Custom LDD bricks and fixes

[BrokenEye]

9 hours ago, Stephan said:

No, power shield are printed! But the Ninjago one and the HP Hogwarts crest (among others) are stickers :)

the small triangle is from the Lego Movie 2 set, where the sticker included a Lime of Earth Blue background as well (I'll add them for this batch).

Ah, adding rounded corners to those'll be easy then.

[BrokenEye]

Done

Spoiler

 

Edited March 19, 2022 by BrokenEye

[BrokenEye]

Just a quick refinement:

[Qahne]

I'm wondering if it would be possible to make the standard cape piece dual coloured, ie, one colour for outside and one for inside, or is it too complex a piece to separate like that? There are texture files for deco for some of the capes that are unused, so maybe TLG planned it and gave up.

Also, the Rodian head (part 47545) is decorable by default, but there's no textures for it. I made the original 2004 texture years ago using the textures from Lego Star Wars The Video Game as a base, I'm not sure it's up to the quality standards set here, but it shows the UV mapping if anyone wants to improve on it or add additional textures. SurfaceID is 1.

, 

Edited March 11, 2022 by Qahne

[BrokenEye]

6 minutes ago, Qahne said:

I'm wondering if it would be possible to make the standard cape piece dual coloured, ie, one colour for outside and one for inside, or is it too complex a piece to separate like that? There are texture files for deco for some of the capes that are unused, so maybe TLG planned it and gave up.

I submitted a couple of cape decos a while back with the same thoughts in mind, but I don't think anything ever came of it.

[suenkachun]

On 2/24/2022 at 11:30 PM, suenkachun said:

According to the latest standards found, LDD can accept either Square Decorations or Rectangular Decorations which are the power of two. Rectangles only include the following: 1×2, 1×4, 2×4, 1×8 and 8×16, while Squares are used for both Square surfaces and irregular surfaces (including regular rectangles 2×3 and 1×6) in which the longer side is usually compressed to form a Square. The largest Decoration size accepted by LDD is 1024 Pixels times 1024 Pixels, which should be the default dimensions of all Square (and compressed irregular) LDD Decorations. For the five Rectangles, 1 Brick=64 Pixels; so we have 1×2/2×4/8×16=512 Pixels times 1024 Pixels, 1×4=256 Pixels times 1024 Pixels and 1×8=128 Pixels times 1024 Pixels. Please also remember that all Decoration PNG files must have a “Bit Depth” of 32 for everything to be displayed properly.

There is at least one known exception: the newer element Part 69729 Tile 2×6 (also Part 63864 Flat Tile 1×3 which is under the same ratio) has an updated Decoration Mapping which can be found in this earlier post within this topic. For more details regarding LDD Decoration sizes, check out this handy three-page PDF which includes information regarding the dimensions of common LEGO Brick Surfaces which are currently decoratable in LDD.

Thanks to the latest information available regarding Part 3062 Round Brick 1×1, I have just updated the PDF Guide (now four pages) which can be found here. The information within the Guide can help everyone design the most accurate Decoration PNG images of common regular Bricks for use in LDD, whether they are your custom creations or official images to be submitted here for future LDD updates. The information below highlights irregular Decorations and Decorations regarding Part 63864 Flat Tile 1×3, Part 69729 Tile 2×6 And Part 3062 Round Brick 1×1. Thanks in advance and I hope that this will be useful.

All irregular Decorations (including regular rectangles 2×3 and 1×6): make the shorter side 1024 Pixels then compress the longer side into 1024 Pixels to form a maximum Square, check PDF for exact values.

Part 63864 Flat Tile 1×3 And Part 69729 Tile 2×6: Create Decoration as 1024 Pixels times 3072 Pixels, then scale down to 338 Pixels times 1014 Pixels. Compress 1014 Pixels into 1012 Pixels (two Pixels less) without changing the other side or cropping the image, unless the last Pixel on either side only contains a single plain Colour which will only be cut off if not compressed. Align the latest Decoration (338 Pixels times 1014/1012 Pixels) to the centre of a Blank or Transparent 1024 Pixels times 1024 Pixels Square and output as PNG for use.

Part 3062 Round Brick 1×1: Create Decoration within a 1024 Pixels times 960 Pixels Rectangle, then align Rectangle to the centre of a Blank or Transparent 1024 Pixels times 1024 Pixels Square and output as PNG for use.

