that damn LDD El Capitan thing .

[zux]

You know maybe its time some one made a new LEGO cad program better than LDraw that's more like LDD.

Maybe you just don't know how to cook use LDraw? :)

[TheRebricker]

Has no one considered what this may be:

I've just touched base with one of our Digital Product Specialists within the Consumer Services team. A business decision has been made to no longer allocate resources towards the LDD program / initiative. For now, the program will continue to be offered to anyone interested in utilizing it but please do not expect any updates regarding functionality, the adding of new LEGO elements or glitch fixes. We have decided to pursue other digital experiences. Although this may not be the answer you were hoping for, I hope this information will be of use to your RLUG members. Thank you for your time and continued support for the LEGO Brand & hobby.

While this may be in reference to Lego Dimensions, might it perhaps be a hint at a full redesign of the digital designer under a new name? Perhaps something with a mobile interface and a way of linking parts usage to the pick a brick availability for pick a brick style parts ordering.(ALL SPECULATION!)

[Scrubs]

Will this section of the forum be renamed?

[Eggyslav]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, I'm done. Rest in Peace LDD.