aeralure

Thanks for the replies! Alas, it was fated I join where I do, be it for insignia, description, Japanese name and/or color choices - that's all me - so: I hereby join Kawashita! Affiliation: Kawashita Name: Aera Lure Job: Pilot Call it a soft join to make me active. I'll post my actual sigfig and photo in about a week when a few parts arrive. Avatar (temporary generic sigfig):

This is fantastic! I'd like to join, though my resources at the moment are really limited. I've been reading on and off for the past couple hours and I'd like to join, even though I'm joining a bit late and trying to get up and running. Some questions: 1. I noticed on the challenge currently running that actual bricks or LDD was accepted. I read elsewhere that your minifig should be in any and all scenes. I'm returning to Lego after years away and I'm slowly building up some things to actually build with but I have a long, long ways to go for anything of size or complexity. LDD seems a good interim solution (though I wish ultimately to build with physical bricks). I've just gotten up to speed with rendering on a Mac. What I don't know is how do you get your sigfig into LDD? Seems a requirement to play. The default minifigures in LDD don't cover anything I'm using. Should I hack it with a Photoshop green screen style insert, or is there a way to actually do it in LDD? 2. I was debating hard on the job to choose until I read that the bonus is 3 credits while the scoring is 10-70 credits. The bonus is of course helpful, but would it be right enough to say that any build - despite whatever your job is - would be ok too sometimes? Seems mathematically so. 3. I Bricklinked some things to get me started. Have to wait a few days to a week to get my sigfig I imagine. Should I sign up now and use a default sigfig picture or wait?

I can't make any promises on either my design skill or time, but I'd like to try something if I could. Been away from LEGO a long time too. SNOT only had one meaning to me back then. Is a digital entry ok?

Is an E-wing or a K-wing eligible?

Thanks! Now that NathanR and Darats were kind enough to help me get going and actually get it working I can read something like that and find it useful. I'm on it! Yeah, saw that in the description too. My basic rendering tests turned out the same for both, but I suppose for now I'll make UberPOV my default version of POV.

I wrote them expressing much the same - support and desire for continued LDD updates. How important they are to the community as a whole. I'd love to see minifigures. Yeah, we have some basics, but as the models are in there one would *think* it would simply be a matter of applying the right color definitions to the complete figure parts and something akin to a decal-like overlay to any given part (using the artwork they already have for printing) to add any figures from any line into the system. Easier than modeling a new part shape I'd think, although I'd love to have the new parts in there as well.

No problem! It was an easy fix, but it's great to have that outline of steps as straightforward as possible for anyone else who may come along. Yeah, this here is the one that works on Intel Macs and OSX 10.6+ which most people will have. I had UberPOV installed. I ran render tests and got identical results using each, so I'm now using this version instead despite keeping both for further testing. Works perfectly. Thanks! Hahaha... Yeah, I thought my solution was... questionable, at best. Is it possible to use the 'Radiosity Load and Save' to append a definitions file? I tried making a file with the commands above and placing it there, but it did not work that way. I placed the commands at the top of the POV file and I got a very dark head. There's some other lighting commands somewhere (?). This yielded much better results for me. No longer instantaneous, but it didn't even take a minute. Maybe 15-20 seconds. Can see where it will take much longer on a larger file of course, but this is much better - except - the shadows are a bit too strong. Might need to tweak something. Is something up there controlling intensity? I'll tinker around some. Never thought I'd get this far. Thanks again!!

Thanks! Thanks to Darats and NathanR I can now successfully render on my Mac. Possibly I can enter one after all if I can figure out how to get special minifigures in there. I'll build a physical collection again though and enter one sooner or later. I've been abusing browsing Bricklink so I have a few parts and minis.

Thanks Darats! I used to have a lot of those Space parts, but I'm starting Lego all over again now. At least I can see them digitally again now until I build a physical collection again.

There were some slight hurdles but with an outline of steps such as that no real problems. For the love of LEGO thank you! I never ever would have gotten a couple of those things right. I present disembodied (bright white! blinding ) head of Gelgoog (my simple test from an old file that renders instantly): Some settings to sort out, figuring out how to place a background etc, but it works thanks to the both of you! Here's a few follow-up things for the record if anyone else wanders this way, as well as a couple questions: The MakeList.py NathanR listed above I used as-is and got a number of indentation errors when attempting the python command. I had to do some tinkering on a few lines tabbing indents and trying again each time I got an indent error until I got that right. Pretty easy. I then got include errors of file not founds for 'colors.inc', 'math.inc', 'functions.inc' and then 'transforms.inc' on render attempt. I just improvived on colors.inc and copied 'lg_color.inc' and made a duplicate file called 'colors.inc' and placed it also in the lg folder. Worked (maybe? I had better check with the file found on the upcoming site link actually). For the others I was stumped for a minute but I used Google Fu and found this site https://github.com/P...ibution/include and made copies of the files needed from the repository there (they are 2 years old mostly so I don't know if they are current and I'm not sure why I needed them - rather why they weren't in the install I had). Once I did that, the second render worked. Note that the link to POVRay above seemed to be for an older PPC Mac build so I installed UberPOV and maybe this is why (?). Need to go back and look at versions. Finally, a follow-up question: Now I have an ldraw folder now and know where it is. I assume this where I manually add Darats' part updates mentioned above? I still need to do this? (thousand thanks to Darats for doing this and also helping me above!) Turns out (as expected) 'lg_color.inc' is formatted a bit different than 'colors.inc' and has some additional data, so I changed 'colors.inc' but got an identical render. Will probably make a difference on other renders. This is the same render image as before, I just resized the one above in Photoshop, but this one uses the new 'colors.inc' file. I also had an accident with the scissors tool as you don't undo it as you would in Photoshop. Found a reset in settings. Guess now I need to work on settings and some Star Wars models.

