Stud.io V2 Instruction Maker - A Blueprint and LDD Killer?

[anothergol]

18 minutes ago, Ivan_M said:

Premium instructions for large builds are of course niche, your models are size-wise and price wise good balance, but I think SW is oversaturated and very difficult to sell as there are many other options of the same model in many different scales, part counts and either for free and paid as well.

And such people are target of studio, aren't they? Simple way how to make alternate model easily. Import the parts from certain set into pallet so you don't have to look for anything, build it, make instructions, publish. How can it fall into niche of niche? This is pure mainstream.

But we're talking about less than 10 MOCers at best here. Even if they were selling thousands (which I seriously doubt, it's probably a few hundreds at best), it doesn't change that Stud.io has added a tool for these few MOCers alone.

I don't think that my free MOC got a lot of downloads btw (while it got a lot of views), the main reason I made the next ones paid was to track the downloads, not really for money, which is beer money.

*perhaps* BuildBetterBricks are making a living, but these are also selling full kits. Perhaps Brick Vault's business works, but it's their Youtube that works & they added a side business. Perhaps Powerpig's kits do sell because they generally make the news, but they're full kits. But I believe that instructions-sharking is such a small niche that it can be called non-existent.

Btw, have you yourself ever followed instructions from not-a-kit? (and I'm not talking about inspecting someone else's 3D project here, that does make sense for learning & editing purposes)

Edited October 23, 2018 by anothergol

[Ivan_M]

Well I of course don't know how much other builders get from selling instructions, but the problem with your builds are that you sell LDD file only, this is always big obstacle because most people cannot build from 3D file and the generator from LDD is rubbish, esp. for complex snot or technic builds. I have 3 mocs for sell and they basicly generate enough cash to cover my BL orders and that is enough for me.

[anothergol]

8 hours ago, Ivan_M said:

Well I of course don't know how much other builders get from selling instructions, but the problem with your builds are that you sell LDD file only, this is always big obstacle because most people cannot build from 3D file and the generator from LDD is rubbish, esp. for complex snot or technic builds.

But it doesn't matter, the highest number I gave (57) applies to a MOC that was in the top 3 on Rebrickble for some time, & still is in the top-selling page. Thus it's safe to assume that even if the top 2 ones have sold 10x more, which is most likely the highest amount anyone's MOC can aim at, it's -still- a meaningless amount at the end of the day. And it also means that the vast majority has done worse.
Yes, it can pay for parts, it's beer money. It's cool to have, but in no way "profitable", thus is has to remain fun.

Pretty much the same deal with Lego Ideas, which is a lottery version of Rebrickable. In any case I'd never advise anyone to "work" on a Lego project beyond the point where stops being fun.

[supertruper1988]

@anothergol it seems that you are just mad that Stud.io isnt LDD. 

They are different and while it has quirks, Stud.io is newer and so much better than LDD will ever be unless LEGO dumps a bunch into development. The renderer, part availability check, and instruction maker are all VAST improvements over LDD.

LDD was the most user friendly until Stud.io came along. 

[BennyT19]

On 10/24/2018 at 8:10 AM, supertruper1988 said:

@anothergol Stud.io is newer and so much better than LDD will ever be unless LEGO dumps a bunch into development. The renderer, part availability check, and instruction maker are all VAST improvements over LDD.

LDD was the most user friendly until Stud.io came along. 

I agree totally on this, I am a regular designer and run a small business with it.  LDD has the MOST awkward parts grouping I have ever seen.  At least in Stud.io you can enter 1x2 into the search bar and every 1x2 item turns up - you can even use the word 'jumper' for jumper plate or 1x2 mod for modified parts.

LDD is not having any money or time spent on it anytime soon and with the collaboration between Bricklink and TLG for the design competition it seems that LEGO is almost confirming this themselves.

Instruction maker for Stud.io just got another update recently too along with more parts being added to the catalogue so it is quickly becoming the go-to tool.  Maybe it can't do EVERYTHING yet, but I think it time more people are looking at it and more effort is being made to fix things.

As far as MLCAD goes, it is a way steeper learning curve to try than I have time for and I'm in IT, things just don't seem to be intuitive but I have no one to show me and no time for tutorials.

One issue I am getting in Stud.io that is almost becoming a deal breaker with my love for it, is that lately the software isn't saving the design after working on it.  You hit SAVE or SAVE AS and the new changes are NOT being written to the file.  I have lost a couple of hours of design time so far with this and if it continues I am hamstrung from working with it.

Gonna report the bug and see how quick it is addressed.

Good to see so many opinions and recognise that we all work in different ways with different tools for a similar outcome with LEGO.