If the Decoration is created as an actual Sticker to be printed and used in real life (therefore using the standard of 1 Brick Width=0.75 cm and 1 Brick Height=0.9 cm), the PDF can help scale up the Decoration into the best LDD standards. Some Bricks will end up in the same enlarged size despite the different original Brick sizes, as their base ratios are the same (e.g., Decorations for Brick 1×2 And Brick 2×2 Front Vertical Surface/Roof Tile 1×2×2/3, Abs Main Slope/Roof Tile 3×4/25° Main Slope/Brick 2×6×3 Front Vertical Surface will all end up being 1024 Pixels times 1706.66667 Pixels, to be compressed into a maximum Square).

[Mobieus69]

Out of curiosity, why 32 bit?  It's not a bit depth that is typically used much for most images.  My decorations (which all happen to be standard 8 bit) seem to show up fine in the program.  All of the current official Lego decorations in the decoration folder are 8 bit as well.

Now that I'm looking at them, the new decorations added by @Stephan are 8 bit also.

Edited March 11, 2022 by Mobieus69

[suenkachun]

11 minutes ago, Mobieus69 said:

Out of curiosity, why 32 bit?  It's not a bit depth that is typically used much for most images.  My decorations (which all happen to be standard 8 bit) seem to show up fine in the program.  All of the current official Lego decorations in the decoration folder are 8 bit as well.

Now that I'm looking at them, the new decorations added by @Stephan are 8 bit also.

Using my own personal experience, I once tried inserting a Decoration with only text in one plain colour (LEGO White) and a Transparent background, then they ended up with display issues in LDD (I recall it only having a “Bit Depth” of 8). Not sure why this is the case, but I always stick with the highest “Bit Depth” of 32 to ensure that everything can be displayed correctly error-free. I will look into this and possibly post an example a bit later.

P.S., a “Bit Depth” of 32 is actually taken from the original LDD Decorations compressed into 128 Pixels times 128 Pixels Squares, so I stuck with this always.

Edited March 11, 2022 by suenkachun

[Mobieus69]

12 minutes ago, suenkachun said:

Using my own personal experience, I once tried inserting a Decoration with only text in one plain colour (LEGO White) and a Transparent background, then they ended up with display issues in LDD (I recall it only having a “Bit Depth” of 8). Not sure why this is the case, but I always stick with the highest “Bit Depth” of 32 to ensure that everything can be displayed correctly error-free. I will look into this and possibly post an example a bit later.

It just seems kind of odd that the Lego Group would have their own decorations at a standard 8 bit if 32 was truly a requirement.

12 minutes ago, suenkachun said:

P.S., a “Bit Depth” of 32 is actually taken from the original LDD Decorations compressed into 128 Pixels times 128 Pixels Squares, so I stuck with this always.

Hmmmm, interesting.

Edited March 11, 2022 by Mobieus69

[suenkachun]

7 minutes ago, Mobieus69 said:

It just seems kind of odd that the Lego Group would have their own decorations at a standard 8 bit if 32 was truly a requirement.

I just checked again using my Windows 11 Laptop. When browsing the Decorations folder, right-click any PNG image and open its Image Properties. Take 300901, which was my contribution earlier, open its Image Properties and navigate to the third Tab Details. Underneath the three lines regarding Image Dimensions, there should be a line saying “Bit Depth” 32. I also did a quick Google search below and the relevant information can be seen clearly via images.

https://www.google.com.hk/search?q=image+properties+bit+depth&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwi_uNKYvL72AhWsxosBHWuxAMoQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=image+properties+bit+depth&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzoECAAQEzoICAAQBRAeEBM6CAgAEAgQHhATOgUIABCABDoECAAQHjoGCAAQHhATOgYIABAIEB5QkQtYhjRg7TVoAHAAeACAAXKIAbAOkgEEMjAuMpgBAKABAaoBC2d3cy13aXotaW1nwAEB&sclient=img&ei=sHcrYr-gLayNr7wP6-KC0Aw&bih=676&biw=1536

Simply speaking, this value can usually be 8, 16, 24 or 32 from personal experience, and those which do not equal 32 may end up having display issues in LDD.

[Mobieus69]

11 minutes ago, suenkachun said:

I just checked again using my Windows 11 Laptop. When browsing the Decorations folder, right-click any PNG image and open its Image Properties. Take 300901, which was my contribution earlier, open its Image Properties and navigate to the third Tab Details. Underneath the three lines regarding Image Dimensions, there should be a line saying “Bit Depth” 32. I also did a quick Google search below and the relevant information can be seen clearly via images.

https://www.google.com.hk/search?q=image+properties+bit+depth&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwi_uNKYvL72AhWsxosBHWuxAMoQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=image+properties+bit+depth&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzoECAAQEzoICAAQBRAeEBM6CAgAEAgQHhATOgUIABCABDoECAAQHjoGCAAQHhATOgYIABAIEB5QkQtYhjRg7TVoAHAAeACAAXKIAbAOkgEEMjAuMpgBAKABAaoBC2d3cy13aXotaW1nwAEB&sclient=img&ei=sHcrYr-gLayNr7wP6-KC0Aw&bih=676&biw=1536

Simply speaking, this value can usually be 8, 16, 24 or 32 from personal experience, and those which do not equal 32 may end up having display issues in LDD.

