msx80

Hi there, here's my latest creation :) I started up with a spaceship for sharks, which i ended up liking very very much (it's a nice fluent build), and had so much fun i continued with the crocodile tank and horse "non tecnological spaceship". Now i ended my big animals reserve so i had to stop :P The hardest was the horse as it has very few connection points (basically only the saddle). More hi-res images here. Instructions for shark.

Thanks @Carl86 :) Yes i can release a new version with an incomplete list, probably next week!

uhm i may add design id but i don't have part id. Design name would be much too long to fit

There's already an option for that, you can add a line like: page.background=C:\path\image.png to your blueprint.ini, and it will use that image as a background (also, if the image has an alpha channel, you'll see the page color below the image) (should really document this options)

Thanks everybody for your kind donations :) To be clear, this is not "pay to have your feature", it's just what it is, a donation to show support :) At the moment i only have time for small changes so hard to program features will have to wait. I'll probably implement axle/beam lengths soon, which is easy and useful. So to prepare i'm asking your help to compile a list of all parts that require a length, you can contribute here on a pubic file. Axle and beams and anything else that has different lengths (chains? tubes?) The file will be shipped with Blueprint so you'll be able to modify your copy to add or remove part lengths. > Add option for part numbers in steps uhm what is this exacly? :) > Can you please make a option for Export PNG image with Transparent background? I can look into it but what would this be useful for ?

thanks! I'll look into this suggestion :) currently i'm working on it as needed, for some projects i'm following, but i'll pick them up asap :) Btw, if anybody feels like, i'm accepting donations at https://www.paypal.me/msx80 Any amount is very welcome and perhaps i can list supporters on the About page in the program :) PS there's an experimental arrow support, should work ok but it's a little hard to use. You have to add it on a step (selecting any component of it), then it has two handles, one for each end, that you can drag around

Hi there, i've never heard of that system :) I'll look at the video when i'm home, if it's not too hard i'll surely look into it. I agree that it would be useful. Unfortunately it's not very easy to implement, i guess it'll have to wait. When i have the problem i usually prefer to split the model into submodels, but i reckon the one you posted is not easy to split. perhaps in future releases! New version 0025! With very small changes: - You can now set custom colors on pages. There's no UI, you have to change the config file at C:\Users\[you]\AppData\Roaming\blueprint.ini and set properties like this: page.color.0=#d5ecf9 The color is in RGB and the index is the submodel depth (0 main model, 1 first level submodel etc) - There's a new function Merge design: you can now open a model and then merge a second model in it. It's useful if you have some illegal connection: you can split your model into two legal models and then handle it in Blueprint (which of course doesn't have collision detection and such). Enjoy it here

This one is so true.. sorting parts sucks

so i've always desired to have smaller motors than the ones available in PF or Mindstorm (those are huge), they're too bulky to create a small motorized model. I've made some experiments and finally made a working micro motor with adapter for Lego. The assembly have a footprint of about 2x4 studs (with a little extra on the back). Height is a little more than one brick (can be enclosed in a 1 brick + 1 plate). The cool things about this gearmotor that makes it perfect are: the rotating point is about the same size of a Lego bar (3mm) greatly helping with centering the adapter it comes with many gearing, mine is 100:1, quite slow but super powerfull works with voltages from 6 to 12, so can be wired directly to PF and works with IR correctly at all speeds. Creating the adapter was not easy and required modifications on both the motor and the bricks, but it was still easier than with other motors i tested. Stuff needed: the motor, a 2x1 technic brick, a half pin/half axle (i used legos from my super old collection to avoid destroing new legos :P), superglue, some power tool and stuff. It was all pretty cheap, the motor costs between 15 and 3 € depending on where you buy it. I'm very satified with it, i plan to attach a regular 9V battery as a power source, that is much smaller than the Lego battery box. That should give me basically the smallest possible motorized platform :P Here it is in use: Some videos (i hope they're visible, otherwise you can check my flickr):

I actually considered adapting a servo too :) but they're too distant from PF, both in voltage, electronics and size. Would require extra circuitry etc. will report when they arrive :) aliexpress usually take ages to ship so it won't be soon.

i for one love the retro space man. It's nothing about CS or even space in general but it's a huge tribute to sci-fi of the sixties. i agree that ninjago has some cool space related stuff and ideas. For example, i always tougth that Condrai Copter would be an awesome scifi dropship with just a change of colorscheme (and less spikes). If the news is real that TLM2 will be set in space (musical or not) we are in for some cool space models, aren't we? They would surely nod at CS (like in TLM1), perhaps to oppose to cool modern ships. Btw, i also think it will not be a musical, it would be too risky of a move, i don't think kids like musicals. They didn't even had sung parts in TLM1 (except for the main song). The kind of scifi i'd like to see most is space exploration, with both spaceship and ground based vehicles. Hopefully non conflictual and with no mistic, supernatural or magic traits. But i reckon they'll make some more mixed genre, if they ever do something.

