Would you rather build in person or online?

[Grand Admiral Green]

Would you rather build in person or online?

"A very interesting question..."

- Threepio Studio, My fellow friend

Thanks, but for me, this is an easy question:

In Person. ALL my life I have been experiencing the classic LEGO Bricks. 

I would want to spend those day trying to build some MOC or set.

BUT (and this is a big but)

The thing about online (for me) is that you don't get your fingers hurt.

And you could get nicer Pictures.

But still, I would Rather spend the rest of my life with bricks

Reply if you have a different response.

One of my First Sets!

 

 

Online

Edited December 13, 2021 by Grand Admiral Green
My friend wanted to show his name!

[Pinnacle]

I have to say, I like both. At first, I want to draw my MOCs with a LEGO-drawing programme. And when I’m satisfied whit the virtual result, I start with the realisation of the actual MOC.

It is the ideal combination for me, and it works very well.

[metalgeekzy]

I think it's more rewarding to build with your own Legos rather then virtual ones.

 

And how do you show off your cool Lego moc creation? "Come check out this cool build, it's on my computer"

[koalayummies]

1 hour ago, metalgeekzy said:

And how do you show off your cool Lego moc creation? "Come check out this cool build, it's on my computer"

That's without question the most prevalent way MOCs are shared. The internet.

[JRBricks]

I love the hands-on, building and constructing with Lego. I’m not creative enough to “build” on the computer. I appreciate those that do, but for me, I’m an in-person guy. 

[KotZ]

I love both. Although i find myself more distracted by digital building because I can browse the internet or something. Digital is great for planning for me, but physical building is the best.

Ok I understand I'm hypocritical saying physical is the best when I love both, but there are pros and cons to each.

[Takanuinuva]

I prefer digital first. Then real life. That way I can see what parts I have available and what I need to order.

[MaximillianRebo]

Digital first for me. The unlimited part selection available digitally means I can keep tweaking designs, saving older ideas to come back to, put two different builds of the same model side by side to compare which one I prefer. All of this done with Bricklink open in a browser so I can check that my model doesn't end up full of expensive/obscure parts! Then the real life build will often involve redesigns when I discover a connection isn't as stable as it appeared to be, there's a 1mm collision between two parts when Stud.io said it will be ok .... So in the end it's a bit of back and forth between digital and reality but it always starts with digital. Also it's great to see a model that originally only existed virtually come to life on your desk.

[Feuer Zug]

I'm an old school, hands on person. I tried digital,but the fun wasn't there. I enjoy actually having something I can hold in my hand at the end and be proud that I created it.

[The Brick Boss]

In person. That's what I grew up on and that's how I want it to remain. 

[dr_spock]

It depends. Since I am in a LUG, in person works best for our events and shows.

I'm finding online is easier and cheaper for some things like participation bricks. I don't have to BrickLink bricks, spend a lot of time engraving, and hand out in person. With online, I can quickly build a custom brick in Stud.io, render it, and email it to those getting one.

Online version

In person version

I'm thinking of giving in person bricks to those who submitted a in person MOC and online bricks to those who submitted an online MOC for my LUG's current advent build challenge.  I haven't given out online before.  I wonder how that is going to go over with my members. 

 

[MAB]

16 hours ago, dr_spock said:

With online, I can quickly build a custom brick in Stud.io, render it, and email it to those getting one.

....  and online bricks to those who submitted an online MOC for my LUG's current advent build challenge.  I haven't given out online before.  I wonder how that is going to go over with my members. 

 

I imagine that feels like getting a Christmas or birthday card by email.

[Lyichir]

I assume by online you just mean on the computer?

I like building physically, but a lot of the time building digitally can be more practical. With digital building I can use a wide variety of parts (ones I have and ones I don't) without having to get out a bunch of my physical parts, which is often easier said than done (since for years now my family's physical collection has been in a perpetual state of being half-sorted, and for various reasons I don't see myself being able to resolve that in the immediate future). Also, it allows me to come up with mods or alternate builds for my sets BEFORE I go through the trouble of disassembling those sets (very useful to make sure I have a plan in place that's worth disassembling those sets before I've done so). And during times of the year like now when new set releases are on the horizon, it allows me to try to "reverse-engineer" upcoming sets to get a better feel for how they're constructed, including techniques I might not have been familiar with.

Now, does that mean digital building is necessarily ideal? Probably not. The fact that digital building requires no sort of cleanup is both a blessing and a curse, since it makes it way easier to get to a point where you have tons of half-finished "works in progress" but no actual completed builds to show off. Also, even I'll admit that digital building makes it harder to get flashes of inspiration for how parts can be used together than when you're manipulating the parts physically in your hand (especially since having the parts sorted into neat categories, again, is a blessing and a curse—you're less likely to come up with novel combinations of very different types of parts than you would be if you had them both physically in front of you). But it's definitely a great option to have, especially when you don't have full, unrestrained access to physical parts to build with.

