Search the Community

Showing results for tags 'Render'.



More search options

  • Search By Tags

    Type tags separated by commas.
  • Search By Author

Content Type


Forums

  • Frontpage, Forum Information and General LEGO Discussion
    • Guest Section - PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU REGISTER!
    • New Member Section - PLEASE READ BEFORE STARTING!
    • Frontpage News
    • Forum Information and Help
    • General LEGO Discussion
  • Themes
    • LEGO Licensed
    • LEGO Star Wars
    • LEGO Historic Themes
    • LEGO Action and Adventure Themes
    • LEGO Pirates
    • LEGO Sci-Fi
    • LEGO Town
    • LEGO Train Tech
    • LEGO Technic, Mindstorms, Model Team and Scale Modeling
    • LEGO Action Figures
    • Special LEGO Themes
  • Special Interests
    • The Military Section
    • Minifig Customisation Workshop
    • Digital LEGO: Tools, Techniques, and Projects
    • Brick Flicks & Comics
    • LEGO Mafia and Role-Play Games
    • LEGO Media and Gaming
  • Eurobricks Community
    • Hello! My name is...
    • LEGO Events and User Groups
    • Buy, Sell, Trade and Finds
    • Community
    • Culture & Multimedia

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start

    End


Last Updated

  • Start

    End


Filter by number of...

Joined

  • Start

    End


Group


What is favorite LEGO theme? (we need this info to prevent spam)


Which LEGO set did you recently purchase or build?


AIM


MSN


Website URL


ICQ


Yahoo


Jabber


Skype


Location


Interests


Country


Special Tags 1


Special Tags 2


Special Tags 3


Special Tags 4


Special Tags 5


Special Tags 6


Country flag

Found 86 results

  1. dtomsen

    [MOC] DSB IC3 (8-wide DMU)

    Presenting another of my Danish State Railways’ (DSB) trains redesigned to 8-wide and digitally rendered (with a bonus livery)... DSB IC3 The Danish State Railways’ (DSB) highly successful and innovative InterCity 3 aka IC3 passenger train was co-developed by Siemens -Duewag in Germany and ABB Scandia in Denmark. The train is operated by DSB in Denmark and Sweden, by Renfe Operadora in Spain and by Israel Railways in Israel. Amtrak in the USA and Via Rail in Canada have tested the train in the past. A trainset consists of three units; two diesel motor units (Litra MFA and Litra MFB) and one intermediary unit (Litra FF). Up to five trainsets can be coupled together. 96 trainset were built for DSB from 1989 to 1991. All are still in service today. My model: Original white and red livery used from 1989 to 2002. Fictionally named “Jørgen Vig” with the crest of Billund added. Scale: 1:48 Length: 157 studs (MFA: 55 – FF: 47 – MFB 55) or approx. 122 cm Width: 8 studs Bricks: 2.948 (MFA: 1.040 – FF: 861 – MFB 1.047) Locomotion: 2 x 9v or 2 x PF/PUP train motors Power: 9v, 2 x LEGO AAA battery boxes or 2 x BuWizz battery boxes Control: 9v, PUP, SBrick, PFx Brick or BuWizz Designed: 2022 Conversion of my 7-wide model from 2017 to 8-wide with more accurate dimensions. Very high setting render from Stud.io with custom decals added in the PartDesigner tool. Its able to navigate R40 but looks rather silly doing so: Interior with seats for 83 minifigs: Decorative side design for the bogies - a combination of parts and the molded decorative side for train motors: The coupling part can be change to a Liftarm Thin 1x7 (BL#32065) when combining several trainsets. Technique used for the sliding doors: Removing the 1 x 4 Tile as shown enables the door to slide open as a play feature. The fixed outer doors are a necessary part of the construction otherwise the very long body breaks too easily due to the roof being removable. However, they are designed to be rebuilt open when needed and the trainset stationary on display: The trainset is (fictionally) named Jørgen Vig with the crest of Billund added: Free building instructions: Option 1: https://open-l-gauge.eu/dsb-ic3/ Option 2: https://snakebyte.dk/lego/instructions/trains/diesel_engines/dsb_ic3_(8_wide)/index.php Bonus livery: Livery when Amtrak tested the IC3 Flexliner DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit ) in 1997:
  2. After a fairly long hiatus designing any new rolling stock it's time to present another one of my Danish State Railways’ (DSB) locomotives redone to 8-wide and digitally rendered. DSB Litra EA The Danish State Railways' (DSB) first electric locomotive was built by Henschel & Sohn in Kassel, Germany (the first two) and Scandia, Denmark (the remaining ones). 22 were built in total from 1984 to 1992. 1 was scrapped. 16 were sold to Bulgaria and Romania from 2007 to 2010 and 4 to Bulmarket in Bulgaria in 2021. The last remaining one (EA 3004) was transferred to The Danish Railway Museum in 2020. Wiki here and irl photo here. My model: DSB 'modern' red & black livery used in the 1980s. Scale: 1:46 Length: 54 studs from buffer to buffer Width: 8 studs Bricks: 1.397 (BuWizz), 1.403 (PU) or 1.401 (PF) Weight: 996g (without battery box) Locomotion: 2 x L-motors (BuWizz & PF) or 2 x M-motors (PU) Power: 1 x BuWizz 2.0 or 1 x AAA PF/PU battery box Control: BuWizz, PU or SBrick Designed: 2023 It has the serial number EA 3024 and is named 'O K Kristiansen' My 6-wide DSB Litra EA from 2011. All renders are from Stud.io with custom decals done in the PartDesigner tool. Access through the removable roof to a quite roomy and fairly correct interior showing the different locomotion, power and control options: 2-axled bogie design with MS Train Wheels from Brick Train Depot which are slightly larger (by one plate) than LEGO standard Train Wheels: Update 22.02.2023 The design is done and the model is currently being thoroughly tested
  3. papacharly