You'll lose the only connection point (top and bottom studs) for the stator. Thanks :) Yes i'm using an axle pin. The design "waste" a brick but makes things much simpler to build. Not really, the motor plate is a little higher than the brick level, it requires an additional plate. On the bottom is flush, you can attach a tile/plate combo but not a plate, for there's no space for the studs. Here's a couple of images: it would be possible in principle, but not easy to align precisely. It would be 1 plate taller than the frontal brick (for the metal plate, no real problem there) but the gearbox is hard to attach stuff to, you'd have to glue it down to the motor body, perhaps using a lego scaffold to align it. Might try your idea! Here's the basic components:

indeed, but you have to leave some room for the cable anyway so not that bad

ah didn't know that sure, will do

yeah i know, loved that part, but it's not in production since 2001 and prices are no less than 15€ for a working used one (no younger than 17 years old). And it's not PF compatible (while still being 9V). Anyway, that's the size i want for a Lego motor, it would be awesome if they made a similar part today. PS huge fan of your work sariel :) you rock! I purchased it new from Sparkfun some years ago, i kept it on my electronic parts till some days ago. Specifications are as follow: At the time i paid mine 15 €, but now you can find them on sites like aliexpress for less than 3 € each (they look identical, but i'm not 100% sure they're the same production. I've ordered some days ago, when they'll arrive i'll check). They come in a wide range of gear ratio.

Hello, lately some people complained about Blueprint running slow and going out of memory, so i guess i could tell everybody here about some solutions. They were all running 32 bit java, so basically switching to 64 bit java and increasing memory heap size should greatly improve usage.

Hi there, i've made a bike for my Brickheadz :) Fun build and actually quite intricate. A little mod is required for the figure to use, basically splitting the leg with hinges and pointing the hands forward. They can sit firmly with the base connected to the bike. Could still be improved i guess, the body is not very fluent, but i spent enought hours on this already :P Let me know if you like it

you can change the camera in the scene.sc file. What few ideas are you having? :)

Ok i've created version 0024 with two modifications: Added an "Add Page" command on the layout. Solved the CTRL-S bug that unintendedly rotated the step. Here's the new version If Malou is so kind to package a Mac version, i'll finally update the first post which is shamefully outdated

Hi, i've been working on this platform for a while, now it's basically ready. It's a tank with 6 indepentent suspension (3 per side), remotely controllable with quite a powerful climb :) It has space to put something else on it such as a weapon or a crane or such. Here's some pictures (sorry for the blurrines): The shell without threads and EV3: I've also attached a webcam to it, i was able to stream a 160x120 live video and drive it around the garden remotely, pretty awesome if a bit blurry :P Unfortunately i had to use an USB hub which have a huge plug, i had to put the EV3 brick vertically or it wouln't fit. At least there's just the right space to put the hub :) Here's some render too:

i think it would be great to have frequent small updates instead of waiting a huge one for years. If this is the case, of course. Perhaps they just needed those pieces for some side project or something.

thanks kokkie20 :) very appreciated (and yes i'm a sir)

I've hacked up version 0023, you can get it here New stuff is: it's now impossible to delete last step of a submodel (should make it impossible to incour into the "ghost submodel" problem, even if not the most user friendly solution) steps can now be selected by clicking on an image (CTRL+click to select multiple, no shift click sorry), this is necessary for... selected model can be rotated by keyboard with WASD keys, all selected model will be rotated together. new steps inherit the rotation of the "sibiling" step.

uhm i don't think it's feasible as a true command line program, it needs windows to start the opengl stuff etc. uhm sounds like 22 misses some file that was present in 21, i'll look into it

Hi there, i'll look into it! At least the rotation, i'm aware rotating with the menu entry is a pain. What problem are you experiencing with version 22 ?