[Good and Swordy]

In person by a long shot. You can't put loose parts inside containers on most digital programs like you can IRL, and nothing quite beats the satisfaction and fun of holding a physical build.

[LegoDW]

Interesting question.  Have wanted to try virtual building.  Which software package is currently the best?

[dr_spock]

On 12/9/2021 at 4:17 AM, MAB said:

I imagine that feels like getting a Christmas or birthday card by email.

Don't they say it is the thought that counts?  

12 minutes ago, LegoDW said:

Interesting question.  Have wanted to try virtual building.  Which software package is currently the best?

Best for what?   Studio from Bricklink is pretty good.   https://www.bricklink.com/v2/build/studio.page

[koalayummies]

5 hours ago, LegoDW said:

Interesting question.  Have wanted to try virtual building.  Which software package is currently the best?

Yeah 'best' is subjective. Here's two more in addition to Stud.io:

Lego's official LDD: https://www.lego.com/en-us/ldd

And LDraw: https://www.ldraw.org/

And there's also some for phones and tablets.

In addition to this there are rendering tools that accept completed CAD files from these programs to create high-quality renders.

[LegoDW]

7 hours ago, dr_spock said:

Don't they say it is the thought that counts?  

Best for what?   Studio from Bricklink is pretty good.   https://www.bricklink.com/v2/build/studio.page

I will check this one out.  Just want to play around with the software to see what it can do.

2 hours ago, koalayummies said:

Yeah 'best' is subjective. Here's two more in addition to Stud.io:

Lego's official LDD: https://www.lego.com/en-us/ldd

And LDraw: https://www.ldraw.org/

And there's also some for phones and tablets.

In addition to this there are rendering tools that accept completed CAD files from these programs to create high-quality renders.

Is LDD still supported by TLG?  Thought I heard it was no longer.

[koalayummies]

Just now, LegoDW said:

Is LDD still supported by TLG?  Thought I heard it was no longer.

Well it still works great and they still offer it for free directly on their site so that's enough of an endorsement for me. Its really simple to use and quite addictive.

[LegoDW]

On 12/14/2021 at 8:48 PM, koalayummies said:

Well it still works great and they still offer it for free directly on their site so that's enough of an endorsement for me. Its really simple to use and quite addictive.

Sounds like it is still supported them.  Don't recall where I read it was not.  Thank you

[koalayummies]

11 hours ago, LegoDW said:

Sounds like it is still supported them.  Don't recall where I read it was not.  Thank you

Actually I think you're right in that its not getting updated with new pieces. I'm not sure.

[Johnny1360]

I find no joy in digital building, even though I enjoy a good video game. Also don't care much for taking pictures of mocs, and have zero interest in making videos or instructions. Perhaps because I am a relic of a bygone era.

Give me a box of bricks though and I can entertain myself for hours, while all my problems temporarily go by the wayside.

[KotZ]

17 hours ago, LegoDW said:

Sounds like it is still supported them.  Don't recall where I read it was not.  Thank you

Make sure you use the 4.3.11 version instead of 4.3.12. The former has actually more parts for some reason.

I personally use LDD for design and then render/decals in stud.io.

[BrickG]

I actually think LEGO is terrible to build with in software. It's too complicated. Few know the names of pieces or how to find the right ones. While LEGO is the staple of the building toys in the physical world (because it's different for various reasons) it's pretty bad to sift through digitally and build with LEGO. I know some people here would disagree but there's a reason digital LEGO creation software never exploded outside of hardcore fans. It's just too complicated!

It's one thing to have your own physical pieces you're looking for. Another thing to comb through a massive library and get overwhelmed immediately.

Minecraft is the ultimate digital builder because most pieces are just a different colored square :P.

So easy, so approachable. But it works digitally. Nobody would like that in physical form. Stacking just cubes.

 

 

 

Edited December 17, 2021 by BrickG

[LegoDW]

19 hours ago, Johnny1360 said:

I find no joy in digital building, even though I enjoy a good video game. Also don't care much for taking pictures of mocs, and have zero interest in making videos or instructions. Perhaps because I am a relic of a bygone era.

Give me a box of bricks though and I can entertain myself for hours, while all my problems temporarily go by the wayside.

I hear you.  i was the same way.  What got me thinking recently is I have several of the Modular Buildings and they have sat as designed for years.  Would like to change these up a bit, unfortunately don't have the number of spare bricks on hand to moc.  Due to costs, would prefer to figure out my new design and secure any pieced I need vs purchasing a bunch of bricks.