dagupa

I hope to see some pictures. Did you change the color scheme to fit your village?

I really want to see a video of this robot drawing some math formulas. This is a great way to get kids into trigonometry. I use a very simple robot to teach my nephew about distances, coordinates and angles, but drawing functions sounds very cool. I saw the video of this robot with those custom metallic wheels and it moves very smoothly. I want to see how these Lego wheels perform. Congratulations on your creation.

This is some serious work. I've been watching the Test Video over and over. I'm sure this is far beyond my skills but I'll give it a try. I will build it and someday I will finish it <jeje>. I don't have enough pieces for the structure so I guess I'll have to place the robot over some books or something. I, also, saw the video with the whole setup: train, robot, station, etc. and it's very impressive. Congratulations. You, and the rest of the team (I'm not sure but I guess there's a team) are very skilled Lego Builders. I'm sure at least a couple of kids will decide to be engineers thanks to your creation. And the world will thank you.

That is a job done. Nice tank. Two question: Does the EV3 control the fold/unfold function or you use the Remote Control? How do you power 6 motors with one EV3?

I found a solution to the problem of rendering a subset of frames inside out of a larger animation. I post it here in case anyone have the same problem. As @mocbuild101 pointed out the problem with my animation accelerating for no reason around 00:04 was due to a glitch. https://bricksafe.com/files/dagupa/others/ebvarias/BrickbankFirstAttemp.mp4 After many attempts and a quick search, I found out the exact problem. It was the recovery code. I did the animation with a simple code: Initial_Frame=1 Final_Frame=360 PovRay exports each frame with a file name and a number. Example brickbank00001.png;brickbank00002.png;brickbank00003.png(...) If the program crashes, there is a script that reads the last file written and takes the number from that name. It stores the number as a variable "LastFrame" and starts the process from that frame Initial_Frame=LastFrame Final_Frame=360 Well, it turns out that this is NOT the way to restart the rendering process. What PovRay does is to divide 1 by 360 and then you have 360 different values in the internal variable called "clock" which is the variable that I used to move the camera position 1 degree at a time. So: Initial_Frame=1 Final_Frame=360 is not the same as: Initial_Frame= LastFrame Final_Frame=360 In the first code you have a "clock" variable that increases 1/360 at a time. In the "recovery code" the "clock" variable increases LastFrame/360. In my case the program crashed around frame 172, so in the new process each frame changed 172/360 at a time. That's the reason why the first subset of renders looks different to the second subset: The camera rotates at different speeds. It turns out that the solution is very easy. A simple google search point to the solution: If you wish to render a subset of frames such as 172 through 360 out of a 1 to 360 animation, you should not change Initial_Frame or Final_Frame. Instead you should use the subset commands. Subset_Start_Frame=172 Subset_End_Frame=360 It took me almost a week to figure this out, not because of the complexity of the problem, but because each animation took 110 hours to render. @mocbuild101 I managed to remove 300 pieces and saved a couple of hours. It's not easy to identify internal bricks that are not seen in a 360-degree animation when the model has so many windows. @rolandI tried your LDCad. It's a very useful tool. Too bad there's no Mac version. Thanks for all the advices. I hope someone finds this useful.

I prefer to use single lights because you can position them precisely according to the needs. With area lights you are stuck to the plane created by the area light. That plane is orthogonal to the vector formed by the location point of the area and the (0,0) coordinate. Area lights work great with radiosity, but radiosity is a NO NO for animations. White models (like Brick Bank's 2do floor) are very difficult because the light "intensity" has to be very low, so you have to compensate with more lights in those spots that are not reached by the "general lighting". I think area lights are more time-consuming when rendering the frames. After all, a simple 2x2 area is 4 lights; a 3x3 is 9. I'll try to remove some of the internal bricks. Oh, the LDraw code for Rubber Black is 256 Hello. I've been using the center of the model as the look_at point, but in big models you can notice how the camera path describes an ellipse instead of a circle. I've tried trigonometry to calculate each point but I haven't been able to figure out a solution to manage the 360 points inside one loop. Right now, I'm thinking about using Linear Algebra to calculate a second vector space but I have to find my college notebooks :) Any suggestion is welcome.

