Bluebrick Layout Software

[missouri_bb63]

I haven't had as much time to dedicate to this as I would like but here are two small contributions.

The tools that are on top of the monorail aren't actually included in the set, but I figured it would add a bit of life to the GIF. I didn't make separate GIFs for each train section this time but let me know if you would like to have them split up.

Don't forget that if you make your MOCs with a CAD program (especially buildings, even if they are just initial designs), you can easily turn them into GIFs as well. This might help you to visualize your layout when preparing for a Lego event.

GIF XML : Airport Shuttle Set 3 (Shuttle Train)

GIF XML : Electric Passenger Train

Edited March 27, 2010 by missouri_bb63

[missouri_bb63]

To all BlueBrick users, we need your help to fix a bug!

This seems to be a really tough one. Alban and I have just been trying to figure out why some of the BlueBrick parts seem to be "glowing" on my laptop. Eurobricks user Richie seems to have the same problem (sorry Richie that I haven't given you enough time to reply to the PM I sent earlier).

Take a look at the screenshot below and let us know if you are having the same issues. It seems to affect the points and the crossings, and a few of the set gifs (I think... but it is hard to tell). For some reason the straight and curved track pieces do not seem to glow, and neither do the old points from the 1.3 version of the program... and it does not appear to be an issue with the GIF themselves.

After Alban tried all kinds of modifications to the program, we are starting to wonder whether it is either a Hardware, OS or driver problem. I have the following setup:

Windows 7 Ultimate x64, Invidia Quadro FX 770M graphics card (with up to date drivers), and version 2.0 of the .Net Framework. click here to find out which NET version you have.

Even if you don't have the problem please let us know which specs you have because then we might be able to rule something out.

Richie, please let me know your setup so we can see if there are any similarities between our setups.

Thanks everyone!

Edited March 28, 2010 by missouri_bb63

[missouri_bb63]

Problem Solved

Ok, it turned out to be a problem with the transparency settings on the GIFs. For some reason some hardware/software configurations made them glow. Here are the fixed GIFs. I will have to go through all the new GIFs at some point before the next release, but I think these were the ones where the problem was the most obvious.

GIF

GIF

GIF

GIF

Edited March 29, 2010 by missouri_bb63

[Alban Nanty]

Hi,

A new post to tell you that I'm still hardly working on the next version (1.6), but I don't have a release date in mind for now. I finally managed to implement the missing feature that everybody was waiting for (even if you didn't know you were waiting for it): a smart part snapping for bricks that have connection points. I also improved the grid snapping that was a little buggy. You can ask missouri for his feelings about these new features.

It took me 3 days to make it work just fine. I hope you will like it

Bye.

[missouri_bb63]

Hi,

A new post to tell you that I'm still hardly working on the next version (1.6), but I don't have a release date in mind for now. I finally managed to implement the missing feature that everybody was waiting for (even if you didn't know you were waiting for it): a smart part snapping for bricks that have connection points. I also improved the grid snapping that was a little buggy. You can ask missouri for his feelings about these new features.

It took me 3 days to make it work just fine. I hope you will like it

Bye.

What Alban actually wanted to say was "working hard" and not "hardly working" as he has been up until the very early hours of the morning working on these new features and sending me new .exe files to try out on an hourly basis.

I think you guys will really like the improved snapping feature. It is really precise and versatile, and it will definitely save even more time during the layout design than the previous version. In the mean time I am writing a small article on about BlueBrick for Brickwiki and I got some lego bricks out of storage so hopefully I can actually start building stuff soon.

[Alban Nanty]

What Alban actually wanted to say was "working hard" and not "hardly working" ...

Ah yes, sorry for the mistake.

[Davey]

Great to hear V1.6 is almost out. I'm using it almost daily in preparation for Brickworld 2010. I also used BlueBrick to design the layout we displayed at the 2010 La Crosse Model Train Show and my current basement layout.

Thanks guys!

-Davey

[Alban Nanty]

I'm very glad to hear that! I'm very happy to feel that I (and "we", including all the contributors) am doing usefull stuff for some people.

Don't hesitate to share your layout after the event (to keep some suspens for the event day), at least a screenshot

[Beej]

I just wanted to say thanks for all your work Alban, and everyone who has contributed to Bluebrick. I'm designing a new layout at the moment, and Bluebrick has been essential for setting out everything within the space limitations. Great work so far, I hope you can keep it up!

