vynsane

There is one in the LDD forum topic I linked to in the first post...

Thanks a lot, SI-MOCs and LEGOman273! It's been an interesting project, working digitally first has allowed me to "rapid (sometimes not so rapid) prototype" a bunch of designs without diving in to the parts bins (which is difficult for me given limited time and/or space). The modular nature definitely evolved out of Blacktron especially, what with their reconfigurable sections.

Hey, look! Real bricks! "Raijin" Class Mk.II Light Interceptor, ADU markings - Main view by vynsane, on Flickr Cross-posting... More shots in the Sci-Fi forum and/or flickr. LDD File - "Raijin" Class Mk.II Light Interceptor, ADU markings

"Raijin" Class Mk.II Light Interceptor, ADU markings - Main view by vynsane, on Flickr First brick-built version of one of my modular starfighter LDD concepts. ____________________ While the speed and small profile of the "Raijin" Class Light Interceptor was above anything Tanuki Corp. had developed previously, the need for greater firepower options prompted a revision of the Light Interceptor configuration. Utilizing the same fuselage frame as the Mk.I while taking certain design cues from the "Mamushi" Class, the "Raijin" Mk.II paired a new set of wing/stabilizer modules featuring multiple weapon system hardpoints and a set of new enhanced nose-mounted blaster cannons. In addition to the centrally-located enhanced blaster cannons, the depicted configuration is kitted out with four heavy energy cannons, two per side, connected via a forward-facing hardpoint mount. _____________________ There are some parts that were reworked in comparison to the all-digital version I previously posted. The engine module is pretty extensively reworked and the wings are a little different. LDD File - "Raijin" Class Mk.II Light Interceptor, ADU markings Additional Shots "Raijin" Class Mk.II Light Interceptor, ADU markings - Side view by vynsane, on Flickr "Raijin" Class Mk.II Light Interceptor, ADU markings - Top view by vynsane, on Flickr "Raijin" Class Mk.II Light Interceptor, ADU markings - Play features! by vynsane, on Flickr "Raijin" Class Mk.II Light Interceptor, ADU markings - Module breakdown by vynsane, on Flickr Don't forget to check out the rest of my modular starfighter LDD concepts in the LEGO Digital Designer forum!

Very cool, looks like a very promising project. There's a lot of potential for extending the functionality, I'm sure. Some feature ideas off the top of my head: Connecting the 'part' list with data from BrickLink, and only allowing it to be 'painted' colors it actually exists in 'Bricklink wantlist' auto-export User-defined brick palettes Keep up the good work!

I love this set. The one thing to note is that the rubber band that supplies the tension for the snap-open action feature can over-stress the technic pieces These: and these: causing torsion in the axle of the larger piece. Over time, they actually twist towards the center of the vehicle a bit. It's probably best to remove the rubber band if just displaying or it's not being played with regularly. If it's already happened to yours, I recommend taking the rubber band off, swapping sides with the technic bits, and replacing the rubber band so as to equal out the stress already applied.

I love this theme. The size of the hammer on that truck is hilariously awesome.

The line not continuing would be disappointing, especially after I caught up and bought all three of the sets last November

I actually searched for the term "Winter Village Post Office Revealed" and it seems the official press release went out in August of 2011, so yeah - blurry shots in a month or two, official word a few months after

I realize this topic got a bit stale, but I wanted to throw in my predictions and/or wishes... a fair number of them are quite similar to previous posts. Winter Village Ski Lodge (or Chalet) - An A-Frame building would add a bit of variation to the collection. Perhaps with an additional ice-fishing shed in a pond as an 'accessory' building. Winter Village Sports Shop - Featuring skis, skates, snowshoes, coats, (maybe, but probably not, snowboards) etc. This could also feature the ice-fishing shed/pond idea. Winter Village Inn - This could have the feel of a Pub but without explicitly stating it as such (thereby getting around the age-appropriateness restrictions), with a first-floor communal dining area and a couple of bedrooms on the second floor. Winter Village Dance Hall - another 'winter party' venue with a band on a stage and a couple of pairs of dancers. Winter Village Library (or Bookstore) - What could be better on a cold winter's day than to read a book by a roaring fireplace (complete with lightbrick)?

