Lasse D

That is indeed good news with the Corel Draw - then I don't have any reason to attack stroke before intersections. My own stickers are also suffering from the stacked approach. You can even see it in the Corvette logo in the latest picture if you look closely. Yesterday I came up with a way to get this implemented properly using JS, so I will start this work once I'm in the bus Monday. It will probably take a couple of weeks to complete. The problem with the many vertices is not so much the amount, as it is the thin slabs, as you point out. The Delauney triangulation will also cause additional (Steiner) vertices, but it has a more elegant way of placing them, causing fewer artifacts. Since the approach I will be using for handling intersections will cause even more additional vertices, I will have to add a 'stitching together' mechanism to the pipeline anyway. The standard "Delauney approach" (Build a triangulation by adding lines randomly and repair the triangulation in each step to obtain Delauney) should be a good fit. I saw it as a problem because I would have to make an extra step in the pipeline in order to obtain the desired result. The point is void now that I have to add this step anyway. The sample file with the error has unfortunately been overwritten. It had a line similar to the following: 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.6 0 1 0 0.6 0 0 sticker_placed_in_custom_parts.dat The stud.io builder scene shows the sticker in the wrong size, while all other renders were OK.

There seems to be a disconnect in stud.io when adding prints like this. The renders I have posted above shows nicely and in the same way as in LDView, MLCad, BrickHub, etc. In stud.io it looks like this: It seems like sizing and positioning is being computed differently in their normal render compared to the 'realistic' renders.

Thanks again for a good test file! I have added user-facing debugging information, so you can see what is going on behind the scenes. For the torso-simple.svg the following warnings appear (my comments below each): fill:none; is not yet supported. SVG elements with this property will be ignored. This will not be easy to implement, but I have a couple of ideas. It will be put in the back-log. Unsupported SVG element type: text. This element will be ignored. Ouch! This one is a toughie! Transforming text with various fonts to geometric objects is even more complicated than supporting stroke! Crossing lines discovered in SVG file. Layered approach will be used. This issue can some times be avoided by increasing "Points per 100 pixels". Number of paths: 41 It is on my TODO-list to be able to handle intersections. Right now the program defaults to drawing paths at different heights in order to avoid having to compute which color to draw when intersections occur. Self-intersections found in path 14. It will not be present in the LDraw file.Self-intersections found in path 17. It will not be present in the LDraw file. (Many more like this) Right now the program simply can't handle that a path intersects itself due to the topology not being well-defined. An issue has been raised. As for triangulation, I think that it would be a step back to compute a Delauney-triangulation, rather than the current trapezoid-based decomposition. The advantage of a Delauney triangulation is the maximization of the minimal angle in a triangle, which is good for drawing. However, it comes at the cost of no longer having line types 4 in the output, and no longer be able to use the sweep-line-based framework I have made for the geometric functions. I will not be able to use their library directly due to svg2ldraw being written in JS, but I can easily make my own Delauney-triangulation if it turns out that this would be preferred. You have given me a lot of work, @Philo. I work on this project in the bus between home and work, so there is enough for a couple of months in the above! :D

Now that's what I'm talking about. That is an excellent test file! It has 4 SVG features which the program couldn't handle: - Physical size on dimensions - Additive Bezier curves - Implicit command conversion - rectangles with 'stroke' instead of 'fill'. The three first features have just been added, so the file works now. 'Stroke' will take some time to get implemented, as it requires computation of shapes around shapes... which is not an easy thing to convert to LDraw!

You are welcome. I have just added support for SVG rectangles, groups, and circles, so it can read even more SVG files which are created using inkscape. This allowed me to use the SVG files for Chevrolet and Corvette logos from Wikipedia in order to achieve this: I have hosted the app for converting SVG files here: https://c-mt.dk/software/svg2ldraw/ The car can be seen 'live' with building instructions and parts list here: https://brickhub.org/i/224 The app is still under development. As an example it doesn't currently show error messages to the user when it encounters SVG features it doesn't know If you find any unsupported you would like me to add (I think there are more than 100 details in the spec!) then don't hesitate to reach out.

