Lego Building App for iPhone

[Superkalle]

Screenshots aren't looking all that bad. I'd like to see some of the above mentioned features before I consider buying it, though.

It only costs 1 dollar so what do you have to loose

[SpiderSpaceman]

Yeah my 1 USD is in transit to your pocket

and I'll go get to review writing on the app store

and just a note, I love the interface, I love the whoosh when changing views, and I love the brick turning (though I could stand something where you don't have to turn it quite so far, maybe just a more sensitive 'flick' in the direction)

for me lack of SNOT doesn't matter as much as inability to attach bricks to the underside of things... (I'd like to see a way to flick to another view once in the view from the top, like a view from the side, so you can pull out bricks. or something)

and is there a way to color what's already in place?

Edited December 1, 2010 by SpiderSpaceman

[Whup]

Yeah my 1 USD is in transit to your pocket

and I'll go get to review writing on the app store

and just a note, I love the interface, I love the whoosh when changing views, and I love the brick turning (though I could stand something where you don't have to turn it quite so far, maybe just a more sensitive 'flick' in the direction)

for me lack of SNOT doesn't matter as much as inability to attach bricks to the underside of things... (I'd like to see a way to flick to another view once in the view from the top, like a view from the side, so you can pull out bricks. or something)

and is there a way to color what's already in place?

Thanks for the support guys! Once again, I'll have to address questions properly when I'm at my laptop later. One idea I had for building underneath would be triggered by turning the device upside down. Would that be cool or annoying?

Thanks again everyone!

[Brickdoctor]

It only costs 1 dollar so what do you have to loose

Good point.

Thanks for the support guys! Once again, I'll have to address questions properly when I'm at my laptop later. One idea I had for building underneath would be triggered by turning the device upside down. Would that be cool or annoying?

Thanks again everyone!

I think it'd be okay for building, but it might cause problems if you want to show a creation to someone else in-app.

[Whup]

Here are some captioned screen shots:

I've played around with it a bit and can say that it's a neat little app but in it's current form it isn't really practical for anything other than burning through idle time.

The limitations:

• No ability to load & save models means that you have to always start from scratch.
  
• Limited Parts Catalog limits the complexity of models you can build
  
• No support for SNOT.
  
• No support for iPhone4 Retina Display, the building area graphics are low quality looking on my iPhone4.
  

Now it's not all bad, despite these limitation I actually like the app and I hope the developer is interested in expanding it into something more.

The Good:

• The building interface works well.
  
• It automatically stacks bricks.
  
• It detects proper stud connections.
  
• It allows brick rotation.
  
• It includes a basic (3 screen) tutorial. See my screen shots.
  
• Overhead view makes brick placement easier.
  
• You can rotate the model.
  

While I think the AFOL who uses LDD or LDraw based Lego CAD on their computer will bore quickly I can see younger kids enjoying this app in it's current form.

I think it's current form could serve very well as a "Lite" free version of a much more sophisticated application. If the developer does decide to "amp it up" here are some of my suggestions:

• Add support for iPhone4 Display.
  
• Add support for Save/Load Model.
  
• Add more parts.
  
• Make the basic color palette available for all parts.
  
• Add larger building base options (currently supports 6 x 6, 8 x 8 & 12 x 12)
  

This would make it a fun basic Lego CAD iDevice app for AFOLs.

If you really want to take it further then there is a whole other list of suggestions but that's for a later time.

Righto, back from a busy day ready to answer these questions properly!

First up, there are currently no plans to integrate Bricasso with LDD or LDraw. It's way beyond the scope of what I had originally planned for Bricasso, and I think it would be very tricky to do properly. It's also tedious to share data between an iPhone/iPad and an application on your PC. Everything ends up needing to be stored online for example. It's not that I don't think it's a good idea, it's just too ambitious a project for me to tackle on my own at the moment. The goal with Bricasso was something that kids (and big kids like me) can have a bit of fun with when they've got a few minutes spare and feel like building with Lego.

The lack of Save/Load was actually a design decision that I could be talked back into I suppose. For me, the beauty of Bricasso is being able to build something spontaneously and take a photo to keep! Allowing people to save a model that really only takes a few minutes to build is discouraging that spontaneity in a way; people might be more inclined to fuss around perfecting a model rather than jumping straight in and creating something fresh. That's a personal thing though, so I wouldn't be surprised if others felt differently. I was also trying to keep the menu system as uncluttered as possible, but if you guys honestly think a save/load feature is necessary I'll enable it for the next update (the file format is already defined and the work mostly done).

Adding new parts is also easy. The tricky part is making it easy for the user to browse through them all. One idea was to have five categories across the top of the piece selection screen; each category would contain 25 different pieces for a grand total of 125 available parts/pieces. I've built the definitions for wing pieces, cones, the corner slope shapes (so that you can do an 'L' shaped roof for example), but I really wasn't sure what other pieces to add.

The only colours that aren't available on all pieces are the transparent ones, and that was just an attempt to prevent models being built that clearly didn't represent anything made by Lego. Again, if you guys would rather just have all colours for all pieces I'll flick the switch and you can have it in the update!