[Alban Nanty]

Hi,

Just a message to tell you that I've finished the implementation of the support for multiple Track Designer Registry. That's greater than you can imagine, because that means BlueBrick can becomes a CONVERTER of TDL files written with different registry: imagine you have created a TDL with the registry used inside your LUG/TLC then you want to share this TDL with another AFOL used to use another TD registry. Before your friend also had too download your registry. Now with BlueBrick 1.6, you will be able to load the TDL file and save it again, it will then be saved for the current registry used on your machine.

Bye.

[AllanSmith]

I can get fold out tables 30" x 60". I would love a Bluebrick table 3 baseplates x 6 baseplates to design with. Any chase of getting one? thanks

[lar]

I can get fold out tables 30" x 60". I would love a Bluebrick table 3 baseplates x 6 baseplates to design with. Any chase of getting one? thanks

You should find these in the standard parts library under "tables", I believe. They even have woodgrain and everything. :)

The BrickWiki article is coming along. It can use more work if folk are interested.

http://brickwiki.org/wiki/BlueBrick

I am using BB to do the MTW layout for Brickworld 2010 as well. One thing I would like to see would be the possibility of better table alignment. We are using the 30x72 banquet tables supplied by the convention/hotel. They always snap to the grid at the upper left. I would love a way to say "use the lower right for your snap to for this positioning" because we are going to set them up with gaps. Even without gaps they don't position quite right as 2 inches (the overage) isn't an exact multiple of any stud dimension (although 1/2 stud is close enough I guess)

[AllanSmith]

You should find these in the standard parts library under "tables", I believe. They even have woodgrain and everything. :)

Bluebrick only has 30x48, 30x72 and 30x96 I need a 30x60

[missouri_bb63]

Bluebrick only has 30x48, 30x72 and 30x96 I need a 30x60

Hi! I made the table for you. It has been a while so I hope I got the measurements right. It seems to be slightly shorter than 6, 32 stud baseplates in length. Is that right?

Click here to get the file. I am not going to deeplink it as the file is huge.

Let me know if the measurements are off.

I uploaded the new BrickWiki article today. It is still very much under construction though so you guys might want to leave it for a day or two. At the moment we are having some problems getting the screenshots to upload.

Further news. We have been focusing quite a bit on getting the compatability with the Track Designer libraries finalized. Much work has, and will continue to be done on adding more baseplates. Today I downloaded parts lists from Bricklink and realized that we are actually missing quite a few (16x8 studs and over), so I will try to get as many of those done as possible. As many of them don't exist in .ldr format, I will probably take similar baseplates and do a little bit of photoshop editing. Let's see how it goes.

You should find these in the standard parts library under "tables", I believe. They even have woodgrain and everything. :)

The BrickWiki article is coming along. It can use more work if folk are interested.

http://brickwiki.org/wiki/BlueBrick

I am using BB to do the MTW layout for Brickworld 2010 as well. One thing I would like to see would be the possibility of better table alignment. We are using the 30x72 banquet tables supplied by the convention/hotel. They always snap to the grid at the upper left. I would love a way to say "use the lower right for your snap to for this positioning" because we are going to set them up with gaps. Even without gaps they don't position quite right as 2 inches (the overage) isn't an exact multiple of any stud dimension (although 1/2 stud is close enough I guess)

It is great to hear that yet another person is using BlueBrick for Brickworld. It would be great if you guys could post your layouts here after the event. I won't be able to make it to Brickworld but I would really like to see what you guys created (of course actual pictures would be great too).

That is an interesting idea for a feature by the way, but just like you said, setting the grid to 1/2 stud should be accurate enough for this purpose. Keep the ideas coming!

Edited April 12, 2010 by missouri_bb63

[AllanSmith]

Hi! I made the table for you. It has been a while so I hope I got the measurements right. It seems to be slightly shorter than 6, 32 stud baseplates in length. Is that right?

Click here to get the file. I am not going to deeplink it as the file is huge.

Let me know if the measurements are off.

Have sent you PM re increase to 6 baseplates long. Many thanks.

edit: 6 x 32 = 192 not 190

Edited April 12, 2010 by AllanSmith

[missouri_bb63]

Have sent you PM re increase to 6 baseplates long. Many thanks.

edit: 6 x 32 = 192 not 190

Yup, according to my initial calculation, 60" was 2 studs short of 6 full baseplates, which is why I thought I should ask. Here is the new fille. Let me know if you need anymore GIFs.