Thanks. I ended up firing up the old color propagation app I have to fix the issue. I have uploaded a copy of the file that fails in stud.io here: https://brickhub.org/i/data/265.mpd The fixed file looks fine now: Rendered using the 'Astroid' setup in stud.io. 3D view and instructions here: https://brickhub.org/i/264

Thanks a lot for the tip @supertruper1988 I was always importing as a submodel. By using "open" it loads the model correctly. Now I don't have to spool up my old program for removing color 16 from models (this was needed back in the day when LDraw batch loading had a similar error) Edit I was too quick with the happiness. The error-free view only lasts until the Render button is pressed :(

I have a new problem with Stud.io. Does anyone know how to fix the 'color 16' issue when importing LDraw models? It seems like Stud.io is randomly choosing when to honor the color, thus leaving a model with half of the parts in the right colors, and the remaining in black.

I am working on a way to make this work using SVG files and custom parts. This 'PRO' sticker is from a PNG file and the render is from Stud.io 2.0 with the latest update: To get from PNG to SVG I used https://www.autotracer.org To get from SVG to LDraw I am working on the new project svg2ldraw: https://github.com/LasseD/svg2ldraw To get the part into stud.io 2.0 I use the CustomParts folder. Currently the project can only handle a small subset of the SVG specification - just enough for the output generated by Autotracer. This is the best method I could come up with for now.

This model has had a series of updates since my last post. I have started building it in stud.io 2.0. Here is a render of the results after 1 day of work. The main difference from the version I brought to Le Mans is the red color. I think dark red is more fitting for the 2018 liveries. Unfortunately I'm not sure all parts are available yet. That will be a challenge. This is currently the only shot I have of the version that was brought to Le Mans: The work continues :)

I am finally working on the building instructions for the #52 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO from Le Mans this year (the bright red one). It has turned out to be extremely time consuming to get all the angles right. At day 3 I currently have this progress: After having started out in BrickLink Stud.io 2.0, I had to revert to MLCad due to some parts not being possible to place. It was not just the side windows - also the parts in the nose - those that do not even break the LEGO system grid - cause stud.io to fail. Once I exported to LDraw, I could see that parts were straying from the standard grid, and I suppose this caused the placement issues. Working with MLCad is slow and grinding, but I manage a couple of parts a minute :) I will keep you updated. Update Building instructions for #52 are complete: https://brickhub.org/i/242 Up next are the #71 and #72 cars with the dark red liveries. I also have to find a solution for including stickers in the renderer. Update 2 I have changed the rear a couple of times in order to make it more true to the original. The first update has: - A new rear bumper with an even width in order to accommodate the white stripe. - Tan side diffusers instead of the wing pieces (the real car has some box-like scoops) - The 1x1 panels near the middle of the diffuser have been turned 90 degrees to emulate the lower plates on the real car. The latest version has the side scoops made using 1x1 tiles and an update to the rear center body work.

Then we seem to simply disagree. The Speed Champions C7 for comparison: While the stickers save the small model for sure, the Technic version has completely failed to capture the curves and details of the real car. All other Technic 'scale' models have recreated the real model better than this, from the Unimog to the Porsches. LEGO has chosen a scale that is too small for Technic, or spent too little time refining it, and the end product suffers.

Honestly, I think they should have given up on the Corvette and gone for a Camaro instead. It would have been much easier to recreate and make recognizable in Technic. This model just doesn’t look the part, and I do not accept the size as being the issue. The speed champions Corvette looks more on point!

Thanks for the review Jim. A couple of days ago I finished my Miniland version of this model, so the details still stand fresh in my head. Some great details: - They have tried to recreate the aero side mirrors which are mounted from the outside. - single wheel nuts - engine position and type (although it should sit lower) - Distinctive 4 LED headlight recreation (the reason for using the canopies) Bad details: - The rear hatch does not exist. On the real car you pull away a large section of the bodywork - Front and rear bodywork not detachable - Wheels are much too small. They should almost be touching the wheel arches. -Front overhang is around 2 studs too long. It is the same issue as on the Chiron.

I'm Sorry I could not be of more help this time. I plan on making BrickHub make its own steps, but the plans for this functionality are first for 2019. Right now I am working on getting stability and speed. I think Bricklink's studio currently has the best editor for adding steps - LDD can be very hit and miss with these.

