vynsane

Or four different BPs, each featuring one squaddie from a different team, maybe also a team robot sidekick, and either three (if it includes the robot) or four (if not) different bugs - each BP featuring a different 'special' bug (Buggoid Elite, Armored Roachoid, etc...)

^ I'd imagine, since we got a green and orange with this wave, we'll see a poly for the blue and red teams with the next wave. The question I have, though, is: Why no Buggoid/Mosquitoid polys thus far? That would make so much (more) sense! Maybe we'll see a battle pack.

DOOD, what's the price?

I was just thinking, along the same vein as custom bricks, there's no reason not to consider palette options for clone brands. They are, after all, LEGO compatible... just a thought. Then you could have a menu where you check/uncheck which bricks you want shown in the palette, including LEGO, MB, custom,etc...

Ah, the ever threatening "feature-creep"... I know all about that. And I hear ya, obviously this was a stop-gap measure, and would suffice just fine if the palette of custom parts were to stay at a count of '1' or even increase to '10'. Good to know we're on the same page regarding future enhancement, though.

If you divided the figures by half, made it two different sets, and then added a brick-built section of the hive, that would be an awesome hive-builder. Say pack #1 was a long, low segment of hive wall with Green Buggoid x1 Red Buggoid x1 Mosquitoid x1 Larvae x3 Purple Cocoon x1 Pink Egg x3 Weapons for each figure Then pack #2 is a tall, narrow segment of hive wall with Green Buggoid x2 Armored Mosquitoid x1 Mosquitoid x1 Larvae x2 Cocoon x2 Pink Egg x2 Weapons for each figure Each should have hinge bricks/plates that will allow you to connect any number (above 3, I suppose) of them to each other in the round (as opposed to technic angled connectors, which would require set geometry).

Is there a PDF somewhere of how much and what kind of chocolate it can hold in the hollow areas?

Are these somehow sidelined as 'custom', 'experimental' or 'unofficial' pieces? Would't want people to build with them thinking they're new, unknown pieces only to be disappointed to find out they don't actually exist! Maybe an option in the palette setup to hide/show these pieces is in order... EDIT: Nevermind, shouldn't open my big mouth until I actually take a look - I see it's under the 'Bricks - Custom' category... What i was thinking, though, was that they would be categorized under the appropriate existing category (in the case of these custom double-slope pieces, 'Bricks - Sloping'), then be shown as a sub-set therein as 'custom', which can then be displayed/hidden as desired. It's a thought, if the addition of custom bricks takes off...

Yes, it would definitely be a great feature to support touch navigation for the rotation/zoom features, ^ that being the case.

You can also just double-click the file you want to open instead of waiting for the 'welcome' screen to load.

I agree, with Android gaining in marketshare, it would be awesome to be able to use this on a Galaxy Tab or Nexus 7 (not that I have either one, but still...) I can't speak for Windows support for WebGL. Firefox OS will definitely have it, their entire premise is web-based apps. There apparently is a hacky browser for WebGL use available on GitHub. I don't see Apple supporting WebGL natively for a very long time, since it would greatly damage their iTunes money.

I wasn't surprised to find out iOS doesn't support WebGL unless you recompile the build of Safari, but it was funny that I could run it on my Droid Bionic and not my iPad...

I think the Crater Creeper looks pretty awesome, personally. It looks like a solid $20 (maybe $25?) set. And another style trans-red windscreen (as part of the abdomen). And the green team is getting the dinky ride for a change... The Red Sled in the Hive Crawler is looking great, as well! And is it me, or is the Red team robot piloting a cave racer? EDIT: Brickset has Hive Crawler at $69.99.

^ These are also still basically pre-production, so they might not be the final figures. It begs the question, though - do we anticipate the same squad members in this wave as in the first (at least in The States) wave? It's a possibility that we'll see different heads on the second wave. That's all it would take, naturally - different head = different character.

Yes, the reason transparent parts are rendered at a different setting is because they result in very complex beveling. Really, then, the only thing you need to take away from this method is setting "radiosity" to "normal" instead of using "custom". The transparent and quick color steps are unnecessary if you have no transparent parts.

Another totally awesome re-envisioning. Love it!

Dude! This is awesome! (One of my favorites as a kid, btw).

I posted something like that on the LDD to POV-Ray group on Flickr. Feel free to use that as the basis for your guide.

Yeah, it sure is! The all-bevels render was 1hr 12min for me, which is more than half the length of the last time!

Interesting, I hadn't thought to change the radiosity. I'm not really that well versed in POV-Ray. I duplicated the "LDD Geometry only" render, but this time with "Radiosity" set to "Normal" and it only took 17min, 44sec. Not going to beat your 24:40 total time, but still a LOT better than ~1.5hrs!

HA, I haven't given up on anything, just haven't had the time to do much MOCing/LDDing. I have a few WIPs that I've been working on for a while, but I think I got a little burnt out on them. One was supposed to be a modular starfighter Vic Viper for NoVVember, but I missed that deadline. The other is another, larger, modular spacecraft.

A variant on the "Niuma" Class Light Cargo Shuttle that I created to test out Nachapon's "speed render" trick. "Niuma" Class Courier Variant (GHL Livery) "speed render" by vynsane, on Flickr While the "Niuma" Class Light Cargo Shuttle performed exceptionally well in modern, standardized spaceports, the same could not be said for outlying galactic fringe worlds that have not had the opportunity to update their aging infrastructure. The "Niuma" Class Courier Variant was borne of the need to land in non-standard ports where clearance around the under-slung engines of the original Light Cargo Shuttle could be very restrictive. By mounting the engines above the main hull, the footprint of the craft was greatly reduced allowing for more free movement in tight spots. LDD File - "Niuma" Class Courier Variant (GHL Livery)

So, my results were not as spectacular as yours, but it was still a fair sight faster than my previous renders. "Niuma" Class Courier Variant (GHL Livery) "speed render" by vynsane, on Flickr - First-pass render (original LDD geometry): 1hr, 29min, 2sec - Second-pass render (original LDD geometry, quick color, no plane): 0hr, 0min, 58sec - Third-pass render (all bevels, no transparent parts): 3hr, 31min, 26sec - Total render time: 5hr, 1min, 24sec - Total render + post-process compositing: ~5hr, 5min Rendering environment: Windows 7 x64 VMWare Fusion virtual machine, 2 cores available, 1024MB RAM available Host environment: MacBookPro8,3 Intel Core i7, 4 cores @ 2.2GHz, 4GB RAM Specific factors - Three lights @ 40% each - Top shadow only @ 35% - No Anti-Aliasing - Output set to 2x desired resolution (3840x2400 -> 1920x1200)

^ Thanks!

Nothing new to post, yet, but I did a render using the LDD to POV-Ray converter: "Oni" Class Defender Render by vynsane, on Flickr I also created a new group for designs using the modular starfighter/spaceship standard, under the umbrella of "Tanuki Corp." and an official logo: Can't wait to print that out and stick it on a 2x2 round tile...