Announcement: MocPlans.com

[nychase]

Question for the general readers of the technic Forums. As I have had MOCplans running for a few days now its occurred to me that I should get a few more MOC's up that aren't actually technic. I launched with some technic models because you are all the people I know but at this point the platform has proved stable and robust so I want to try and add some more MOCs (manually...ugh) while we are waiting on the development on the rest of the site.

So the question is. Do any of you have recommendations on established MOC builders that are in other Themes that have made paid instructions? Right now, despite only having 12 MOC's on the site there have been 35 searches for "space" and 31 for "sci-fi". I think it might be best to get some of those MOC's up to help incorporate some of those users as well.

[EdmanZA]

So the question is. Do any of you have recommendations on established MOC builders that are in other Themes that have made paid instructions? Right now, despite only having 12 MOC's on the site there have been 35 searches for "space" and 31 for "sci-fi". I think it might be best to get some of those MOC's up to help incorporate some of those users as well.

There're some instructions for Star Wars MOCs here:

http://www.techlug.fr/instructions-lego-lego-star-wars

[Blakbird]

This weekend I built 2LegoOrNot2Lego's US Truck Mk II using the instructions on MOCPlans.com. I thought I would report on my experience using MOCPlans. When I build a model from electronic instructions rather than the typical printed instructions, my usual method is to load the PDF of the instructions into iBooks on my iPad and set it on the table alongside me. I can easily swipe between pages and zoom as necessary. This has worked very well in general. MOCPlans does not provide PDFs but rather employs a viewer which works through your web browser. This looks really good on a big computer monitor but I wondered how it would translate onto the small screen of my iPad. I'm pleased to report that it worked very well. There is a mobile version of the MOCPlans viewer which works somewhat differently than the desktop viewer. It is adapted to touch screens so swiping and zooming still worked very intuitively. There wasn't really anything problematic to report except that of course a continuous network connection is required. I was a bit worried that it would time out and I would have to log back in repeatedly, but even after leaving the model overnight for some sleep, I was able to just continue the next morning where I left off with no further input. So in short, good job MOCPlans! The site is easy to use and presents instructions professionally. I didn't find any software bugs.

[czl663]

I also built the US truck MK II. A great MOC and the response time of the website is good. I found the resolution of the instruction is not high enough. When I zoom in, the image is blurred (like Lego original instruction) and I can not see the details clearly as I expected. The website may need to consider the storage, responsive time of the loading the instruction, etc. But in a cloud era, I think this would not be a problem. The website may consider to provide a higher resolution version for the fiber network connectors which would be a great experience.

The another issue is there are no new MOCs for a long time. Thus, all about is time, huh. Really hope this website could be continue.

[Blakbird]

I also built the US truck MK II. A great MOC and the response time of the website is good. I found the resolution of the instruction is not high enough. When I zoom in, the image is blurred (like Lego original instruction) and I can not see the details clearly as I expected. The website may need to consider the storage, responsive time of the loading the instruction, etc. But in a cloud era, I think this would not be a problem. The website may consider to provide a higher resolution version for the fiber network connectors which would be a great experience.

I had the same resolution issue but note that this is an issue with those particular instructions and not with MOCPlans in general. For example, the JS220 instructions were created at 600dpi. It looks like MOCPlans downsampled them somewhat, but you can still zoom in significantly.

[nico71]

Hi Nychase,

You may know that 3 year ago, I have tried to start a website like mocplan (called mocshop, is it funny ?). At the beginning I would only sell my buildings instructions but after I throught that it could be possible to sell any instructions. I have consequently developed many features for that including online viewing, paypal, fee and so on but I have chosen finally to make all my instructions for free, that is why mocshop has never been launched.

But, you have succeeded to make that real ! therefore, many thanks for you ! Also, you website really looks likes very good , very proffessional !

I don't like the fact of selling something in a passion but it is only my opinion and trully respect the amount of work necessary for building an instructions (I know it !) so I respect also the position of selling instructions.

All the best for the future :)

[nychase]

Been a while since an update.

In an effort to boost adoption rates of using MOCplans.com I have just launched the ability to allow for "free" access to certain models. The idea here is that there are many of you who are not comfortable spending money first to find out what MOCplans is about so now you can see via free models.