Well, damn.  You're right. I think I figured out what my issue was.  I've been opening them in Photoshop assuming that they would open in their native bit depth and then looking at the "mode" which is always in 8 (hence why I thought they were 8).  When I check image properties (even my most recent custom decorations) all say 32.  Which is interesting, because I've been working in 8bit mode in PS.  Maybe it's a function of saving to PNG?  I always choose no compression when asked.

Edited March 11, 2022 by Mobieus69

[SylvainLS]

There’s “8bits” and then there’s “8bits.”

One value is the total size of a pixel (bit depth), the other is the size of a channel.  You can have PNG files in 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 bits per channel and 1, 2, 3 or 4 channels (indexed, greyscale, grey+alpha, RGB, RGBA).

“Bit depth” = bits per channel multiplied by number of channels.

“Bit depth 32” = 4 channels (RGBA) with 8 bits each.

“Bit depth 8” = either indexed (there’s a palette of 256 colours, and each pixel has a colour) or greyscale (256 levels of grey).

Generally, “8/16bits” means 8/16 bits channels and RGB(A) channels (so a bit depth of 32 or 64).

[suenkachun]

Just now, SylvainLS said:

There’s “8bits” and then there’s “8bits.”

One value is the total size of a pixel (bit depth), the other is the size of a channel.  You can have PNG files in 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 bits per channel and 1, 2, 3 or 4 channels (indexed, greyscale, grey+alpha, RGB, RGBA).

“Bit depth” = bits per channel multiplied by number of channels.

“Bit depth 32” = 4 channels (RGBA) with 8 bits each.

“Bit depth 8” = either indexed (there’s a palette of 256 colours, and each pixel has a colour) or greyscale (256 levels of grey).

Generally, “8/16bits” means 8/16 bits channels and RGB(A) channels (so a bit depth of 32 or 64).

Thanks for the info, did not know that before!

[SylvainLS]

4 minutes ago, suenkachun said:

Thanks for the info, did not know that before!

No problem… it just means you’re too young to have had to write your own code when you wanted to write images (ah, Ye olden times of BMP and TGA) 

[Mobieus69]

10 minutes ago, SylvainLS said:

There’s “8bits” and then there’s “8bits.”

One value is the total size of a pixel (bit depth), the other is the size of a channel.  You can have PNG files in 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 bits per channel and 1, 2, 3 or 4 channels (indexed, greyscale, grey+alpha, RGB, RGBA).

“Bit depth” = bits per channel multiplied by number of channels.

“Bit depth 32” = 4 channels (RGBA) with 8 bits each.

“Bit depth 8” = either indexed (there’s a palette of 256 colours, and each pixel has a colour) or greyscale (256 levels of grey).

Generally, “8/16bits” means 8/16 bits channels and RGB(A) channels (so a bit depth of 32 or 64).

Ohhhh, did not know that either.  Cool.

[suenkachun]

The following visual example will further demonstrate that a “Bit Depth” of 32 is necessary for LDD Decorations.

The above image is a simple set of Bright Yellow Road Markings to be used on a Part 87079 Flat Tile 2×4, with Dimensions 512 Pixels times 1024 Pixels and “Bit Depth” 8.

The second image above is the same set of Bright Yellow Road Markings to be used on a Part 87079 Flat Tile 2×4, with Dimensions 512 Pixels times 1024 Pixels and “Bit Depth” 32.

Insert both into LDD and the first image on the left will not render correctly and end up being just a Black surface, while the second image will render correctly.

As a result, having a “Bit Depth” of 32 will always ensure that more Colour information is included in the image coding and everything will be displayed correctly in LDD, even when the Decoration only uses one Colour.

[Mobieus69]

@suenkachun Like I said, when I checked their image properties, all mine are 32 as well.  I guess I've been saving them with the correct bit depth without realizing it.  I typically work in 8bit mode in Photoshop, but didn't think about the fact that that was "per channel" and there are three channels (RGB) plus the transparency channel.  All good.  Learned something new.

Now I'm looking at all the other artwork I've ever made, (Tiff files for print mostly), and realizing that their total bit depth is 24, again because it's multiple channels.  8 for R, 8 for G, and 8 for B.  PNG just has the extra one for transparency.  Cool!  Brain wrinkle added.

