Lasse D

Adding tags as described above is a great idea. It will solve the problem of browsing MOCs or reviews, while maintaining the current structure of EB, which has evolved nicely IMO. If one made a Technic MOC, the tags "Technic" and "MOC" would be fitting.

So the problem of a separate MOC forum is that some members don't follow the rules? I know a solution to that... If you get too many MOC topics, then a natural split for a subforum could be "this MOC took me less than an hour to create", "I don't know how to resize pictures", "unfocused pictures are the best pictures", "My horse built this" or similar non-theme specific quantifiers.

When have you last seen a large Creator MOC? I can't say that I have seen anything but the rare occasional MOD. When it comes to Model Team, I never see anything but MOCs with the occasional set review for nostalgia. This is why I would prefer to have a separate MOC forum and a separate set review forum. This would move all Model Team threads into the MOC forum, and leave a 'Technic and Mindstorms' forum, where all threads would have a better synergy. To sum it up: MOCs forum: All MOCs from all themes go here. You could add the theme of your MOC to the title, such as: "Model Team: Ford Scorpio". Set Reviews forum: All set reviews from all themes go here. An index would be nice here. Technic & Mindstorms: As it is right now, but without Model Team, MOCs and set reviews.

You are probably right, but I don't think algorithms are good enough to say that they can't be improved further. This exaggeration of detail that you do, could perhaps be done automatically to some extend if we can identify the important features. I have seen a presentation where they have done something similarly when editing pictures for different aspect ratios in Disney films. And I already have the multiple direction feature in the software, hence the coke logo in OP.

Yes. My program can do that too, hence the Coke logo in OP. You can save in .ldr or a variety of bitmap formats if you want to do post editing. I'm looking for better algorithms, so there should be as little post editing as possible.

Thanks guys. The model has now been handed over as an 11 year birthday present for Yaris. Fun fact 4. Here in Europe the Jazz is a micro MPV and a competitor for Yaris Verso and now Ractis/Verso S. It would be nice to see more small cars, and I recall seeing a Jazz/Fit built somewhere (perhaps as a Spoon racing version?). This Yaris is the first ever LEGO Yaris. I have not found others on BS/MOCPages nor google. The hood doesn't open. There is no need for that in a Yaris I know. Over-exposing the pictures gives you better detailing in the reds, but it does also give you too much white in the transparent bricks. It looks less massive in real life. I can only recommend building cars this way. Thanks. The front was really tricky since I wanted the nose above the grille and still have the drop in the middle over the bumper. Making the lights look right is near impossible, and I haven't even started on the windscreen :P The doors use the normal robot-arm technique that I use in all trucks and other cars. It lets you open the doors without too much fuss (my friend was able to do it without breaking everything... once). With the front doors open, the rear ones suffice with hinges. Edit: And as for a LEGO fig of myself... I don't have enough bricks

Thanks. Fun fact 2: Yaris is called Vitz in Japan, well knowing that it means joke in German. Fun fact 3: The MPV version was called FunCargo in Japan.

Update: See post 12 for updated model Let me start out with paying my respect to small scale car builders like RalphS. Making a car is easy when it comes to iconic vehicles such as Hummers and Beetles. But once you try to get all the details right on a normal everyday car like a Passat, Prius, BMW, or in this case Yaris, then it really starts to get tough. I started this little project back in December 2010! But enough talk. Let me present the car that revolutionized small cars back in 1999, won European Car of the Year and Engine of the Year in 2000. Also known as 'mum's car'. Here she is trying to get her dog Sara inside. The car is a first generation Toyota Yaris 1.0 Linea Terra 5 door from 2000 in scale 1:25. (You can tell it's a 1.0 from after 1999 by the color of the bumpers) Get down from the roof Sara! Silly puppy... Yaris (my mother has never been creative when it comes to naming cars) carries a yellow stuffed giraffe to keep you company when you drive alone. Being a 5 door hatch has really helped me stuff a lot of LEGO in there when going to events like LEGO World. It even carries our Christmas tree every year... inside. But still, my all time favorite car? What can I say... I just love everything about it :) Brickshelf gallery with more pictures (and cars if you press up).

Do a key remapping. It's quite easy in Linux (where I have CAPS lock to be something else), but I'm sure google can help you with whatever OS you use.

Yes. He claims to use Floyd-Steinberg as well. He also appears to have some aversion fro gray bricks. Do you see any ideas or problems from his project worth pointed out?

This is excellent in every measure. The build is nice, it is a funny scene, the photography is nice and it reminds me of Silent Running!

That settles it then. Not only is your BMW great, it is locally optimal I have built a Pontiac Solstice Coupe. Pictures on Brickshelf

It's worth a try to see how silver kidney cheeses look, as that 7 series looks more distinctively BMW. Didn't the Agents series produce some 1x? plates in silver? I want to get into building more cars in this scale as well. It really is quite a challenge to make cars recognizable (The front of my Pontiac took me ages, and I'm still not completely satisfied).

That's a great example of the other thing I want to improve upon: Artifacts. Look at the red spots on her nose, which come from the dithering algorithm trying to compensate for a 'lack of red'. Unfortunately it's over-compensating visually by doing this. I want to create an algorithm that is more gentle when trying to find colors (or pigmentation) to compensate.