    [LDD] The Black Pearl Project

    LDD/MLCad 15D The Black Pearl Project - A joint venture by Courleciel and Papacharly EDIT April 1st 2015: Black Pearl mpd-file is available now. Please also note the relevant post #15 below! End of last year I had been invited by Courleciel to join a project he already started. The goal of this project was to virtually build the Black Pearl from the Lego video game “Pirates of the Caribbean” and, in a second step, to “make great renderings”. At this time the ship had already been built by Courleciel in real bricks. Starting point for this project was an “old” lxf-file (Lego Digital Designer) by captainjack. The virtual model was significantly optimized by Courleciel so as to make it more accurate and complete. A lot of parts have been repainted, some new elements were added (such as anchors, bell, grating, cannons...), and some were adjusted or rebuilt (like the capstan, figurehead, lanterns, masts...). After the model was nearly completed, the LDD file was converted to the LDraw format and my job started. According to Courleciels conceptual work I added rigging, rails, ropes and strings by using SR3D Builder and MLCad/LSynth. Sails were directly created in povray. Additionally it was necessary to manipulate some original LDraw parts (e.g. # x1609 batarang, see stern) to make them authentic with regard to the video game. Finally we decided on all setups for being rendered. All renders have status “as rendered”. There was no “photoshopping” applied, aside from scaling down and anti-aliasing. I have not counted all the hours I spent working on this project. But doing all the work Courleciel and me had a lot of fun. So we hope that you also will enjoy our work and have some fun too. High resolution “technical renders” showing the conceptual work of Courleciel can be found here. For high resolution images of the movie scenes click here. And here is the outcome of our project:: First we have some technical renders of the Black Pearl. Then we show some movie scene remakes. For all those which are not familiar with “Pirates of the Carribean”, please find the original movie scene respectively an original video game screenshot below each rendering. Here comes a remake of a video game screenshot: Two movie scenes from part 1 "The Curse of the Black Pearl": Movie scene “Pantano River” from part 2 "Dead Man’s Chest" Two movie scenes “Locker” from part 3 "At World’s End" Last but not least we have an atmospheric and maybe kitschy sunset render which is not related to any movie scene.
  4. I've been split in scale since I began building LEGO trains with all my shunters, freight wagons and latest passenger train being 7-wide or 1:54 and all my older locomotives and passenger wagons being 6-wide or 1:60. With almost all of my buildings close to true minifig-scale, I've been contemplating to unify my scale for a few years now but I couldn't decide to go for either 7 or 8-wide...in addition to being pretty much satisfied with most of my 6-wide models as they are. Well, no more Presenting my favourite Danish State Railways’ (DSB) locomotive redesigned to 8-wide and digitally rendered in two versions and liveries... DSB Litra MZ The powerful Litra MZ locomotives were built by Swedish Nydquist & Holm AB (Nohab) and Danish subcontractors on license from General Motors. 10 MZ (I) were built from 1967-1969. 20 MZ (III) were built from 1972-1974. 61 in total were built across all four variants (I-IV). Quite a few are still used today by private railway companies either domestic or abroad, in Iran, Norway and Australia. My model of DSB Litra MZ (I): DSB maroon livery used in the 1960/70s with the highly recognizable crown and wing logo on the front. Scale: 1:46 Length: 56 studs from buffer to buffer Width: 8 bricks Bricks: 1.264 Powered: 2 x L-motors, 2 x AAA battery boxes + 2 x SBricks, 1 x AAA battery box + 1 x SBrick/PFx Brick or 2 x BuWizz battery boxes Control: PF with SBrick, PFx Brick or BuWizz Designed: 2020 My older 6-wide version from 2016: https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/119474-moc-the-danish-state-railways-dsb-locomotive-litra-mz-i/ All renders are done on the very high setting in Stud.io with all of my own custom decals added in the PartDesigner tool. Upgearing from 20 to 12 teeth with a ratio of 5:3....more speed, less power PF L-motor design with good advice from some of the Brick Train Depot guys. Credit to Duq for coming up with the original idea of using the T-piece. 3-axled bogie: The center wheel will utilize a black hockey puck as a blind driver or a 2 x 2 round tile with open stud and 1 x 1 round tile placed on top on it as the alternative. https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=47576#T=C My model of DSB Litra MZ (III): DSB "modern" red & black livery used in the 1980s. Scale: 1:46 Length: 56 studs from buffer to buffer Width: 8 bricks Bricks: 1.331 Powered: 2 x L-motors, 2 x AAA battery boxes + 2 x SBricks, 1 x AAA battery box + 1 x SBrick/PFx Brick or 2 x BuWizz battery boxes Control: PF with SBrick, PFx Brick or BuWizz Designed: 2020 My older 6-wide version from 2011 and redesigned in 2015: https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/172599-moc-herningværket-vestkraft-is-complete-set-of-locomotives-and-wagons Part of the fun and what set LEGO trains apart from pure model railroading is the inclusion of minifigs, so whenever and whatever I always try to make space for them and also keep on some play features and interiors. The 8-wide body is quite roomy and has a fairly correct interior. 2 x PF L-motors with either 2 x AAA battery boxes + 2 x SBricks, 1 x AAA battery box + 1 x SBrick/PFx Brick or 2 x BuWizz battery boxes can be utilized: Both locomotives with DSB Litra MZ (I) in front of the later version DSB Litra MZ (III) in the background: Technical addendum: For the first time ever I have used technical drawings overlayed with LEGO scaled grids to get the dimensions right or as close to right as possible. The models haven't been built yet but some smaller builds have been used for testing during the design phase. My slightly shorter test train didn’t really like driving through R40 curves, no surprise there Too much length overall and the wheel sets in both ends of the bogies are also pretty far from each other producing some drag. Going through isn't impossible though but rather uneven and a tiny bit struggling, especially with added wagons. There are no problems driving on straight tracks and through larger radii curves. To my surprise however was the finding that the total number of parts were the same or even slightly less than a similar 7-wide model So henceforth, 8-wide it is
  5. MAVERICK26