The iPhone 4 support will come after the next update which will focus on the iPad version (no, it's not far away). Baseplates bigger than 12x12 are tedious to use without modifying the interface on iPhone, but the iPad is much happier with bigger baseplates. I might even post some iPad screenshots if you guys are interested...

[kyphur]

First up, there are currently no plans to integrate Bricasso with LDD or LDraw. It's way beyond the scope of what I had originally planned for Bricasso, and I think it would be very tricky to do properly. It's also tedious to share data between an iPhone/iPad and an application on your PC. Everything ends up needing to be stored online for example. It's not that I don't think it's a good idea, it's just too ambitious a project for me to tackle on my own at the moment. The goal with Bricasso was something that kids (and big kids like me) can have a bit of fun with when they've got a few minutes spare and feel like building with Lego.

While it would be nice, I don't really expect to see an iPhone App that can edit LDD/LDraw files.

The lack of Save/Load was actually a design decision that I could be talked back into I suppose. For me, the beauty of Bricasso is being able to build something spontaneously and take a photo to keep! Allowing people to save a model that really only takes a few minutes to build is discouraging that spontaneity in a way; people might be more inclined to fuss around perfecting a model rather than jumping straight in and creating something fresh. That's a personal thing though, so I wouldn't be surprised if others felt differently. I was also trying to keep the menu system as uncluttered as possible, but if you guys honestly think a save/load feature is necessary I'll enable it for the next update (the file format is already defined and the work mostly done).

I don't think it really discourages the spontaneity as much as you might think. Some of us are tinkerers and some of us can build it & forget it. Personally I've done both. To me sharing a Lego model is more than showing someone a picture of it, that's where the save ability would come in.

Adding new parts is also easy. The tricky part is making it easy for the user to browse through them all. One idea was to have five categories across the top of the piece selection screen; each category would contain 25 different pieces for a grand total of 125 available parts/pieces. I've built the definitions for wing pieces, cones, the corner slope shapes (so that you can do an 'L' shaped roof for example), but I really wasn't sure what other pieces to add.

How about allow us to "tap & pull" a menu of categories down from the top? This would for more than 5 categories (if needed) and still be something that iPhone users are used to (refresh in facebook, FML, etc).

The only colours that aren't available on all pieces are the transparent ones, and that was just an attempt to prevent models being built that clearly didn't represent anything made by Lego. Again, if you guys would rather just have all colours for all pieces I'll flick the switch and you can have it in the update!

I didn't notice that the bottom row of colors were transparent, makes more sense now.

The iPhone 4 support will come after the next update which will focus on the iPad version (no, it's not far away).

The main thing for iPhone4 is the anti-aliasing, if you can either just detect that its an iPhone4 or give us a setting that would be nice. I thinks everything else suggested would benefit all iDevices.

Baseplates bigger than 12x12 are tedious to use without modifying the interface on iPhone, but the iPad is much happier with bigger baseplates. I might even post some iPad screenshots if you guys are interested...

It would be nice to see at least 16 x 16 baseplate for building. I understand the limitation of size due to the small screen.

BTW, I like to see developers who are so responsive to their intended users.

[SpiderSpaceman]

Adding new parts is also easy. The tricky part is making it easy for the user to browse through them all. One idea was to have five categories across the top of the piece selection screen; each category would contain 25 different pieces for a grand total of 125 available parts/pieces. I've built the definitions for wing pieces, cones, the corner slope shapes (so that you can do an 'L' shaped roof for example), but I really wasn't sure what other pieces to add.

well inverted slopes are at the top of what I'd like

[Whup]

well inverted slopes are at the top of what I'd like

I think I can arrange that.

[Whup]

Hi everyone,

I just thought I'd point out there is an update available for Bricasso on the App Store!

It's free for anyone that has already purchased the app, but I've also got a few free codes to give away to people that are interested. It's now for iPad and iPhone, looks a whole lot better, and adds the ability to save and load creations.

Just let me know if you'd like a free copy - first in first served!

[Lukemeistr03]

On 02/11/2010 at 12:26 AM, Whup said:

Hi everyone,

For the past few months I've been working on a Lego building app for iPhone. It isn't official, and I've been careful not to reference Lego in any way in the app.

The app is nearly finished, and I'd love to get some feedback from you guys. If you're interested in testing the app with me, please let me know via PM. You'll need an iPhone or iPod touch, and probably an iTunes account. You will NOT need to buy the app to test it!

Please note that the app is geared more around recreating the building experience than giving you lots of pieces or allowing huge constructions. It certainly isn't LDD for iPhone, but it does let you build something small in a realistic (and hopefully fun) way.

Also, I'm only looking for a few testers. Hopefully I'll get a few offers, but I can't guarantee that you'll be involved just because you've asked to be. Likewise, work may suddenly get busy and I'll be months away from testing again!

Thanks for reading, I hope this sounds interesting to some of you!

Whup

Lemur Software

Please send me a link to download as I am willing to test this out

 

[OWL2336]

Can I test

[legolijntje]

On 8/21/2018 at 12:55 AM, OWL2336 said:

Can I test

Please note that this topic is years old. First and foremost reviving such old topics (without adding anything substantial) is something we don't like here on EB. And besides, I don't think user Whup is gonna send out any test-links either.

I'll lock this topic now.