Edited April 12, 2010 by missouri_bb63

[Alban Nanty]

Hi,

I've finished the big changes I wanted to do for the 1.6 version. The version now enters into its testing days to be sure of the statibily and to find the potential bugs that would be introduced by the refactoring. Meantime, I've sent the new translation changes to all the translators and I'm now waiting for their feedback.

You can expect the release in less than 2 weeks.

Bye.

[Mike Walsh]

Hi,

I've finished the big changes I wanted to do for the 1.6 version. The version now enters into its testing days to be sure of the statibily and to find the potential bugs that would be introduced by the refactoring. Meantime, I've sent the new translation changes to all the translators and I'm now waiting for their feedback.

You can expect the release in less than 2 weeks.

Bye.

Will we see scroll bars? IMHO they are the biggest missing feature you have right now.

Mike

[Alban Nanty]

Will we see scroll bars? IMHO they are the biggest missing feature you have right now.

Unfortunatly, I will not implement the scrollbars because they are against the philosophy of the Editor. If you already have open 3DSMax, Maya or even MLCAD you will notice that there's no scrollbar, and you don't complain because there's no scrollbar in MLCAD, right?

Why? Because you don't need it when you edit an infinite world without boundaries, instead of moving the document you move the view.

To solve your problem, use the middle mouse button (click on the wheel and move the mouse), just like in MLCAD.

Bye.

[Alban Nanty]

Hi,

For now, I've received the Dutch and Spanish translation and they are integrated. If you know the other BlueBrick translators (Italian, German, Portuguese) because maybe they are in your LUG, don't hesitate to give them some pressure

I still plan to release the version 1.6 this weekend.

Bye.

[Rumpelmuck]

Hello again!

I started planning a "LEGOLAND" Layout for "LEGO Fanwelt" in Cologne, november this year. We're going to display sets from 1958 to 1977. So I have to design the GIFs and XMLs for that area I want to share.

Weetabix Castle

GIF

XML

House w Miniwheel car

GIF

XML

Swiss Villa

GIF

XML

These are the first "shots". More GIFs will come.

Regards!

Thomas

Edited April 28, 2010 by Rumpelmuck

[Rumpelmuck]

Some more!

Church

GIF

XML

House

GIF

XML

House w Garage

GIF

XML

Small house

GIF

XML

...and still working ;-)

[missouri_bb63]

Hi Rumpelmuck, thanks so much for the contributions! Send me a PM to let me know whether they can be put in with the next BlueBrick release. It would be great if you could post some pictures of the event which you will be participating in at the end of the year!

[missouri_bb63]

It's me again, this time with a quick update.

Version 1.6 will probably be released on Monday. We are just finishing up the help files and some other bits and pieces. I think the Brickwiki article is pretty much done for now. Check it out here and let us know if you think we should change anything. I have also just uploaded the Spanish translations for video tutorials 1-2 which you can find here. If you happen to be a member of Spanish or Latin American LUGs, or if you know someone who is, it would be great if the link could be posted on the appropriate sites.

Thanks!

Edited May 1, 2010 by missouri_bb63

[Mike Walsh]

Unfortunatly, I will not implement the scrollbars because they are against the philosophy of the Editor. If you already have open 3DSMax, Maya or even MLCAD you will notice that there's no scrollbar, and you don't complain because there's no scrollbar in MLCAD, right?

Why? Because you don't need it when you edit an infinite world without boundaries, instead of moving the document you move the view.

To solve your problem, use the middle mouse button (click on the wheel and move the mouse), just like in MLCAD.

Bye.

MLCAD support scroll bars. They aren't turned on by default but if you want them, you can turn them on with a simple menu pick. And I do. Once you turn them on, MLCAD even remembers that you like them on so they stay on from session to session until you turn them off.

BlueBrick is your application and you are free to implement or not implement whatever features you want. That said, just because you don't like using scroll bars doesn't mean they aren't a valid usage model. I've worked in the CAD business for 20 years and none, as in zero, of the tools we sell, don't support scroll bars. Just about all of them support pan and zoom in one form or another as well.

I'd rather you tell me you aren't going to implement scroll bars because you don't like them than tell me I am wrong because I prefer a different usage paradigm than you do.

My $0.02, YMMV.

Mike