As part of my trial process I used Barman's V8 model since I had the files already and had the model on my desk above me. Needless to say when I asked Barman if I could actually post the model (rather than just test with it) he was all for it. If you haven't built this model Its both worth you time and certain to be a conversation piece.

It can be found here

http://mocplans.com/v8-engine.html

In addition to this method of "free access", Ingmar (2LegoOrNot2Lego) has also released a modification model (5th Wheel hitch for 8258) that requires a log-in to the service but is still free (no checkout required). There isn't a huge reason why the difference rather just trying to see what sort of bounce rates occur from having to log-in first.

If you can think of other, "free", publicly available models that should be added please let me know.

Hopefully we will finally be releasing the ability for designers to manage their own products soon. It has been a long road with Paypal routing and other problems but I am optimistic it will release soon.

[barman]

Thanks for making this happen I will change my links from Brickshelf to MOCplans. For people this is better way to go through the pictures than on Brickshelf.

A Very nice feature to view or download instructions for free.

[Lipko]

If you can think of other, "free", publicly available models that should be added please let me know.

May I humbly suggest my Red V12 Coupé? It's been already built by some people and Therion made a good job with the instructions:

http://rebrickable.c...o/red-coupé-v12

Edited August 4, 2014 by Lipko

[Kronos]

May I humbly suggest my Red V12 Coupé? It's been already built by some people and Therion made a good job with the instructions:

http://rebrickable.c...o/red-coupé-v12

I second this! It's an awesome model! I left mine on display.

[Doc_Brown]

Cool, I was thinking of making my Menck excavator with free instructions. Would anybody be interested?

or maybe the reaper?

Edited August 5, 2014 by Doc_Brown

[Blakbird]

Cool, I was thinking of making my Menck excavator with free instructions. Would anybody be interested?

Yes!

[Kronos]

Yes!

[Kumbbl]

yes yes yes!

[barman]

Yes please do

[PhyBuilder]

[sarcasm] The Menck excavator is one of the most boring mocs I've seen. I cannot even imagine anyone wants instructions for it [/sarcasm]

[legolijntje]

Uhm, the menu shows that there are 2 models for "free access", but the actual page doesns't show anything? And, the link to the V8-Engine also doesn't work?

[PhyBuilder]

Sorry guys; great initiative but there is still a lot of work to do:

- First, Legolijntje is right about the non visible free plans

- Secondly: it's not too cool to register and have a confirmation mail send to the entered mailadress including the password in clear text but without having to confirm this adres first.

Bring Keep up the good work

[DrJB]

Has MOCPlans 'died-down' ? Many links return empty results :(

Also, I prefer to work better off-paper (call me old-fashioned). Is there a way to sell PDF instructions as well, granted, maybe at a higher price than the live instructions. It would be nice if, when I want to buy a given set of instructions, I'm offered two options (live connection or PDF?downloadable). I know it's a bit difficult to control PDFs, but freeloaders will always find a way.

Edited February 1, 2015 by DrJB

[nychase]

Can you give me an example of dead links? There are a few that were place holders that never had anything but I'm not aware of any actually dead links.

To answer you question though, No, MOCplans hasn't died down. In-fact traffic and sales have continued to increase month over month.

MOCplans should be coming out of "beta" very soon. It has been a very long road testing the functionality and reliability on the user side and now completely rebuilding the seller side (which is currently handled by admin). The new development has been waiting on the ability to allow the seller to control all aspects of their sales more like a proper store. Now that its been worked out we have been working on figuring out the upload / conversion process to integrate with the user side (to remove any admin steps). I anticipate there will still be a new-MOC review process within reason to try and keep the quality consistent.

That being said, this is a fluid process and nothing is set in stone. Things will certainly be adapted as needed.

[Lipko]

Free Access is still empty but in the menu it shows that there are two models.

[nychase]

Yes, your correct about that. There ARE two models (Ingmar's 8258 and Barman's V8) that both had to be disabled due to a security flaw. Reactivating them was delayed until everything was ready with this next update (due to the new handling of the files).

[jantjeuh]

I think mocplans could take some ideas from sellfy, in particular when it comes to generating user-specific PDFs.

[DrJB]

I should have been more specific. When I press on some hot-links, I get the following error message "There are no products matching the selection. A better description would have been 'empty' link as opposed to 'dead'.

Edited February 4, 2015 by DrJB