Each image is 1280x720. The model is over 4000 bricks and that's what takes a lot of time. I'm not using radiosity or anything "fancy", but I have 8 lights above the model and 8 lights inside and that's also time consuming. Each frame takes about 5 minutes to load and 20 to render, which is not bad until you realize you have to multiply by 360 I already installed GIMP. Very good software and Open-Source. I feel like I've been using the wrong tools. One more question: How did you center the model? Is it something that LDCad does automatically? Because that's another problem I have to deal with. The POVRay camera rotates around the Z axle but the model is not centered. If you pay attention you notice that the model is not always at the same distance from the camera. It's not that bad, but sometimes those details really bother me. In your animation you can see that the model is always at the same distance from the camera.

Hello. Thank you for your reply. I'm going to install LDCad this weekend. That "Camera Test" feature seems very useful. Until now, I have used trial-and-error with my animations. I may have to get a PC since BrickSmith is the only CAD for LDraw available for Mac. Re-render all the images is my last options since the 360 frames take around 120 hours. Now, I think a computer glitch is a very possible cause. Which software do you use to make GIFs?

Hello. I've been reading this guide for a while. This post is what got me interested in POV-Ray. I've been trying a lot of the advices that you guys have posted here. I managed to make an animation of a MOD of the Brick Bank. I think the output it's fine, although far from perfect. Since my goal was to make an animation I can't use Radiosity (which seems to really improve the quality of the images) because I need to create 360 renders for a full video and I'm using an outdated macbook air. https://bricksafe.com/files/dagupa/others/ebvarias/BrickbankFirstAttemp.mp4 But I have a problem: I put all the images together but the video seems to accelerate around 0:04 I've tried three different programs to put the images together with the same result (even tried with different fps), so I think it's fairly to assume that the problem is in the pictures created with POV-Ray. I'll be very thankful if anyone have any advice. The ini file I'm using is very simple and it's supposed to guarantee that each render rotates +1 degree the model Initial_Frame=1 Final_Frame=360 Initial_Clock=0 Final_Clock=1 The code that actually change the camera is: #declare Angle=(clock*360); #declare AngleRadian=radians(Angle); #declare CamRadius = 1.65*LDXRadius; I'm sorry about my English since I'm not a native speaker. Thank you, again.

Hello. Thank you very much for the explanation. I think I got what you did. It's actually "simple" and clever. (Please note the quote marks). Now, I'm going to try to reproduce the same behavior with a similar setup. That means I may have to come back and ask you more questions. Thank you, again. Took me a while to find your robot, until I realized It was in your signature. You got my (two) votes, anyway.

Very nice lamp. It looks cool and works smoothly. Impressive. I'm very intrigued to see how you handled the deceleration as a function of distance. I know it is your IP but I have to ask: Is there any chance you could share the program? Anyways, congratulations. I thought the exact same thing.

If you are looking for a working air compressor, made with Technic Pneumatics 2.0, you should look in the Technic Forum.

22: 10 11: 6 6: 4 2: 3 9: 2 15: 1

Hello. My first Technic set was the 9390 Tow Truck. It was 2012 and I star building alternate models for this set. I found it to be a very useful set of pieces. I managed to build 3 different models, all functional and (I think) good looking models. I released "instructions" in Rebrickable. What I did back then was to upload the LDD file. A week ago I decided to make instructions according to my new parameters. The models appear in a single PDF. You can fin the instructions in http://shop.dagupa.net/ What I want is to ask you guys is if you have any different alternate model that you want to share. I will give proper credit to the author and I will eliminate the watermark. Each model will have a cover page and information about its designer (name, nickname or web site). If you want your model to be included in this compilation, please share the LDD or LDraw file, I'll do the rest. Color scheme and render options will remain the same for all models. The idea is that anyone can publish the PDF with all the alternate models, including mine and yours. Also, I'd like to add custom instructions to the original A and B models, but I think It's not possible because of Copyright. It's all about making a tribute to a set the engaged me into the Technic System Models so far:

This model would be a strong competitor on Lego Ideas. Even an official Technic set. I'll try to reverse engineering this beauty. Very good work.