I decided to try again. Thanks Darats and NathanR for follow-up replies! There is hope.

Thanks. I need a Mac-only solution as I haven't access to anything else, but I can possibly use the AIOI installer on my cousin's PC and copy some things over to a thumb drive. I'm not sure if just copying the LDRAW folder from that install is enough (does it install other items elsewhere too?) or where to then put those things on my Mac (or how to tell POVRay to use them - I assume edit an Ini file with directory paths?). I suppose I'm going to give up trying to render on a Mac. I can't get anywhere. Thanks for the help though.

Thanks Darats. I know you are supplying and/or helping to update these files, as your name is on the .rar I have, so thanks much for that. Thing is: As I am on a Mac, the All In One Istaller I have found doesn't work. It's for Windows. I do have an .rar I got from another thread on the board here, but when unpacked it is two directories - LGEO Parts and STL Parts - and I haven't any idea where to put them. Also, looking just now through this unpack, lg_defs.inc is indeed in there but lg_color.inc is not. Guess this is an improvement to my situation, but I haven't any idea what to do with this. Do I rename the 'LGEO - Darats folder' I ended up with to 'LDraw' and put it somewhere? And then somehow tell POVRay to look in that directory for the file? And then find lg_color.inc from somewhere and do the same?

I'm returning to Lego after 10+ years away and just restarting a physical collection. As such, I'm using LDD a fair bit. I'd really like to enter some contests and eventually share some builds, but at first due to a lack of physical bricks it would be digital imagery and LDD files mainly. To make the imagery I'd like to do some rendering on my Mac. I realize this is already complicating my case slightly as it seems having a PC I'd be havng little to no issues at all. I'm a graphic designer, so I can usually navigate some (but not always all) technical issues and learning new software isn't a problem or a concern. I am stuck though on a couple points and wondering if I might ask for a bit of help or be pointed in the right direction? I have done a lot of searching this forum and Google in general and found my search results lacking. Most of it is topics saying "perform a search" or "go read this thread" and I'm just not finding a simple set of steps. Maybe it's not meant to be simple. ;) I tried Bluerenderer, but I can't even launch it. There's no GUI, so I tried to doubleclick the .jar and launch it through Terminal to no avail. I really don't know what to do with it. Perhaps I can ask in the Bluerenderer thread. I saw a recent post about LeoCAD, Blender and 3DSMax and that looks promising, but I don't have and can't afford 3DSMax right now. A route that does seem plausible right now is POVRay on the Mac. I can't figure out how to convert my LDD files into something POVRay can see, but I can remake models in Bricksmith (tedious) and open them in LDView and then export them to POVRay. This is the furthest I have gotten so as tedious as it is to try and work with both LDD and Bricksmith maybe it's the best way to go? Here's where I am stuck at the moment though: Once I get a model into POVRay if I hit Render I get this error: Possible Parse Error: Cannot find file 'lg_defs.inc', even after trying to append file type extension. "/[address to file]/Gelgoog.pov" line 134 Parse Error: Cannot open include file lg_defs.inc. Render failed I can't find that file either anywhere in the directory or inside the application itself - or - the next file coming up 'lg_color.inc' I see "Use Ini-file" in the Preferences pre-render with an option to choose it. I also see Set search paths for additional include files. I also have a couple LGEO files from another thread, but I don't know where to put them - or - if POVRay needs them. I don't see an LDraw directory anywhere. I read somewhere else about needing to edit the Ini-file, but edit... what? Am I alone in this labyrinthine process seeming like semi-controlled madness? It's not exactly anywhere near as straightforward as it seems like it should be. Can't imagine why it's so complicated. Anyway, am I even close? Can someone help me pass this hurdle? Thanks if so lol.

I just want to say thanks for these contests! Great fun. I joined the forums too late to enter the SWBP contest and would have enjoyed that. This one is really cool too but my favorite idea uses Phoenix and I can't afford that figure (lol), get a representation of her in LDD, or use a custom version of her. I may come up with another idea I want to pursue, but my main point is thanks for the contests and I hope they continue.

Beautiful! I too would love to have a look at the LDD file to play around. Nice work!

I'm late into this thread, but fantastic work! I've been researching custom parts out there so recognize many sources, but you've used them really well.

A little late to comment but I love these footsteps. It'll be really nice as part of a larger scene. Can't wait to see it!

That's just amazing. I'd love to see the top hull completed and the underside, but I suspect it was made primarily to showcase the internal detailing, and there it is simply astounding. I'd actually consider buying a kit of that size if it had that sort of detail, but I'd be saving for quite a while. ;)

Thanks!

Greetings from the US. After many years away from the little plastic bricks, I have returned! I no longer have my original collection sadly (lots of Space, Castle, and some early Technic), but I armed myself with LDD, Bricksmith, and POV and built a Zaku from Gundam. I mostly followed someone else's ideas but did a lot of modifications. I learned a lot from that build, having been away so long (I had no concept of SNOT back then). That's the extent of my collection and skills right now, but I'm on a Star Wars kick for some reason, so I got a few minifigures, I'm planning on building something from someone else's .lxf file and I'm currently slugging away on planning my own project digitally. Maybe someday it will be good enough to show in these parts (but it's challenging already so maybe not lol). Do hope to be able to add something though.