Ben Andrews

Yes it can!! You just need to do the import as opposed to just trying to open it. It will probably still take weeks as you'll be getting over the learning curve.. But it's smooth and pretty intuitive once your into it. I do suggest making sub models within your model as it will make the instruction segments easier to control. Good luck! Look forward to seeing the build!

I don't think so, as LDDs instruction capability in incredibly lacking to save the least. There is no option to adjust the pieces in an order that makes sense, ie. Without floating or invisible pieces or part count per page or rotation option. It is possible to make just functional Instructions in LDD, but only for minimal piece count builds. A build with 1000+ parts is an instant nightmare. And to be honest, even A few hundred pieces is beyond frustrating to read through/make Sense of. I feel the option of blueprint, in a world of few, let alone Functional instruction builders, is brilliant. I've used this software to design 1600+ page instruction books with 18000+ part counts and it's been an absolute pleasure to navigate. Time consuming, yes, some elements I would adjust, yes but as far as usability, functionallity and end product, it was been awesome. Lots of my builds are labour of love stuff: birthday presents, awards, micro builds and the such but I also do personal commissions and They have paid their war for sure. It's not about the finances though.. It's about being able to use something that is functional for you, the user. As there are a ton of differ people in the FOL community, there would also be a ton of different mindsets, design types and tech abilities, so Why not have a variety of software for option and use? Wouldn't that give people the option to see what works for them and advance their skill sets? And isn't that the crux of a good creative community? I feel honoured that msx80 and team have lavished us with this software and updates over the years. They saw a needed gap and filled it the best way they knew how, for free, for the community and The sharing of incredible fan builds. So what if they don't give updates all the time..? It can be frustrating but hell, I'm sure these guys have lives too! Work, social, kids.. Who are we to rag on the developers of a community driven, social and freeware piece of software? We have a great spot to deliver feedback and adjustment queries but unless we take up the charge of assisting in development, in which I have no skill set, I feel it's not our space to complain. Thanks a ton blueprint crew. Your tops in my books. that sounds pretty overkill (are you really printing it to paper?) while you could export a PDF from LDD that you'd just view on a smartphone or cheap tablet  I don't think so, as LDDs instruction capability in incredibly lacking to save the least. There is no option to adjust the pieces in an order that makes sense, ie. Without floating or invisible pieces or part count per page or rotation option. It is possible to make just functional Instructions in LDD, but only for minimal piece count builds. A build with 1000+ parts is an instant nightmare. And to be honest, even A few hundred pieces is beyond frustrating to read through/make Sense of. I feel the option of blueprint, in a world of few, let alone Functional instruction builders, is brilliant. I've used this software to design 1600+ page instruction books with 18000+ part counts and it's been an absolute pleasure to navigate. Time consuming, yes, some elements I would adjust, yes but as far as usability, functionallity and end product, it was been awesome. Lots of my builds are labour of love stuff: birthday presents, awards, micro builds and the such but I also do personal commissions and They have paid their war for sure. It's not about the finances though.. It's about being able to use something that is functional for you, the user. As there are a ton of differ people in the FOL community, there would also be a ton of different mindsets, design types and tech abilities, so Why not have a variety of software for option and use? Wouldn't that give people the option to see what works for them and advance their skill sets? And isn't that the crux of a good creative community? I feel honoured that msx80 and team have lavished us with this software and updates over the years. They saw a needed gap and filled it the best way they knew how, for free, for the community and The sharing of incredible fan builds. So what if they don't give updates all the time..? It can be frustrating but hell, I'm sure these guys have lives too! Work, social, kids.. Who are we to rag on the developers of a community driven, social and freeware piece of software? We have a great spot to deliver feedback and adjustment queries but unless we take up the charge of assisting in development, in which I have no skill set, I feel it's not our space to complain. Thanks a ton blueprint crew. Your tops in my books.

I would suggest showing us the full length of shown errors And at the very least, the final error messages in total. It's hard to know what's wrong with a car if you only give us the door.

I'm pretty sure it's called a "false positive". I've come across is a few times running open source or indi designer programs that rely or run on certain frameworks. That's really all I know. But I also figure someone who puts in as much work and functionallity into a piece of free software for a massive community that they are apart of, would probably not steer us wrong! Thanks MSX80, your the shiz-nit!

Hang on a second, I feel like someone mentioned something in here about ghost layers causing a conflict? Just gonna give that a shot.