You can also upload the LDR file to BrickHub.org and click on ‘instructions’. It will guide you through the steps. And if you stumble on a bug, you can PM me and I will try to fix it. It is a new site made for showing LDraw instructions, so bear with me ?

Peter Blackert has released his follow-up book to How to Build Brick Cars. Now it is time to reach for the sky! Title: How to Build Brick Airplanes Subtitle: Detailed LEGO Designs for Jets, Bombers and Warbirds Author: Peter Blackert Year: 2018 Publisher: Quatro Publishing Group USA Inc. ISBN: 978-0-7603-6164-1 Content: 192 full color pages. Price: Around $17, depending on region. I have had the pleasure to get a sneak peek into the instructions in the book and have built a small selection of the models to see what it was all about. Update on February 24, 2019 - Video Review Part 1 and 2 are now available In this review I will give you an overview of the content of the book and dive into the builds of a handful of models from it. Content After a brief introduction and a guide of how to use the instructions in the book, there are three sections of building instructions: "Miniplanes", "Intermediate" and "Advanced". There are 7 miniplanes, plus the one from the free teaser instructions for the mini Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird which I presented here. In the intermediate section there are 5 airplanes, plus separate instructions for three of the engines. In the advanced section you will find instructions for the very, very big models of the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird and P-38 Lightning. Instructions for the engines of the P-38 are presented separately and the full model uses more than 2000 parts! Instructions The building instructions, and especially the part layouts, have undegone some transformations since the previous book; Parts lists are now shown in white in an appendix: Parts and color are written in tables in another appendix. In the previous book the part were shown in full color right before instructions of the individual model. I personally prefer the old way because I'm lazy and don't want to match color codes to parts, but I can see the advantage of saving some space and have more clear part images (white with contrasting black outlines are extremely clear in print compared to, say, brown parts). The instructions are fairly easy to follow. They are extremely compact with many "do this for both right and left hand side" and other shortcuts to save page space. There were a couple of times where I had to rebuild a small section due to mistakes, and a 1x2 plate shown upside down can be taken for a 1x2 jumper plate, but otherwise it went smoothly. Miniplanes: Fokker DR. 1 All models in the book are prefaced with an introduction that includes the history and other trivia. This first model you might know as "The Red Baron". A German triplane from The Great War flown by Baron von Richthofen. The instructions are simple, taking up only a single page. I believe the model itself uses less than 100 parts, but even with this minimalistic design, Peter has managed to pack some clever details. Details include how a 1x2 plate with clip serves as both the rear wing and rear landing gear, how the stabilisers between the wings are held using dual clips, and how 1x1 plates with pinholes are used for the front landing gear. The models in this section are a joy to build. I can build a complete model during the evening after work and the stand is reusable for all but the big B-2 bomber, which has found its way into this section. And remember you can always try out the teaser build: Intermediate: Mitsubishi A6M Zero When I was asked which model to build, the Zero was on the top of my list. I cannot remember the last time I saw one built in LEGO, so I could only imagine that it is not an easy model to get right. Please note that I failed to get some parts in the right colors. For this model the thin liftarm 5 for the landing gear have to be white, while the windscreen has to be transparent - not transparent black. Given how rare these parts are, (each both a available in two Star Wars sets), I believe the part substitution is forgivable. It took me three evenings to build the model. It is designed in sections and you can remove the wings for storage. The engine has its own section in the book and can be built as a separate display piece. The high level of detail for the engine, however, has a downside. I have not been able to mount it properly onto the body of the plane. It droops a little and comes off easily when the model is upside down. I will have to look further into this. The interior is nicely detailed - the best among the planes I have built. There is both a seat, control stick and instrumentation. The cockpit can be opened, although I am not sure it is intended to (it doesn't open like this on the real planes). A nice detail in the building instructions (carried over from the car book) is that transparent parts are highlighted when building sections, such as the window. The wings have all the moving details of the real thing. The ailerons move: And the elevators: And the rudder: The landing gear folds in and you can turn the 1x2 plates to lock them in place. Other details worth mentioning are how the curved slopes nicely form the curves of the fuselage, how the red pieces are mounted to form the red stripe on the tail, how the 9 sections around the engine connect and give it a very authentic appearance, how the cockpit window slopes a bit upwards like on the real airplane and how a 1x1 tile with pin should be used for the rear wheel. I have used a 1x1 plate instead, since I was unable to locate the correct part in black (transparent and gold seem plentiful). The building instructions show how to build the standard version of the Zero. It is up to you if you want to make the modification for the carrier version with folding wings. I think this is a truly beautiful model. I know Peter disagrees with me on this, but I can't think of a place in this model where he has 'cheapened out'. It is richly detailed, looks nice on display and I would have no problem having it on display at home despite of how it was used by the Japanese Empire during World War II. Lockheed-Martin F-35 Lightning II (Please note that it should not have olive green parts - I have failed to locate my dark gray ones) Now this is a fun model! Compared to the zero, this model is a bit more stable. There are a couple of hinges which can be difficult to work without having to reassemble some pieces, but that is a very small price to pay for having the "STOVL" version of the F-35 on display. The building instructions show how to build 3 version of the F-35. Even though I messed up a bricklink order and received 1x2 plates with handle in gray instead of dark gray (and the big dark gray slope pieces have vanished from my collection), I still think this version works out and the end result is a beauty. Here are a couple of screenshots from the book so you can see all the version - and in the correct colors: Let's start out with all functionality which you might expect from now on: All the wings can turn in fancy ways and the cockpit opens. The landing gear can even retract. Here is some wing action: The party trick of this model is something out of the ordinary. Open the necessary panels and it can turn into 'almost vertical takeoff' mode: The way that the landing gear folds in is also really neat: The keen reader might have spotted that I have used 4x4 dark gray plates with cutouts instead of the 6x6 ones, but I am also willing to bet that most of you have not noticed it before I just mentioned it. The 6x6 plates are rare and if you want them in dark gray, new dark gray, they come at a hefty premium on BrickLink. The 4x4 plates work just as fine in a hurry and I do not even notice them... perhaps because of the big olive green parts. The book mentions a service for getting the stickers for the model. They look nice, but I have not yet fully researched how to get them. Advanced: Allison V-1710 V-12 Engine Now it would have been great to have shown you the humongous 2000+ pieces P-38... but its two engines will have to do for now. The engines are standalone builds, just like the engine of the Zero. Here they are placed next to the Zero so you can get an idea of how big the model is going to be. I have had some trouble getting some of the yellow pieces for the rotors, but they should arrive by the time the model is finished. The engines have Technic V6 engines (V12 engines would be too big and non-technic engines wouldn't have the sweet moving pistons. I will update this thread with pictures once I finish this or other models. Final Thoughts When building cars from the previous book I was impressed with the mechanical solution packed away inside of the models. For the airplanes on this book I am even more impressed with the level of details shown throughout the models - even the small ones! It is simply more fun and rewarding to build these airplanes, than it was the cars. I can't tell you why. Maybe it is because of the modularity of the builds, or maybe it is simply because I'm not used to build airplanes. While Peter claims that old and new gray and dark gray parts can be sued interchangeably, I believe some purists might disagree, and this is where it might become expensive. Please check out the part lists before you start one of the larger projects. Some parts are rare and expensive because they only came in few sets a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. I was given early access to the building instructions and have been promised a printed copy.

