Scrubs

Eurobricks Citizen
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Everything posted by Scrubs

  1. Scrubs

    Lego and Poliigon

    Mecabricks is an online 3D builder (It works in any browsers) that uses its own part library (different from LDD and from LDraw). You can find it here: www.mecabricks.com You can export to multiple formats (or sketchfab) that can be opened in most 3D software. However integration is the most advanced with Blender as I provide add-ons. For Bionicle parts, you won't really find too many. Hopefully they can be added in the future but I don't really own any other than the odd ones found in System/Technic sets and therefore I cannot model them.
  2. Scrubs

    Lego and Poliigon

    I think you didn't look into it enough... The Mecabricks Advanced add-on for Blender includes all those things - Scratches, Dirt, Fingerprints, etc. that can be adjusted. 2 examples I made where it is really visible: Faraday Future FF91 by Nicolas Jarraud, on Flickr Mecabricks Minifig by Nicolas Jarraud, on Flickr
  3. Scrubs

    Lego and Poliigon

    Poliigon textures can be used mainly to create the scene around your LEGO models. No doubt about it. Andrew Price and his team do a really good job. I used a free pack from them to make a quick test on this particular render. For the LEGO parts, I used Mecabricks and the Advanced Add-on of course ;-) Jungle Buggy by Nicolas Jarraud, on Flickr You can check my flickr to see what can be done with Mecabricks and Blender https://www.flickr.com/photos/mecabricks/ Or the gallery from Zanna https://www.flickr.com/photos/137478436@N07
  4. Hello, After chatting with the guys at Sketchfab I finally decided to make a mecabricks exporter. Feel free to try it. I will try later to improve the default materials at least to get the bump maps and metal maps automatically assigned properly. Here is the first model ever exported with this new module: https://sketchfab.com/models/a9cac66c6a214fcf9f5aede1c1930d5a Export function is available in the workshop: File > Export > Sketchfab (.dae)
  5. It is already implemented and ready to go in the Advanced version of the Mecabricks add-on Yo can see it in action on this render I made while developing it: Faraday Future FF91 by Nicolas Jarraud, on Flickr
  6. I modeled some of the latest Nexo Knights pieces and drew the decorations for them. Here is a quick scene using the Mecabricks Advanced Add-on for Blender. It took only 1 hour to render this 4K version. Nexo Knights Grimroc by Nicolas Jarraud, on Flickr
  7. Hello, A couple of years ago I created a script for Blender in order to easily make photorealistic renders of Mecabricks models. It has been improved a lot over the years and it is now a proper Blender Add-on. Once it is installed, you can import models in any of your existing Blender scenes simply by going in the menu File > import > Mecabricks. It automatically handles decorated parts e.g. printed pearl, chrome or transparent pieces as well as stickers. You can get the free version here http://www.mecabricks.com/fr/shop/product/2 The image below has been made using the latest version of this add-on.
  8. You need to remove it first and then reinstall the new one.
  9. @JGuy This is because you have an old version of the Add-On. Re-download the latest revision 2.0.4 from Mecabricks. This is the only one working now. Everything before is obsolete and will fail to run. I made some core changes to the Mecabricks exporter and Blender Add-on yesterday. Remember to clear your cache again to make sure you have the latest version of the Mecabricks webapp in your browser - due to the fact the code has changed yesterday.
  10. I re-wrote a big part of the add-on to fix various bugs. New revision can be downloaded on Mecabricks. Remember to clear your browser cache has I had to update the workshop exporter code.
  11. Try to clear your browser cache. I had to update the code of the workshop last week to add new features. Therefore models exported with the old code can not be used (similarly old script does not work anymore).
  12. @legolijntje There is a basic user manual in the package to explain how to install it. But really there aren't much to do now. Just go in File > Import > Mecabricks (.dae), select the file and then nothing else is required. No more run script button or anything else to do. @NathanR No, it works perfectly with version of Blender at least from 2.77 (I didn't try older ones). Nightly Build is only required for the shaders using Principled BSDF which is a new PBR shader that will be included in the next Blender release. It is also necessary to use the denoise template including in the package.