I'm totally old-school and look at it another way. I try to design as many details of the trucks in scale 1:25. The wheels that fit this scale the best is still Model Team wheels. Apart from that, 1:25 has the advantage of lower weight, so the models can drive even faster when motorized.

Anhalten! Great Model Team car as always. That Lugnut group really makes a lot of car builders produce a lot. Not only does it steer, but you also managed to recreate those small annoying windows. Well done. I wonder. Have you tried a couple of 'chrome' cheeses in the snout? I know the real car has more black than chrome, but I wonder how that would look.

Thanks guys. The only problem with instructions for this kind of model is that it is a rather fragile creation compared to those LEGO makes (a lot of 1 stud connections going on). But I will work on a couple of truck that are both remote controlled and durable as my next Model Team project. And wow! Blackbird. You have to tell me the secret ingredient of making those awesome renderings. A PDF version of the instructions will first come from me once I get the right arrows and stuff created automatically. My ultimate goal is that the software creates everything from the individual steps to the "hints" of hidden parts. But for that I need the connectivity and a 3D model to work on internally. I know LEGO has the connectivity in LDD, but I'm afraid I will have to hack it to get that information

The program works with unique color identifiers internally, and I will make sure you can choose whose naming you prefer in the settings. The program downloads the Peeron color list and uses it to connect all the colors. But this is all minor stuff that is easy to do compared to an algorithm that is really good at drawing. I'm also looking into different ways of substituting colors in the pixels in order to have less noise... and I'm open for all ideas.

Thanks. Yes. That is what the button with the plate seen from the side is for. It can also build using SNOT techniques. My main competitor. This is what I'm trying to beat. Everyone in my lug prefers this software, and the guys who made it are great guys, but I want to see if we can do better. All these problems are not present in my software, but they also have a key feature I don't have yet: Printing.

I am creating my own LEGO mosaic software, but development has sadly been dormant for a couple of years. I want to make a program that is better than all others out there, and I think the key to success is through nearly instant preview of the final mosaic when you change settings, and through superior algorithms (methods) for computing the mosaics. So far I have tried to achieve this by using Floyd-Steinberg's algorithm for dithering, while allowing the user to change hue, saturation, brightness, gamma and other controls before applying the dithering algorithm. Here is a screenshot: Santa In order to stretch the limits on how good pictures I could generate, I decided to use the program to make a mosaic of Santa drinking for the side of my coke truck. This is a challenge because of the small size of the picture. This was the best mosaic I could come up with this way: Let's take a closer look: Sure you can kinda make out that it is Santa drinking a coke, and I did use this on my truck. But it isn't really good enough IMO. See if you can find it among the originals: Better Santa I am sure this can be done better, so I used the picture from above and found the color regions which should be separated. This was done manually: When I had the color regions, I could go on and add depth by adding different colors, This is very much like how the mosaic software applies dithering. This is the result: (This is only a minor change in the trailer, so it will not have a separate topic) It i now much easier to see what the picture depicts. What I want to do now is to make this manual process automatic, and a part of how the program makes mosaics. But before I go on, I have to formalize what I did, and I want to ask the community: Do you agree with me that this way of making a mosaic is better than the original? And do you have any other ideas of how to improve mosaic software?

Are you alone as an author on the military blog? I think the strength of a LEGO blog comes with several contributors, who together, can keep a steady flow of models coming. But who is still interested in Model Team, that is, roughly scale 1:22 to 1:30?

Thanks for the review. This set is about as generic as it can possibly get. 2WD and V4 in an "extreme cruiser"? Try "cafe cruiser" instead. They didn't even bother doing anything remotely extreme, such as putting a surfboard on top or adding some styling like a light bar.

I have promised instructions for my Scania for ages, but first I had to make sure that the mechanism actually works. With this version it does. If you build your own and have trouble with grip, I suggest changing the diff with a solid rear axle. The steering mechanism has been updated so the trailer hitch doesn't decouple unintentionally, and the motor doesn't get loose. There are some minor styling changes on the front with some tiles that have been pushed forward half a plate, and some curves to give it a more dynamic look. For the rear axle I have added dual wheels for grip, and a differential to help turning when a trailer is hitched on. But the big news are of course the building instructions, which are on c-mt.dk. For reference, here is the precious version (picture links to Brickshelf gallery):

There is a difference between reading everything to not even reading the title! Let's ask for baby steps here. >Hinckley and others Take a look at the last 2 pages of topics started by DLuders. If you want links, I can send them by PM. >Ralph The low amount of replies sucks when you see 10min. creations go 2 pages in an hour, while you can barely scrape a handful of replies in the thread with the MOC that you have spend the last couple of months on, and an additional day of photographing and photo editing! I would love to comment more on other peoples MOCs, but simply don't have the time that it requires to write a well thought out replies. But I have an idea. How about a Model Team blog? I have just started a home page for Model Team: c-mt.dk A blog would be a great addition and put focus to all great Model Team creations out there. We can let that be the purpose, just like classic-pirates, space, town and so on, we can have classic Model Team!