Hi all, since last time I've made incredible progress and it's thanks to this community, particularly SylvainLS, Bert_zelf and msx80. I have another quandary for this incredible brains trust. The unit I'm working on is finished at the parts configuration stage, but then when I went into the page layout, it seems already set but without snap to grid. So I tried to reset it with the snap to grid selected and after a regenerate page, nothing had changed. Then I noticed it was not showing page 14 but 13 twice. So I tried a test render to see if it would proceed. It got to page 13 and stopped the render process. I then went back into parts configuration, step 14, copied the pieces, placed them Onto a new step and deleted the old page 14. When I went back into page layout it was doing the same thing and not showing any of the steps past 13.. I'm absolutely miffed. And a touch frustrated!

Thanks heaps for helping this poor noob!! ? it's been a team effort and I have learnt a ton, this worked like a charm and everything is up and running. Thanks heaps everyone for keeping independent designers alive!

OK, so I've installed the 64 bit Java so now system and program are both 64bit. Where do I insert the -d64?

Ahh, thank you.. I'll look into that now..

I have 16gb ram... But if I increase it further, will it make any difference to the heap memory? No other apps running..

Thanks heaps!! It didn't work, but was a step to trying! It came up with this after I added it: Error occurred during initialization of VM Could not reserve enough space for 2097152KB object heap Press any key to continue . . . I'm a little perplexed really... I haven't modified the bat file before or played with any code, just been using the software flat chat. New to this side of things.. Sorry if I'm treading on old wounds by asking such noob questions!

Hey all, I'm having some issues with heap memory running out.. I'm running windows 10 on an i7 with 16gb ram and it keeps siezing on me.. I'm building individual sections to a large building, each file with between 1500 and 2300 pieces. Any specific issues with piece count I should know about? Or can I increase my heap memory somehow? Thanks in advance, this is kicking my butt!! But dudes.. Ace bit of software! Let me know if you need specific lines of code. Don't have internet on the work comp, just phone and home.

such a clean and functional build!! the colour selection is impeccable as is the snot and NPU usage!! WIN!

good lord. and i thought making a chairlift, series of waterfalls and a water wheel was a good challenge! dude.. great effort and fantastic result!

Ha! that's great!! out with the new and in with the old! what a great build and a great on going concept!

Hi Rufus, I'm new around these parts and as such, I have a couple of questions! I forgot to place [MOC] at the beginning of my post, "The Observer-Tree", will this stop my MOC from being Indexed? And secondly, is it possible to change the Post title to "[MOC] The Observer-Tree"? Thanks in advance! Ben

What a great addition to the winter village!! whats being in the snow without hot chocolate!!

Gosh.. I'm a lil' perplexed by it all really! the placement, balance and curved definition is beautiful. Well done indeed!!

Cheers Captain! Thanks BrickCurve! I'm excited to show you once its ready!

Such an amazingly clean build.. Such a fine amount of detail but without taking away from the action in the scene! A+

What an incredibly inspiring and intricate set of builds! I have found myself falling over at many turns and being constantly blown away by the amount of detail squeezed into 16x16. Just beautifully done, but not over doing it. Mind. Blown. Thanks heaps for the instruction pics, given me heaps to ponder!!!

Mind. Blown. your a mad scientist, arn't you!? such a great idea!! i may have a fiddle with this..... thanks!

such wonderful work.. your colour scheme and cohesion throughout the entire build is amazing. so inspiring!

Thanks heaps, Svendp! Thank you, Player, I really enjoy building at this scale, helps me to push the boundaries and grow ideas further. It's 8 baseplates all up, four 32x32, three 48x48 and one 16x32. The three large across the back and the rest in front. it was built in a modular format, even the vertical aspect of the tree was modular, breaking down into three pieces and the base. had to get it outta my studio somehow! haha! :D Thanks for the lovely compliments! Cheers KJM! Originally when i displayed it at Brickvention, it had string feeding through the sections and arms on the bridge, to act like a suspension bridge.. though when these pics were snapped, it was too frustrating in the slim time frame we had to get it all strung back up. I love the idea that every thing is connected and that we as conscious beings can have a part of that too.. Im also a massive fan of islands... hehehe! Thanks Slegengr! The white tower is actually a greenhouse, with a Lavender/pink/tan tree on the inside, being observed by for beautiful maidens.. make you wonder which tree is the observer tree? I've been a huge fan of the reddish brown/dk red/dk brown colour combo for quite some town and then when i started taking on this project, they screamed at me for use! mind you, i cant tell you how many pieces were used on the roof's alone... I spent a lot of time in the many beautiful pars around my home observing different trees and how they hold weight, light and branch placement while in the design and build process.. mother nature has all the answers! Thanks again! Thanks Carebear! your enthusiasm rocks my world! Thank you again and greetings to you to!

i cant stop looking at it!! so much to take in!! i must ask tho... how do they get to the island?!