Edited March 11, 2022 by Mobieus69

[BrokenEye]

Hey, you know how 2489 (Barrel 2 x 2 x 2) and 15395 (Brick, Dome 2x2, Inverted W. One Stud) have that rim at the top that other round 2x2 bricks can connect to? Currently only 4150 (Flat Tile 2x2, Round), 14769 (Flat Tile 2x2, Round), 15535 (Flat Tile 2x2 Round W. Hole), 18674 (Plate Round W. 1 Knob), 30033 (Parabolic Ring), 75937 (Parabolic Ring), 98284 (Plate Round 2x2 W. Ver.Shaft), 14918 (Nosecone 2x2x2), 3942 (Nose Cone 2x2x2), 28598 (Design Brick 2x2x3, No.1), 74698 (Round Plate 2x2 W/Eye), 2376 (Round Plate 2x2 W/Eye), 2349 (Dustbin), 15469 (Plate 2x2,2/3 W/Khridshul& Crown Leaf), 19798 (Undercarriage 2x2x2), 3940 (Undercarriage 2x2x2), 69073 (Design Brick 2x2x2, W. 1 Knob Minion), 68986 (Design Brick 2x2x1 2/3, W/ 2 Knobs, No.2 Minion) and 2489 itself can actually connect to it. I'm pretty sure that all 2x2 round pieces with that same sort of bottom--that is, unless I've missed any, 6143 (Brick ∅16 W. Cross), 92947 (Bruck ∅16.83 W. Cross), 18841 (Final Brick 2x2, Tr), 30367 (Final Brick 2x2), 98100 (2x2 Round Slope Brick W. Knob), 30151 (Glass Case), 30106 (Crystal Globe), 4591 (Rocket Step 2x2x2), 74169 (Design Element 3x4x2/3 Mickey/Disney Ears), 92962 (Dustbin 2x2x2)--should be able to. I definitely remember a Fright Knights set from my childhood where 30106 was connected directly to the barrel so that a skeleton head could emerge inside the crystal ball when you pressed a little lever (god knows why I remember that, when I barely even remember what my house looked like).

I also think whichever sort of connection allows 1x1 round pieces to connect to the top of 68504 (Utensil Sherbet / Sundae dish) should be replicated in 6269 (Cup Without Wreath), and 33061 (Drinking Glass), since I have definitely seen these connections in the past, and possibly 3899 (Mug), 38014 (Minifig Cup with Bar Handle), 68495 (Minifigure, Utensil Stein / Cup), and 33054 (Mug), which appear to have the same sort of top but which I haven't actually seen this connection on and can't currently confirm. Adding this same connection to the inside (rather than the top) of 12884 (Bucket Straight), 95343 (Bucket), 4529 (Pot), and 98374 (Mini Pot) may help emulate the way in which 1x1 round pieces fit easily inside these containers without actually connecting to them, which is sometimes used in builds.

[Mobieus69]

Updated my UCS AT-AT 75313 decorations.  Just realized I had saved them in the wrong color profile (Adobe 1998, which is better for print), when they should be sRGB since they are being used exclusively on screen.  Fixed now.  https://www.flickr.com/photos/70706671@N03/albums/72177720297205047

[BrokenEye]

So remember how I said I was going to take a break to focus on other projects? Well, that's not how things turned out. Here are all the yellow Nexo Knights power shields, and also a handful of decals for 30259 (Triangular Sign W. Snap).

Lemme know if you want me to go back to using spoiler tags, by the way. I'm just doing what I see other people doing, and have no idea what the best practices actually are for this.

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

- weird how the shields with a different color background seems to have mostly dried up by now

 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited March 19, 2022 by BrokenEye

[Calabar]

@BrokenEye

Using the spoiler tag would surely be a better practice.
Even better if you divide the the illustrations in more thematic groups, to more easily access them.

 

[BrokenEye]

9 hours ago, Calabar said:

Even better if you divide the the illustrations in more thematic groups, to more easily access them. 

 

So f'rinstance, putting the Power Shields from this last post behind one spoiler tag, and putting the triangular signs behind a separate one?

[Calabar]

@BrokenEye

Exactly.
Even better more than two groups (maybe four or five), as a single group would require a very long scrolling as it contains many elements.

[BrokenEye]

@Calabar

So, say, the red rimmed signs in one group, the yellow-rimmed signs in another, the black-rimmed in a third, and the miscellaneous signs that don't fit any of those molds in a final grouping, something like that? And I suppose I can figure out something similar for the power shields. Yeah, I can make that work. I'll even go back and edit it if you like.

[Calabar]

@BrokenEye

It seems a good solution