Those are very good observations. The "0 NOFILE" directive should have been for separating FILE-sections, but it seems like it has been interpreted differently by various vendors. I am currently ignoring it and simply using either a "0 FILE" or "0 Name:" to interpret the start of a new subfile. Both .ldr, .mpd and .dat files are treated the same way, but I am considering to show warnings to highlight when things are not going according to what is expected. Would it be appropriate to show a warning when multiple subfiles are in a single .ldr file?

I am trying to get an overview of the features, irregularities and oddities of the stud.io 2.0 export to LDraw. (File -> Export as -> Export a LDraw) It is for the upload functionality of BrickHub.org since many of the submissions are made this way. This is the list I have compiled so far: The extension will be ".ldr" even though the content seems like that of an ".mpd" file. Is this an error or a feature? Right now I'm treating it as an error and will make a "Change to .ldr"-functionality if submodels are detected. Proper use of "0 NOFILE". It seems like stud.io uses "0 NOFILE" lines instead of "0" lines. Does anyone know the proper use of these lines? Should I make a function to replace "0 NOFILE" with "0"? Decimal precision. Stud.io uses six decimals on all positions and matrix coordinates, so instead of "0" it will output "0.000000". This would not have been much of a problem if it were not for some precision issues. Right now I see a lot of lines in the order of "0.000080" and "0.001234" where "0" is expected. I will make a function to fix this in BrickHub. Suffixes in submodels. From MLCad I expect that submodels have ".ldr" or ".dat" as suffixes in both "0 FILE xxx.ldr" and "0 Name: xxx.ldr" lines. This only happens in stud.io if you remember to add ".ldr" to the names of the submodels. I will have to update BrickHub so it also considers submodels without this suffix as "top level sub models". Additional spacing in "0 Name:" lines. For some reason stud.io inserts two spaces after colon on these lines. I expect this to be a minor bug. Missing authors. Stud.io adds "0 Author:" lines without authors. This is unless you import the model from LDraw - then the author is remembered, but additional spacing is present after the colon. "0 NumOfBricks: xxx" lines right before content lines is added. It seems to compute the number properly, although there also here is an additional space. Missing "ROTSTEP". Stud.io seems to not only miss rotation steps, but also strip rotation steps from imported models. To add functionality to create rotation steps in BrickHub might be a big task. Would anyone be interested in using it? Additional "0 STEP" lines. If you import an LDraw file with "0 STEP" as the last line of a submodel, then an additional "0 STEP" will be added. It seems like stud.io simply adds "0 STEP" lines without checking for existing lines first. Any thoughts, comments, or other features?

I have stared at the picture for a long time, and the only details that gave it away for me were the flatness of the underside of the gray technic pins, and the evenness of which the brown window frames were pushed together. I have absolutely no idea of what else you can see. If you posted this in the rendering community I once frequented, then it would be picture of the month. Seriously!

30542 Cute Pug Building instructions, parts list and download link to .mpd file (OMR compliant) Known Errors: None. Created with stud.io 2.0. 30542 Koala Building instructions, parts list and download link to .mpd file (OMR compliant) Known Errors: None. Created with stud.io 2.0. 30542 Turkey Building instructions, parts list, and direct .mpd download (OMR Compliant) Known errors: none. Made using stud.io 2.0.

Peter Blackert has made teaser instructions available for his new book: "How to Build Brick Airplanes". See instructions and more details here: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-17304/lego911/miniplane-lockheed-sr-71-blackbird/ It is a cute little "micro" plane and perhaps a substitute for the humongous version which the book also has instructions for. It is in scale 1:48! The micro build includes a stand, can be reused for other micro airplanes in the book. With such a small build it is only very few details that can be selected for inclusion. Among these it is easy to spot the red detailing (I believe the red marked "do not step" zones on the original, but I might remember wrongly). The engines are also featuring prominently, and much of the angular detailing of the wings are there. This was enough for me to recognize the model The instructions also show how to add landing gear if you prefer to display models on the ground. I am looking forward to see which of the models from the book I am able to build without too much investment into Bricklink.

Svend Erik Saksun (known under the handle "Colonel" here on EB) has passed away last Friday. Svend Erik was known and will be missed by many in the AFOL community. He was one of the persons who helped start up LEGO World Copenhagen. He was also an ambassador for the Danish lug Byggepladen, has the World record for the largest LEGO mosaic stamp (and if you look closely on the build itself, you can see that all the LEGO-logos face the same way), has attended countless events (including some this year!), and I could go on and on. It was Jan Beyer who broke the news, and I am taking the liberty to copy his post from another forum as he says it better than I can. I hope it is okay: It is with the deepest regrets that I need to share the sad news that Sven Erik Saksun passed away last Friday loosing his long fight against cancer. Svend Erik has been a long term Ambassador, an very active and known member of the worldwide AFOL community, a great supporter for the LEGO Group and last but not least a dear friend. His death is a tremendous loss and our thoughts are with his family in these hard times. The funeral will be conducted this Friday - 14th of September 2018 - in Kundby Kirke (Kundby Church), Denmark at 11.00 am. Farewell my friend! Jan Beyer

Today I picked up my 4 PFx bricks at the postal office. I intend to use them in my standalone Model Team trucks and trailers as I believe it will be an ideal match. I look forward to PFx-powering my first truck. Stay tuned :)

There were so many awesome entries this year. The LEGO Car Blog is going to have a lot of new material!