I finished the video and the instructions. Some Information: I used a string that is a little bit elastic. There are two types of knots that I tried for securing the chairs. Both perform different and if you are interested in building this, you may want to try both and see which one suits your setup best. I don't recommend to tight the string too much, but I think that depends on the kind of string you are using. I guess you'll have to experiment. BTW, this ski lift can be mounted on a flat surface, too. There are instructions for both assemblies: Flat and inclined ground. Instructions available at http://shop.dagupa.net I submitted the inventory to rebrickable today. Usually takes a couple of days for them to approve new MOCs That's all for now. I hope you enjoy this moc. I may try to build something bigger and fancier.

I've never made a Lego boat mainly because I don't own any hull, but this mechanism is so cool that I'm going to build it. Maybe, I'll make my own hull.

I don't know if it was intended, but I clearly see a face. A crazy face! Good work. Off course, It may just be Pareidolia

Lego Tyre 81.6 x 36 R Bricklink id: x1825 This tire is actually important because the diameter and the “grips” are what keep the cable aligned. Also, this rubber has a greater coefficient of friction than the Lego motorcycle tyres. Lego Wheel 56 x 34 Bricklink id: 44772 or 15038 This is basically a standard rim. The return wheel (the one with no tire) is the same that you already have (Lego Motorcycle Wheel) Full inventory and instructions will be available in a couple of days on rebrickable.com I recommended this site, it’s very useful for Lego builders. You are welcome. I enjoyed building this. A little more complicated than I initially thought. It was fun, though.

I've been working on this for a couple of days. I think a chairlift would be a nice addition to my Lego City, which is very small BTW. I come up with this prototype. It works fine and it's really simple and easy to build. I'll be posting instructions and photos of the real model sometime soon

That is a nice model. I like how you used the technic treads to make that "circle" part of the body. That would be really cool. The difficult part would be where to mount a "proximity sensor" without compromising the aesthetics of the creature. Hope someone does it.

It has always amazed me how people create this beautiful shapes with mostly square bricks. All I can do is to build a building, and you know, buildings are square. Congratulations, It looks very nice.

Very nice concept car. No more concerns about over speeding on turns. Well... just friction.

Hello. First at all, I'm not a Native English Speaker and this is a fairly technical discussion so I'm going to use a lot of pictures. Tension is the key in every ski lift so you have to deal with it. If you pay attention to the videos that you posted as examples they deal with this problem in very "convenient ways". This guy uses a string: This guy just made the entire structure like a "paper clip" around the wall: As I understood, you have two problems: 1. Your main towers collapse when tension is applied to the string. 2. The string slips around the plastic rim. I guess you are connecting the motor to one of those motorbike rims. Well, your towers seem very sturdy, so I assumed that when you say "collapse", you mean that they just "pop up" from the baseplate. If that is correct there are two things you can do to make them stay in place. 1. The obvious: Put more technic bricks that connect your tower to your baseplate. 2. Relieve some of the horizontal tension by placing diagonal beams between your tower and the baseplate. According to the pythagorean theorem you can use a 21 diagonal when your base and height are 15x15. The longer the structure, the more resistance to tension. You can also place a secondary tower that helps to "support" some of the vertical component of the force. Tension 1 and Tension 2 are the same, but the Secondary Tower helps with the force "down to the ground" that the cables exerts due to the level difference between the two stations. HUGE DISCLAIMER: I use Tension and Force like they are synonyms, they are not, but it helps to explain what's going on here. Now, About the string. If you don't what the string to slip, don't change the string, change the wheel. Note that in the videos they use tires, which are made from rubber. Rubber coefficient of friction is a much greater that the coefficient of plastic. You may want to use two wheels one above the other to keep the string in place. Again, I assumed you are connecting the motor to one of those wheels. There are other ways to transfer mechanical movement to the string but using a big horizontal wheel at the end is how many of the real Sky Lifts works. I hope this helps you

I don't like the 42024 B-Model. It looks incomplete. The color scheme doesn't match anything I ever seen. The "blue level" (I don't know how it's called) is just boring, it's like a wall made of Technic Beams . That's why I made my own "C-Model" That's exactly what I was thinking: 42064 is a City Set made of technic panels. I wonder how a house made of technic panels would look like. HUMM!