I figure the decorations are easy enough to get to by switching 'building modes', the templates are more suited to basically exactly what I'm doing - reusable chunks. Also good for favorite jump-off points like cockpit boxes and such. I've been using templates for about half a year now. Groupings within models are relatively new, started using them within the past month or so. Yeah, further categorization of the template palette would be aces. That or user-defined palettes or, even at a higher level, the ability to create 'custom' building modes (in addition to LDD standard, Mindstorms and Extended) with user-defined palettes for each 'mode'.

I'll see what I can do, but I don't recall seeing that turbine piece in LDD. I'll have a look when I can.

^^ I'll see what I can do, if you have reference material or something, but I generally just design on whim, so I don't know how successful I'd be with a 'commission' of sorts... ^ Good suggestion, thanks! You can also select all pieces from one design file by either drawing a selection box around the entire thing or holding down 'ctrl' (windows) or 'cmd' (mac) and pressing 'A'. Then copy using ctrl/cmd 'C', opening a new or existing file and pasting using ctrl/cmd 'P'. I also started to better use the features of the program, and find it easiest to work with the modules saved to the 'Templates' palette, found next to the 'Bricks' palette. If you're not familiar with it, in comparison to the 'Bricks' palette (which is the pre-defined set of single elements you have to choose from by default) 'Templates' are reusable chunks of bricks that are user-defined - you can select a bunch of pieces you've used in the main 'scene' panel, click the 'Templates' tab, and click the icon in the lower left-hand corner of the palette to save the selection as a 'Template'. These are then stored in the application memory and can be re-used in future designs. Here's a screenshot of what my 'Templates' palette looks like: Image Unfortunately, there isn't much in the way of ordering or managing templates in any sensible manner. I've sort of begun to color-code my module templates by type. Red for cockpits, tan for wings, green for fuselage sections, etc., but it's not an exact science and you'll see modules in there that don't conform to those 'standards'. Then, when starting a new design, I will select the modules I want to use from the 'Templates' palette, and add each one to the 'Groups' palette (selecting them using the 'Connected Selection Tool') before connecting them to other modules. This allows me to quickly select an entire module (or a sensible grouping of modules, as can be the case with sub-groups) in order to rearrange or replace things if the need arises. 'Groups' differ from 'Templates' in that they are only available within that design file. Here is the 'Groups' palette for the most recent "Raijin" Mk.II design: Image As you can see, I've added all weapon modules as sub-groups of the appropriate main group. So, the blasters attached to the cockpit are part of the over-all cockpit group, but can be individually selected as a sub-group if I wanted to swap them out for some other weapon module. Same for the heavy energy cannons under each 'wing' module.

I plan on expanding the line of modules into larger fuselage diameters and different configurations, etc - though I think the cockpit will remain about the same size for fighters. You can check out the sister topic Modular Spacecraft for my foray into non-fighter, larger modular designs. There are only two so far, but one uses a four-firedemon configuration such as you mention.

Thanks, DraikNova! I'm glad you're enjoying them! I actually have a version of the "Raijin" 90% built in real bricks as I type, just have to pay for some BL orders to finish it off, and will post pics as soon as possible after it's complete.

^ Cool, can't wait to see what happens! I've meant to create an external airlock spec, just never got around to it.

That's awesome. Love the colors - reminiscent of Space Police I but with a bit of an edge...

Sweet! That's really cool looking. It actually looks like an over-sized version of the "Seiryu" fighter from the other topic (the blue and lime green one). Working with odd-numbered bricks is a challenge, to be sure, but the pay-off is it doesn't look like every other even-numbered MOC It's definitely cool to see people pick up and go off in different directions. The 'space station' thing crossed my mind, as well, though there's already the 'Moonbase Standard'.