    [MOC] Taking Potshots

    Built and rendered in Stud.io. 5 trees. 2 soldiers and a few guns against a Russian T - 90 tank. I took a few creative liberties (i.e. the blue and yellow shoulder pad, the flag on the tank) but tried to stay true to life a good bit. This includes the infamous 'Z' on the port side of the tank. Слава Україні! Peter
  6. Hi all, during a pleasant discussion in this thread... ...a very interesting question was raised by @SDLgo9 member: The 7777 idea book pages mentioned here are those three pages showing the blue matter (!) unloading station and the famous auto-unloading wagons. These wagons are pulled by an obscure locomotive, which is never fully depicted. In fact - the front view is missing, and there's no clear view of the boiler. I've NEVER taken care of it, nor analyzed it too much. It really seems a 7730-based locomotive, but simplified in some details. There's a strange combination of "simple look" and now overpriced rare parts. So maybe it's simple - but it is a wanted effect? Analyzing the whole scenery depicted in the book - it's not a place for a fancy locomotive. There's work to do - wagons are fully loaded and heavy, so that unloading station surely needs a workhorse. And these workhorse is powerful, maybe not so good looking, but simple and solid, ready for its everyday duty. Here's a rear view, similar to the one in the Idea Book: It's a long locomotive and it's not using the classic train base (like 7810). It's pretty boxy and looks heavy. I had to take the scans from Brickfactory and to modify the photos to see a bit better. But which parts were used of the body is pretty unknown to me. So, we have the 2x2x1 black windows on the rear part - being a 7730 derivate - there are also doors, and at this point, the 1x2x1 small black windows. But it seems (to me) that these are not facing towards the front, and instead are used as small side windows. Side reservoirs are big, so fitting the two weight bricks was not a problem. The smoke stack is visible and there's not so much to say - but the boiler...is not completely visible. I added a square steam dome just for completeness. There's an headlight on top of boiler, and it seems there are also two headlights on the "nose". They are not fully visible, for this reason I think these are not placed on the corners of the chassis. Let's try: Simple and straight - the boiler is not round, but goes down to the chassis, same "steering wheel" as in the 7730. Headlights are a bit more inwards. All in all it's a simplified 7730 nose. Then, a more "Narrow Gauge" look - always with 7730 parts: There could be more styles, just removing the front steering wheel part and playing with slope parts. Suggestions are welcome!!! Davide
  7. Presenting another of my Danish State Railways’ (DSB) locomotives - redesigned from 7-wide to 8-wide and digitally rendered but already built and tested DSB Litra MK The Danish State Railways (DSB) first radio control shunter Litra MK was built by Siemens/Vossloh in Germany as type VSFT G322. 25 were built from 1996 to 1998. All but one shunter were transferred to DSB subsidiary Railion in 2001 and DB Schenker Rail in 2007. My model: DSB Gods version. Scale: 1:45 Length: 27 studs Width: 8 studs Bricks: 586 Locomotion: 1 x M-motor (PF) Gear ratio: 1:1 Power: 1 x 9v battery with 1 x PF custom adapter Control: SBrick Designed: 2020 (third attempt at the class) (Very slightly) updated: 2023 Very high setting render from Stud.io with custom decals added in the PartDesigner tool. Rear with the hidden SBrick inside: Removable hood for easy placement of the 9v battery inside - likely a 800 mAh rechargeable Li-Po one: The mechanical power transmission technique with 1:1 gearing: On a tableau at exhibitions: Link to my NedTrain Vossloh G 400 B and other liveries based on my design My earlier 7-wide version was rather fragile and prone to implosions when handled wrong but this time around the construction is pretty solid and the mechanical power transmission much better with surprising pulling capability. Long live 8-wide
  8. Presenting a Dutch version of my DSB Litra MK - thanks to UrbanErwin for giving me this idea NedTrain Vossloh G 400 B My model: Scale: 1:45 Length: 27 studs Width: 8 studs Bricks: 640 Locomotion: 1 x M-motor (PF) Gear ratio: 1:1 Power: 1 x 9v battery with 1 x PF custom adapter Control: SBrick Designed: 2020 (Slightly) updated: 2023 Very high setting render from Stud.io with custom decals done in the PartDesigner tool. Left: Central coupling arm on without any wagons. Right: Central coupling arm replaced with a coupling magnet when pulling or pusing wagons. Interior with placement of the SBrick, M-motor and 9v battery: On a tableau at exhibitions: The railing can only be made in Dark Green using BlueBrixx parts for now. Change all Dark Green to Dark Turquoise and the railing can be made using genuine LEGO parts.
  9. More renders can be found here: https://imgur.com/a/ORr8fkh
  10. manglegrat