  13. Double the time probably not too far but blur the decorations I never observed such things. Make sure that you don't scale the model (unlike what is said in the video tutorial).
  14. They are not trippy colours but a representation of the normals in world coordinates :-) Pure green when face normal is only along y axis. Red and blue for x and z.
  15. @Mars I like your animations :-) I don't render with GPU either - on my iMac core i5 or on my work PC (xeon 8 cores goes faster than the quadro GPU). The round edge shader only works on GPU (with OSL activated). You shall try just to compare, the results look way nicer as the parts are beveled.
  16. @Mars Looks cool. I guess you deactivated OSL or rendered with GPU as the round edge shader doesn't seem to be present. For old parts, LDraw has more content for sure. However for newer items and especially decorations (prints and stickers) Mecabricks has way more parts. We have about 2500 part designs and close to 8000 decorations now.
  17. I also made an experimental script (subdivision.py) that can be ran at your convenience to subdivide the Mecabricks parts imported in Blender. It doesn't work for all parts but for most of them. Therefore it is possible to get a very nice and smooth result for close up shots. The advanced script that I made doesn't use a round edge shader on the contrary of the lite version but adds real geometry. Therefore it is possible to render on GPU and it looks more real for close up. GPU rendering is faster if you have a high end graphic card. In my case CPU is faster anyway. I am also working on a version of the script with instances so that you can render faster and bigger scenes on GPU (as for now it is limited by the RAM your GPU has).
  18. Blender Cycles support multi-core perfectly (Even GPU rendering). One of the new function that is in development (denoiser) is a game changer to cut render time. It already works pretty well but is only at an early stage. It has been used here to get a reasonable render time.
  19. Yes I sculpt with Blender. I still need to improve my skills but it is good enough to do some retopo. I made quite a few hair pieces like this. There is also another frenchman who made a few with zbrush for mecabricks even without the real pieces. He is really good! It was making the retopo job very easy. Sculpt cannot be used as is anyway. it is way too high poly.
  20. Hello, I don't think that this is a subject that is discussed too much here but I think that it could be interesting to start a new thread to share my experience. When browsing the web a few weeks ago I found the article about a home made scanner from the master of LDraw AKA philo. Not having his knowledge or the time to learn the technic behind the scene I decided to have a look at the off the self scanners. Having played a bit with industrial ones, I was a bit scared of the result I would get with more affordable ones but I still decided to go ahead. I received mine last week and after a few days of trial, I'm pretty happy even if I still have a lot to explore and learn! I thought it would be interesting to share my experience. Please find below the workflow I used for the first few pieces that I added to mecabricks. The mesh resulting of the point cloud is very noisy but I did it on purpose as small details are not smoothed away. You have to keep in mind that LEGO parts are very small. This helmet is only 14mm high!
  21. I actually don't use it that much anymore. This is faster to model/sculpt from photos now that I have the knowledge. I doubt that the kinect will give you anything good.
  22. This post is old, but I am posting here anyway to show you my latest creation based on the new Batman LEGO movie universe. This is built in Mecabricks and rendered with Blender Cycles using the script I provide. Batman by Nicolas Jarraud, on Flickr
  23. It is definitely not the Mecabricks part library. Was MOC builder using Ldraw library if I remember? It shall be still installed in a corner of my harddrive somewhere to check.
  24. You have an autosave function in Mecabricks to avoid that. The first time you re-open the workshop after a crash or an accidental closing, just choose "Recover autosave" in the file menu ;-)
  25. Hey, I know it is not free, but I put a very accurate Blender version of the minifig on the Mecabricks Shop today. It includes mold lines as well. It is only rigged as per a real minifig but I am sure it would be easy to do as the geometry is well defined and supports subdivision. Anyway it is another option.