This one is definitely my second-favorite from the theme behind "Earth Defense HQ", with "UFO Abduction" coming in a close third. The only thing that bothered me was that the 'stasis/prison pod' wasn't exactly the same as the one in the HQ - the one 1x2 modified plate being the culprit. In the 'copter, it's a click hinge and in HQ it's a 1x2 with "slide". I suppose, though, this is an issue with the version in HQ - it should have been the click hinge on both, since the slide doesn't really factor into the play features of HQ, but the hinge factors into the play features of the 'copter. If both were designed with the hinge, they could swap back and forth between the two. As for the set itself, great pieces (some in new colors), great figures... it's a winner!

Thanks! I'm always delighted to hear I've inspired others. I've toyed with the idea of putting it on CUUSOO, but I'm not really sure it has the legs to become a real theme. I'm also something of a self-declared LDD evangelist and espouse the ideas of free exchange of digital design files, which is why I share them all here. Putting it on CUUSOO would be sort of like "selling out" compared to my "open source" ideals Ah, cool! Although, you've picked the one design that really doesn't fit in with the rest. The first design in this topic was a bit of a false-start... I ended up with quite a different 'standard' for the rest of the designs which has proven more versatile, but I encourage you to continue to work with the first design if you like! Thanks for the praise! The curves you mention are one of my "things" I guess. I can't stop using those 1x10 curved slope pieces (one of my faves), even though they're crazy expensive and only available in limited colors. Needless to say, a lot of my designs can't be fully realized in the brick. I'd love to see what you come up with for larger vessels. I've actually progressed into the same realm and posted those designs in a sister topic here. I only have the two designs posted therein finished as of yet, but have a third in production, with an attempt at a modular two-deck standard. It's just become a beast of burden though so I had to step away from it for a bit, and in the interim I designed the "Raijin" lineage here as a sort of breather

You can also output a screenshot with a transparent background by using the 'Tool Box' menu and selecting 'Take a screenshot'. That way you can layer it on top of a plain color background or a different space image (there's lots out there thanks to the Hubble) in Photoshop or GIMP. That's what I've done on most of my recent LDD designs (you can see examples in my Flickr stream, linked in my signature). If your computer can handle it, I recommend turning on "High quality rendering of bricks in scene" and "Brick outlines" - it makes the render a bit more realistic looking. I also have 'Advanced Shading' dead-center on the slider. All these options are resource hogs, though, so only high-powered computers can deal with them. I took the liberty of creating an example image using my settings and my post-process:

Thanks so much for the high praise, Abu Dun! I'm happy to say you needn't wait too long! "Raijin" Class Mk.II Light Interceptor by vynsane, on Flickr While the speed and small profile of the "Raijin" Class Light Interceptor was above anything Tanuki Corp. had developed previously, the need for greater firepower options prompted a revision of the Light Interceptor configuration. Utilizing the same fuselage frame as the Mk.I while taking certain design cues from the "Mamushi" Class, the "Raijin" Mk.II paired a new set of wing/stabilizer modules featuring multiple weapon system hardpoints and a set of new enhanced nose-mounted blaster cannons. In addition to the centrally-located enhanced blaster cannons, the depicted configuration is kitted out with four heavy energy cannons, two per side, connected via a forward-facing hardpoint mount. LDD Files "Raijin" Class Mk.II - "painted" version (modules are blocked out as groups) "Raijin" Class Mk.II - color-coded modules

Like I said on Flickr, what with the color scheme as well as the micro build theme, this looks like Master Builder Academy Level 1 Kit 2 on steroids - wish I could see it in person, it's fantastic in pictures!

Dropbox just announced last night that they've doubled the amount of space referrals award you with! My quota was adjusted accordingly, so it's not just "from this moment forward" but they honored previous referrals! Thank goodness they didn't post that on the 1st ;)

HAH, these are great, Dinoriders was a ridiculous line and you've captured that perfectly!