    MOC: Babylon 5

    The Babylon Project was our last, best hope for peace. A self-contained world five miles long, located in neutral territory. A place of commerce and diplomacy for a quarter of a million humans and aliens. A shining beacon in space . . . all alone in the night. And if you're curious how big this is: Currently she sits at ~6300 parts; ~4kg weight; ~142 studs or 113cm long; 45 studs or 36cm height, ~25 studs or 20cm wide... Check out more on my Flickr! Built in LDD (modded with the additional parts pack - there are no collisions), then imported, fixed-up & rendered in Stud.io. I haven't figured out how to use Stud.io's renderer properly yet, so these shots have really basic lighting, etc. For details, colours & general inspiration, I'm using the awesome renders by this guy and reference images from here. It's surprisingly close to those last reference images! I also bought the 20 year-old Revell model kit recently as further reference IRL. Structurally, the cylinders are mostly based on the Saturn V internals, and it's built in interconnected modules, not along a single central spine, which works great digitally but might not in real life! Oh and there's a studless Lowell sphere at the front, of course. I started sketching this out in LDD 2 years ago then it went cold until about 2 weeks ago, when I picked it up and inspiration hit. Next steps will be to design a multi-point stand - she'll need a lot of support in 1Gs worth of gravity. Then test builds. I'm sure she'll evolve in that process. Before anyone asks, because cloners stole my Agamemnon design there won't be instructions or shared LDD/Stud.io files for this one - pics only!
  11. dtomsen

    [MOC] DSB IC3 (7-wide)

    Presenting another Danish train... DSB IC3 My model: Scale: 1:54ish Lenght: 140 studs (MFA 46 studs - FF studs 40 - MFB 46 studs) Width: 7 studs Bricks: 2.084 (9v) or 2.079 (PF) Powered: 2 x 9v or 2 x PF train motors with 2 x battery boxses Designed: 2017 Room for lights in all headlights and interior. Digital model but built by me (and many others) irl Very high setting render from Stud.io with custom decals done in the PartDesigner tool. Free building instructions: DSB IC3 9v variant here DSB IC3 PF variant here DSB original white and red livery of the 1990-2000s: View from the side - unfortunately the wide gab between the units is necessary to run through R40 curved tracks smoothly: Access to the interior with seating for 54 minifig passengers, 2 train drivers and additional space for 2 bicycles, standing passengers, stewards and 2 toilet guests: FF unit (PF) with 2 IR Receivers, 2 Battery Boxes and 1 Polarity Switch: Technique used for the sliding toilet doors - turning the Pneumatic T Piece 90° behind the seat keeps the door shut when closed: Youtube video from fellow Danish LUG member Knud Ahrnell Albrechtsen:
  12. RyszardBosiak

    [MOC] Tenement House

    Hello! This is my first tenement house built in Studio app. Building is modular; walls, roof and rest can be simply removed, so you can easy arrange interiors :) Also street is modular, in my opinion that approach give a big capabilities. I hope you enjoy it, I spent 2 weeks on that MOC :) Tenement House by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr Tenement House by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr Tenement House by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr Tenement House by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr Tenement House by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr Tenement House by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr
  13. RyszardBosiak

    [MOC] M-Tron Light Mech

    Hello! My first Lego mech. Light construction adapted to work in M-Tron complexes. Easy to configure - there is a possibility to quick change kind of arms. There is a number and type of machine on left arm - LM63 - Light Mech, number 63. I had a lot of issues during rendering, flex element was invisible after render, so I decided to remove that element and use other solution. I hope you enjoy it :) M-Tron Light Mech by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr M-Tron Light Mech by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr M-Tron Light Mech by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr M-Tron Light Mech by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr M-Tron Light Mech by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr M-Tron Light Mech by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr M-Tron Light Mech by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr M-Tron Light Mech by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr M-Tron Light Mech by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr M-Tron Light Mech by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr
  14. RyszardBosiak

    [MOC] Rock Raiders Mining Mech

    Hello! Do you remember Rock Raiders series? In my opinion that theme had a big potential. This time I'm glad to present you my variation of Rock Raiders crew's mining mech. That mech is bigger than last one. Needs more power and weight to mine all important minerals. Rock Raiders Mining Mech by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr Rock Raiders Mining Mech by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr Rock Raiders Mining Mech by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr Rock Raiders Mining Mech by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr Rock Raiders Mining Mech by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr Rock Raiders Mining Mech by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr Rock Raiders Mining Mech by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr Rock Raiders Mining Mech by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr Rock Raiders Mining Mech by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr Rock Raiders Mining Mech by Ryszard Bosiak, on Flickr
  15. This is my first LEGO Unreal Engine 4 animation. It is about the Philippine-American War (1899-1902). It is my attempt at recreating a historical setting in the form of a LEGO film. Check out my blog post related to this animation here: https://staycalm182.blogspot.com/2020/05/my-first-lego-unreal-engine-4-animation.html . It took me about four days to create this animation. The software and websites I used are: Unreal Engine Bricklink Studio 2.0 Mecabricks Blender + Blender video sequence editor Mixamo
  16. papacharly

