Scrubs

Hello, I keep playing with Blender any now and then to render models I like. Here is my last one, the X-Wing Starfighter. It is not too visible here but I added the support for flexible parts (rubber band and flex hose so far) in Mecabricks that can also be exported with the STL or OBJ exporters. The 4 rubber bands used to hold the 4 wings are actually modeled at the back. You can check the original model in the workshop here. X-Wing Starfighter LEGO® by mecabricks, on Flickr

Hello, I started to work on a module for flexible parts that will be added to the workshop in the future. It will be based on paths built from Bezier curves and the UI will let you play with the control points (a bit like adobe Illustrator). Here is a short video showing what I can already do after the first lines of code I wrote tonight:

I'm just coming back from the Auckland LEGO show where it was on display as well as Sennecks' Reside - I didn't see before that Legonardo was a kiwi guy and therefore I was surprised to find this moc standing in front of me :-) Rather a pleasant surprise!

Your last rendering looks good. I agree with your two points however, the original purpose of mecabricks is to be used online. I'm always looking for ways of reducing the file size so that a model with hundreds of different part design doesn't take forever to open. Adding details like bevels takes a lot of vertices for not too many benefits in the workshop. It's always hard to find the right balance. Gap between parts is pretty close to the real one however you are right, the bevel (rounded edge) makes it appear bigger. Like what virtualrepublic does, a shader that does add a fake bevel shall help without rebuilding the all part library.

I did . I think it was one of the first models made in mecabricks to show of what was possible to do with it. I admit that it was a pain at the time to correctly position the bricks! It came a long way since then with the 3rd version of the workshop now online for the past 3 months. Here is my version of the Ghostbusters set. This is my first rendering using Blender Cycles after a day learning it. I added a few vertices to improve a bit the rough backpacks. Ghostbusters by mecabricks, on Flickr

Hello, Yes, you can use your own decorations. Here is a simple example with a "Flat Tile 1X2". I simply replaced the current decoration (joker) by a custom image in the folder. Decorations are applied following UV maps. You need to get them first to know how to organise your image. Of course I own the templates for all the decorated parts but you can also display it in Blender for example.

No worries. You can use the "smooth" button in blender to avoid the facet effect.

I put online the OBJ exporter in mecabricks. It keeps each brick separated and also export the textures. The function generates a zip file containing the .obj and .mtl files as well as a "decorations" folder that includes the textures needed for the model. I'd love to see some of your renderings . It is located in the "File" menu on the top bar of the workshop page - You need to be logged in to use it. Mecabricks OBJ Export by mecabricks, on Flickr

Tonight I started to code an OBJ exporter for mecabricks. It's almost finished but I wanted to package the files together so that it's more convenient to download (*.obj, *.mtl and .png decorations in a zip file). Therefore I might only put it online this weekend at the latest. With this format, you can access the bricks independently and tune the materials to get a nice render. Here is the same example as yesterday but exported with the OBJ exporter. OBJ Export by mecabricks, on Flickr Hope you will like it!

Yes, It's kinda what I was going for. I need to learn the format specification then...

I'm not too familiar with the other 3D formats so I'm not too sure how to export models with materials and decorations. I would have to learn quite a lot before coding it. If someone has a starting point for that I take it ;-)

It was actually quicker than what I said. I made the STL exporter. It is available in the File menu of the workshop under Export STL - only if you are logged in. Here is a model I exported from mecabricks and then imported and rendered quickly with Blender: A few more explanation here.

Ok, sounds good. It might be in the next couple of weeks hopefully.

Thank you. It's not the first time I've been asked for this feature :) It is currently not available however I shall be able to do something to get .stl or .obj files. I can let you know when I get something usable if you wish as I'm not sure yet if I want to make that available for everybody or not.

Hello, Thanks for your suggestion. I will make some trials to see if it makes a difference and how to do that. Cheers

Category A: #12 #11 #8 Category B: #3 #10 #6

Hello, Thank you for your feedback. I will check that. It's true that I didn't try it with a zoom different than 100%. I've seen your WIP. Pretty cool so far

Hello, Sorry for this late answer, but I'm still away overseas on holiday until the end of august I only finished the new version of the workshop just before leaving and therefore I didn't have the time to write the updated version of the user manual. It shall come in september when I will be back. Regarding the sidebars, they are not supposed to be toggled or modified in the last version (it was the case in previous versions) so I'm not too sure how it happens. If you manage to see it again I'd be interested in the process so that I can fix that. Don't hesitate to ask me if you have any other questions. I'll be happy to try to answer them.

I added a simple forum that I coded this weekend to improve a bit the support and be easily reached by the users: http://www.mecabricks.com/en/forum It is still pretty empty but hopefully, I will include there posts containing tips, bugs, improvements, requests etc.

Yep, it starts to look good - especially when the computer/browser support the antialiasing. I know that I could still optimise the speed and rendering. Threejs is really an awesome framework for WebGL!

I kept working for the past few weeks on this new revision of the workshop to remove the bugs and improve the user experience. Selection of parts is now more visual with the edges and colours changing when a part is focused or selected (instead of bounding boxes) plus as a cool feature, I added a new display style - Shaded with edges. It gives the models a cool cartoony style by adding black edges to the parts. Shaded with edges by mecabricks, on Flickr

Hi everybody, You can now try the new version of the mecabricks workshop. It is still a beta version but in my point of view it is already pretty stable. I might still change a few things before it fully replaces the current version though. It has been re-written pretty much from the ground in order to make it more efficient in terms of resources needed as well as building usability. I hope you will like it! Don't hesitate to give me your feedback, I'll be more than happy to answer and take your comments into account. In the next few weeks, I will regenerate the part icons, complete the reference points and re-organise the part library - pretty time consuming as there are about 2000 parts. I will also spend some time to write a quick user manual that summarises the functions and shortcuts. It has been 2 years now that I launched mecabricks as a google experiment and 1000s of hours spent in front of the computer later, I start to be pretty happy about the direction it is heading towards. The links: English -> http://www.mecabrick...n/workshop/beta Français -> http://www.mecabrick...r/workshop/beta A few shortcuts: A - Select all / Deselect all B - Select parts located in the area C - Screenshot D - Clone selection H - Hide selection ALT + H - Show everything J - Group selection ALT + J - Ungroup selection M - Toggle between translation and rotation gizmo P - Select Pivot Point R + (X or Y or Z) + numerical value - Rotation along selected axis in the global or local space S - Select snap point T + (X or Y or Z) + numerical value - Translation along selected axis in the global or local space V - Toggle between Global and Local Space Z - Toggle between Wireframe and Texture render ESC - Deactivated selected tools / Cancel rotation or translation SPACE - Change camera orientation CTRL/CMD + Click: Add or remove a part/group to the selection

Hello, Can I get a french flag over Manukau, New Zealand? Cheers

Hello, To answer your questions: 1. It's not implemented but if needed it could be done. 2. Same as 1, but it sounds like a very good idea i might have a look into soon :-) 3. Most of it shall work with touch screens but it's not the primary target.

Hello, I come back with a new short video which shows how to build a LEGO Minifig with the new workshop, add accessories, change the pose, etc. I just need to finish a couple of things and my goal is to make it available as a beta version by next weekend - both the old and the new version will be available but only the new workshop will be able to open the old and new models. Hope you will like it.