    [MOC] Submersible JAGO 2.0

    One year ago I presented a virtual version of submersible JAGO (see here). Now I am able to proudly present a real life brick built version of JAGO. And some new renders (Pov-Ray, based on LDraw) too. For the brick built version I had to manipulate some original parts: Dome 4x4 #86500 and Round Plate 6x6 #11213 are not available in yellow. So I had to re-color these parts by using a color spray can. JAGO is a submersible primarily dedicated to exploration and research in marine sciences. See homepage JAGO. Hope you enjoy it. Regards Papacharly
  17. dtomsen

    [MOC] DSB Litra DB (II)

    Presenting another Danish wagon...a design-project for another Danish LUG-member to build and test in real bricks (!) DSB Litra DB (II) The Danish State Railways' (DSB) improved Litra DB (II) travelling post offices (TPOs) were built by Scandia in Denmark. 5 were built in 1961. All have been scraped today, the last one in 2011. The model: Digital but has been built and being tested irl with free bulding instructions also in the works Original DSB maroon livery used from the fifties to the seventies - with Dark Red a very good match albeit a bit too clean Scale: ~1:54 Lenght: 34 studs Width: 7 studs Bricks: 808 (very heavy, so ball bearings recommended) Designed: 2012 & 2017 & 2019 Sadly the LEGO Digital Designer file was lost a few years ago when all my data were lost (including multiple backups). So I had to recreate the model from scratch using two remaining screenshots posted online. Rather strange experience to reverse engineering yourself Very high setting render from Stud.io with custom decals done in the PartDesigner tool and some manuel editing. The roof can be removed, giving access inside the wagon and the doors can slide in opposite directions by flipping the blocking hinge parts down. Technique used for the bogies - prepared for ball bearings
  18. Hello, I build lego Trains (Virtual and real bricks) since 2008, and recently i though to myself, what a hell i don't have a odd maintenance machine. I'm honest, i don't know what are the name or some of these and what they are for, I just saw some images on google and try to make the most detail as possible.
  19. I was asked to put together a tutorial on rendering LDraw-produced models in POV-Ray in as clear and simple a way as possible. Although the following might seem a bit lengthy, I have tried to keep it clear, which is what caused it require a lot of explanation. I plan on updating things and changing things as time goes on and as people give me their input, so as to create a useful guide for everyone here on Eurobricks. NOTE: To give an idea of how long these images can take to render, I will be adding the render time of each image to the tutorial. As I don't rely on POV-Ray's anti-aliasing, I have rendered each image at 2880x1620 with AA set to off, and then crop and resize the image afterwards. For computer spec comparisons, I use an Intel Core i5 running at 2.67 GHz, with 4GB of RAM running at 1333 MHz and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 with 1GB of RAM. I'm also using POV-Ray 3.7, which can take advantage of more than one CPU core. Contents Introduction Requirements MLCad (including LSynth and SR 3D Builder) Special files LDView Setting up POV-Ray Rendering your model in POV-Ray (including lighting and effects) Downloads More information Version history 1. Introduction Unlike LEGO’s own Digital Designer (LDD), which can currently only output an image of exactly what you can see within the LDD window, LEGO models created using LDraw can be turned into high-quality and, in some cases, photo-realistic images. This brief tutorial covers some of the basics of converting files created in LDraw and other compatible programs into something that looks almost real. As an example throughout this guide, I will be using a model I made in MLCad of the tipper from 4201 Loader and Tipper, which can be found here. 2. Requirements Regarding operating system, I currently use Windows 7, so this tutorial will be written to mainly accommodate Windows users, and I shall assume you are using a 32-bit version of Windows with the default installation path for LDraw. For anyone using a 64-bit version, when referencing folder paths please use “C:\Program Files (x86)” instead of “C:\Program Files”. Firstly, if you do not have it installed already, you need to install the LDraw All-In-One Installer, which contains the following programs required for this tutorial: The LDraw parts library MLCad, used for building the models LSynth [optional], a system for building flexible parts within MLCad LDView, used for converting models into a POV-Ray file LGEO, a parts library built specifically for POV-Ray POV-Ray, a ray-tracer that can render 3D models in high-quality You can find the installer here: http://www.ldraw.org/ This will install everything within the "C:\Program Files\LDRAW" folder, although POV-Ray will get its own installation folder. More information on this installer can be found at http://www.holly-woo...w/aioi1-en.html At the moment, the installer seems to install POV-Ray 3.6, but if you're using a computer with multiple CPUs then it would be worth downloading and installing beta version 3.7, as this can make use of more than one CPU. This can be downloaded from http://www.povray.org/beta/ and is installed in the Program Files folder, but installs the "ini" and "include" files in your My Documents folder. Although it's still in beta, I've had no issues when using this to render images. 3. MLCad MLCad is a user-interface for the LDraw system, and makes it easier to create virtual LEGO models than hand-coding the location of each piece. It’s not as straight-forward to use as LEGO Digital Designer, but the parts list contains a greater number of “older” pieces, you ultimately have complete control over brick placement as LDD-style collision is ignored, and (if you’re feeling adventurous) you can even recreate LEGO elements yourself, if they have not been created already, and submit them to the LDraw parts lists. It is missing a number of more recent parts, but new elements are always being submitted and can be downloaded and installed fairly easily. There are many excellent tutorials on how to use MLCad, so I won’t cover that here. However, there are a few settings within MLCad that I use that you may find useful. Firstly, under Settings → General → Change... and then on the Step, Grid, Snap tab, I set the values as below: The coarse settings are left at MLCad’s default setting. The medium settings are changed to 1 unit per step, and the rotation angle is set to mimic the rotation of the new-style locking hinge pieces, which can be set at angles of 22.5 degrees. 11.25 degrees gives you slightly more freedom when using the old-style hinge pieces, but the correct angle is easily set for the locking hinges, which can be reproduced in sets of two rotations. Finally, the fine settings are set very low, so that I can accurately place items that have been rotated. Of course, if you find MLCad’s default settings enough, then they can be left as they are. I then set up the parts tree to something more useable, under Settings → Parts Tree → Tree Configuration…, although this can be quite time-consuming and if you accidentally reset the tree you cannot easily get the settings back, as the information is stored in your computer's registry. For ease of use, I have created a group file that automatically adds the values for you, an explanation of which is available in the “Downloads” section. 3.1. LSynth If this is installed alongside MLCad, it will allow you to render flexible elements, such as hoses, and store these within your LDR and MPD files. It has a bit of a learning curve (pun not intended), but once you’ve got the hang of it, it can really improve models that contain flexible parts. A modest example of what it can do can be found here in a Technic model that I’ve rendered. A good guide can also be found at http://www.holly-woo...utorial-en.html 3.2. SR 3D Builder A lot of people use SR 3D Builder as an alternative to MLCad, as it uses a system that is a little more like LDD. It uses a file format called L3B, which is essentially the LDraw format but with a bit more functionality. These files can also be opened within LDView, but certain special elements created within SR 3D Builder (such as rubber hoses) cannot be displayed using LDView, and therefore cannot be exported to POV-Ray for rendering. As far as I’m aware, SR 3D Builder does not recognise the LSynth library of parts. 4. Special files There are a few special files that are installed with the All-In-One installer which need some adjusting before rendering your model in POV-Ray. LGEO.xml This file contains all of the colour and element definitions for when LDView is exporting a model to the POV-Ray format. The default version is missing some colours, so I have created a more complete version, which can be found in 8. Downloads. Simply replace the default version with this one, and you will have more of LDraw’s colours available to render with. This needs to be saved to “C:\Program Files\LDRAW\LDView” lg_color.inc This file is installed into LGEO's program folder, in the "lg" sub-folder. It contains definitions to all of the colours of the bricks that POV-Ray uses, as well as information on element finish (transparency, reflection, etc.). The default one does not render accurate LEGO colours, so a replacement for this one can be found in 8. Downloads. This needs to be saved to "C:\Program Files\LDRAW\LGEO\lg" 5. LDView Once you have completed your model in MLCad, open LDView and locate the model file (either an LDR or MPD file, or L3B is you have used SR 3D Builder). Depending on how good your graphics card is, you should see a representation of your model that looks better than the one shown in MLCad. As LDView also displays the LEGO logo on element studs, you can use this to check to see if they are set to your desired rotation, as this will carry through to the POV-Ray render. Settings-wise, there is little that needs tweaking here, as it is mainly just for visual effect. However, you can set a better default angle, as LDView’s default is more top-down than the default one in MLCad, and when you export the model to POV-Ray, it will use the angle you currently have your model rotated to. Select View → Viewing Angles → Specify latitude/longitude, and enter your desired values. As I said, I like the default MLCad 3D angle, so I use latitude 23 and longitude 45, although latitude 30 works well with some long, low models, such as cars. Click OK and then go back to View → Viewing Angles and then click Save Current as Default. Now, when you open any model within LDView, it will always be initially displayed at this angle. The model I will be using as it appears within LDView: Render time: N/A 5.1. Exporting to a .pov file Now that you have your file open in LDView, click File → Export. This will bring up a dialog box which allows you to specify where you wish to save the exported file. It also has a button called Options..., which allows you to define various parameters. This is where you can set the aspect ratio for your render, and gives you some specific options: 5:4, 4:3, 3:2, 5:3, 16:9 and 2.35:1. I tend to go with 16:9, as that’s the ratio that modern widescreen TVs and monitors tend to use. It’s important that you remember which one you use, as you will need to set up another file in POV-Ray to account for this. There are a few other options to choose from here, and I use the ones shown below: Once you’ve chosen your settings, click OK and then from the Export window click Save. This will create a .pov file at your chosen location, using your chosen file name (by default this is the filename of the model you were looking at in LDView). 6. Setting up POV-Ray 6.1. Image resolution presets The first thing to set up is the file that contains the default resolution presets. If you are using POV-Ray 3.6, this will be located within the “C:\Program Files (x86)\POV-Ray for Windows v3.6\renderer” folder and will be called “quickres.ini”, and this cannot be edited from here, so you may need to copy the file to your desktop first and then open it from there. If you’re using POV-Ray 3.7, this can be edited within the program itself, as it stores it in you user area, so you can just open POV-Ray and select Tools → Edit resolution INI file. Open this file with a text editor and you should be able to see a list of screen resolutions, listed in this format: [1280x1024, AA 0.3] Width=1280 Height=1024 Antialias=On Antialias_Threshold=0.3 The first line is the name of the preset, and this is displayed in a drop-down box within POV-Ray. The following lines are the actual settings themselves. Copy and paste one of these settings to another location in this file, so we can create a new preset. You can leave both Antialias and Antialias_Threshold alone, as these are best left at default. If you wish to create an image that matches the aspect ratio set within LDView, this is where you set it. As I prefer to render in 16:9, then I need to make a width and height that matches this. So, for example, an image that is 1280 pixels in width must be 720 pixels in height, so you need to change this for your new preset, resulting in something like this: [1280x720 16:9, AA 0.3] Width=1280 Height=720 Antialias=On Antialias_Threshold=0.3 I add the 16:9 comment to the preset’s title, just to make it easier to see the ratio. If you’ve had to edit this from your desktop, then just copy it back to the original location. 6.2. POV-Ray INI file (3.7 only) This file is the one that contains the paths to the LGEO pieces that POV-Ray utilizes in rendering. If you’re using POV-Ray 3.6 it should already have the right paths in it. However, if you’ve manually installed the POV-Ray 3.7 beta, then it needs to be set up. Open POV-Ray and go to Tools → Edit master POVRAY.INI, and this should open the file within a text editor. At the bottom of the file, you need to insert three lines to ensure that POV-Ray can locate the right files. These are: Library_Path="C:\Program Files\LDraw\LGEO" Library_Path="C:\Program Files\LDraw\LGEO\ar" Library_Path="C:\Program Files\LDraw\LGEO\lg" Don’t forget that if you’re using a 64-bit operating system to make sure that the path uses "C:\Program Files (x86)".
  20. I compared the different LEGO rendering engines available through LDD, Bluerender and Stud.io. Have a look at the results:
  21. You may have encountered it: you built a nice model in LDD, but it looks surreal because it lacks decorations on e.g. the minifigs. This tutorial is here to help you with that. In this little tutorial, I will try to explain how you can enhance the POV-Ray renders of your LDD models with custom decorations. You can design entirely new figures for example, or you can apply the decorations that aren’t available in LDD. My example in this tutorial will be a stormtrooper minifig. This figure lacks all decoration in LDD, and is commonly used in digital Star Wars builds. It gives me the opportunity to explain how to decorate surfaces that aren’t directly accessible in LDD, how to fit custom decals and explain the general principles. This method doesn’t involve any hacking and doesn’t require any sick programming skills (although the custom decorations might need your artistic talents…). And the best of all: all programs I use here are entirely free! I’ll be using Lego Digital Designer, LDD2POV-Ray, POV-Ray and Inkscape. So let’s get started! Decorate the target pieces in LDD LDD2POV-Ray, the program that will eventually place your custom decorations, can only replace already applied decorations. So firstly, you need to give the pieces you want to decorate a replacement decoration in LDD. Make sure to use different decorations for each surface, so that you later can keep track of which filler to replace with which substitute. Also, taking a screenshot for reference is not a bad idea to support your memory. But wait a minute… Some parts don’t allow for any decorations at all in LDD! Minifig torso’s are not a problem at all, but things like helmets are a whole different story. But luckily, there is an easy way to apply decorations that will work in most cases (no guarantees though!). You have to export your .lxf file to the LXFML format (File -> Export Model). This .lxfml file is actually a textual representation of your model. Among others, it contains a list with the placed parts, including their color(s) and decoration(s). To find your part, use the search function (Ctrl + F / Cmd + F) and type in: in which you replace 30408 (the designID of the storm trooper helmet in this example) with the designID of the part you desperately want to decorate. You can find this ID by clicking on the part in LDD and looking at the bottom left corner. If multiple of these parts are available, you can give the specific part a different color and check for the one that says materials=”26” in which you replace 26 with the number of the color you used (you can find this number by hovering over the color in the color menu in LDD). The key part is then to change the part that says decorations=”0,0,0” in which the amount of zeros dictates the amount of surfaces that you can decorate. If the line isn’t present at all, you’re out of luck and won’t be able to decorate your part. Otherwise, replace the zeros with valid decoration ID’s. It’s best to take decorations that are square and detailed (I will explain why later), so I suggest using the decorations of the 2x2 flat tiles. You can find these ID’s by placing some of these decorated tiles in your model, and check in the LXFML file what number is filled in in the decorations line of those parts. To make it easier for you, here are some handy decoration ID’s you can use: 73023, 63708, 99825, 55350, 63404, 601245 Then, save your file, and open it with LDD. You’ll see your parts are looking very ugly with those random decorations, but you’ll be happy to have decorations. You can copy these parts to a ‘normal’ .lxf file, and get rid of the parts you used to find the decoration numbers. Now we can move on to step 2! 2. Open your model with LDD2POV-Ray LDD2POV-Ray is a program that converts your LDD model into a file that can be rendered with POV-Ray, a ray tracer that simulates the behaviour of real light to simulate a realistic effect. You can set lighting etc, but more importantly, you can set your own decorations. To do this, go to the “Decorations” tab, and check the box “Use custom decorations”. A list will appear at the bottom, showing all the decorations you used. Clicking on them will reveal a thumbnail. Now you’ll be happy that you used different decorations to know which is which. You’ll notice that the decorations (unless they are square) are a bit stretched out. That’s because the program only accepts square decorations. So to load your own decorations, you’ll have to make sure they are square. Otherwise, they won’t cover the whole area you intended. If you already have your decorations (you found them on one of the indexes of the customisation forum here, for example), you can skip to step 4. Otherwise, I’ll give a brief account on how to make your own decorations in step 3. 3. Create your own decorations Personally, I make my decorations with Inkscape. It’s an easy to use vector based program. That means you can easily create very clean, smooth and crisp shapes. I’ll leave it to others to educate you in this nice software, but I’ll show you some general strategies to make accurate decorations. When working on complex curved shapes, like the storm trooper helmet, you won’t know for certain how your image will be mapped to the surface. That’s when the screenshot you took comes in handily. Because you have used decorations with a lot of detail (if you’ve been following properly!), you can easily see how the image is deformed and placed on the surface. You can identify the regions where you want your details to come, look to what part of the placed decoration it corresponds, see what it looks like in its flat state (you can see this in the thumbnail in LDD2POV-Ray), and place your detail in the according place. So in the example of the storm trooper helmet, you can see that the mouth should somewhere at the center of the graph. LDD2POV-Ray shows that that graph is a bit above the, so now you know you have to place the mouth around the center of your decal. When you’ve finished your decoration, you have to make sure your decoration is square. This will most certainly occur when you’re designing decorations for minifig torsos. If you leave it in its actual proportions and plug it in LDD2POV-Ray, you’ll see that the image doesn’t fill the whole area, compared to the stretched out decoration you have to replace. So you resize your decoration. In Inkscape, simply go to the top, where you can enter dimensions. Then you go to File -> Export Bitmap and a dialogue box will pop up. Make sure to select ‘from selection’, and that the amount of pixels of your image is high enough. Otherwise it will look pixelated in the render. Finally, chose .png as file format, and remove the background color of your decoration. Because it might look like the right color in Inkscape, but in your render it will look like the decal has a different color than the body, which isn’t what you wanted. So now you have your parts temporarily decorated, and you got your custom decorations ready. So time to replace them and render them. 4. Render your decorated model Firstly, you have to load your new decorations in LDD2POV-Ray. There are multiple ways to do this, but the easiest method is to select the decoration you want to replace and then click on the empty canvas. A window will pop up to allow you to select your decoration. Just select it. Repeat for the other decorations, making sure you replace the right decoration with the right replacement (that screenshot will come in handy now, especially since you can’t have both LDD and LDD2POV-Ray open at the same time at this moment!). Then you can fiddle around with different settings like lighting etc. For test renders I suggest to place in the first tab the slider on the lowest positions: ‘LDD geometry’. This will result in slightly less good, but much faster renders, allowing you to quickly get feedback about your decorations, so that you can adjust placement and proportions. For flat parts this won’t be necessary, but it can help for curved parts. That’s why I included the TIE pilot in the render. You can see the ensignas are slightly deformed. That’s not my intention, but I already predeformed the circles in the decal, so that it looks more or less round on the surface. You’ll have to experiment a lot with these ones. Anyway, when you're satisfied and feel the need for a more glamorous render, you can turn 'render with visible bevels' on in the slider bar, and wait for some time. You'll get something like this. Hopefully now you know all about rendering your custom minifigs, making your models more realistic. I hope to see some around! Anyway: happy rendering of your minifigs! If anyone is interested in downloading the decorations I designed for the stormtrooper (for now without back printing) and the TIE pilot (torso printing already present in LDD), have a look at this page. Hope you've found this useful.
  22. Shroud

    Eris MoC

    Hi all, Shameless post here looking for feedback from my redesigned Eris fighter. I can’t post the image here for some reason but this is the link: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/c19983a7-da53-442f-886d-44be3bedeeff Regards Shroud
  23. Hi everyone I'm a regular on Eurobricks but this is the first time I've posted anything in the digital building forums. I've recently started to design MOC's using Lego Digital Designer and this is my first creation... All the images were rendered using Blue render which I like because it's fairly fast and incredibly easy to use. I was quite happy with these images but then I saw a few other renders that people have created online and am blown away by the quality of them. Some of them are so good that it's hard to tell they aren't built from real bricks. Can anyone suggest to me, the best software or method of rendering images from models created in LDD. I've tried POV Ray but am not that impressed with the results. Even in top quality the renders seem to have a fake looking sheen that makes them look artificial and almost as if they've been shrink wrapped in plastic. It also takes hours to render the images on my PC using POV Ray. I've been pouring over other threads in the forum and have read a lot about people using Blender. As far as I can tell though the only way of getting LDD models to open in Blender is by converting them to LDraw files first. When I tried this though it messes up a lot of the bricks in my model. Similarly I tried importing them in to Mecabricks but this messes up any bricks that have printed elements on them. Does anyone know of another way of getting LDD files in to Blender directly without it messing up the models? From what I've seen, Bluerender seems to be the most user friendly option for creating renders. I read somewhere on here that a "Sunflow" patch had been created for Bluerender which gave a more realistic result with better detail and the Lego logo on each stud. When I followed the link to download this though it redirected me to a different site, so I assume this patch has since been removed. So I'd be very grateful if anyone could suggest anything I can do to make my renders look more realistic or suggest any other software or methods that might give a better result. Thanks!
  24. New FebRovery MOC, Mighty Micros: Classic-Space Rovers. Mighty Micros: Classic-Space Rovers by Kamal Muftie Yafi, on Flickr More information in my blog!
  25. KamalMYafi

    [MOC] Tanker Rover

    FebRovery is on again! Now I came up with a Tanker Rover. FebRovery Tanker - Front by Kamal Muftie Yafi, on Flickr FebRovery Tanker - Rear by Kamal Muftie Yafi, on Flickr More information in my blog!