msx80

yeah some of them are just official minifig with a different hairpiece or little details :) I considered changing some more but ultimately i liked them this way so.. :) Thanks!

No, if i'm incorporating LDraw support, i'll use my own renderer, the same that is currently used in blueprint. The appearance of generated instructions will be mostly identical and indistinguishable. I was an LDraw user too, i even developed some software on the library (a web renderer called Brigl). But ultimately i found that i was much quicker digitalizing models in LDD than i was in LDraw. I just missed the building instruction generator :)

You're perfectly right, i was suggesting it more like a temporary solution.. I hated when LPub took ages to turn a page and i wanted to avoid it, but probably with some of the things you suggested the problem can be mitigated. Blueprint is much faster then LPub to render, but rendering is still the slowest step in the program, so i try to avoid it as much as possible, caching a lot of stuff. Anyway there are plenty of places where i waste memory, i'm pretty sure things can be improved a lot :)

Well there are many things influencing memory usage of a part, mainly the "image" associated (which of course is bigger for bigger parts), but also the 3d geometry, and there it's more complex becouse for example curved surfaces use more vertices than flat (studs are very wasteful of vertices), so maybe a dalek brick use more memory than a big tile, geometry wise. In general i'd say that yes, the bigger the part, the more memory it uses. I mostly build small models so i never considered this limitation an issue, but since many people are asking i'll surely look into it. Notice that there are other limitations in place, for example the background rendering surface is limited to 1024x1024, so huge models will probably overflow and get clipped. One suggestion to reduce some memory usage is to use grouping: if you group your parts inside LDD, Blueprint will treat them as submodels which will result in smaller assembly renders (beside making it much simpler to design steps in blueprint!). LDD support a hierarchy of groups (groups, subgroups, subsubgroups,etc), which will all be mapped by blueprint. If the model lends itself, you could also consider splitting it in different LXF files and treat each of them independently, perhaps using some photoshop trickery to adjust the produced pages. One of the beta testers reported that he was able to open a file with 1800 parts without crashing, using a 64 bit architecture while i couldn't open the same file with 32 bit system, so having a 64 bit machine and software could help. You can try forcing java to use more space following this simple steps: Open the blueprint64.bat (or the blueprint86.bat depending on the system you use, but 32 bit java is very limited with the amout of memory it can give) After the word "java" add -Xmx4G (4G is 4 giga, try replacing it with more or less memory) Save and run the program. If you ask for too much memory, it won't even start, so you can use some trial and error :) If you manage to open some big models this way, let me know!

Yeah java is wasteful by itself, but it's javafx (the new java interface library) that's sucking up more memory than i anticipated. I kind of regret choosing it over other alternatives, it looks great but gave me many problems. How many parts are you looking to handle ?

Very large file will surely result in out of memory error. Keeping thousand of pictures in memory, plus the overhead of javafx, means lot of RAM used. In this case you can instruct java to use more system memory (it has an hard limit by default), but i don't know how far you can push it. I know for sure people have handled 800 parts files, and i just tryed to open a 1300 part files and it went out of memory, so the "normal" limit is probably inbetween. The number of steps is also important, given the same number of parts, more steps will generate more images and use up more memory. I'll make some more tests :) Yes is planned and it's also something i'd like to do soon, but it's a little harder than it looked at first sight. Thanks everybody for the great feedback!! :)

Blueprint is currently in front page on The Brick Fan :) Thanks for the coverage!

Hi there, there's no installer, it's simply a compressed folder. Extract the content to any folder, then run either blueprint64.bat or blueprint86.bat depending on your architecture. Remember you need Java8 also, if you haven't already installed it.

Sure, that would be awesome! i'm sending you a pm with some instructions :)

Assuming you were addressing me, Blueprint should be able to run on Mac without problems, but i don't have one so i haven't prepared scripts and the like to start it. If you can use a command line and have some minimal technical skill, i can guide you (it should be easy). Blueprint uses LDD's own database to get geometries of the bricks. Then opengl and some other technologies to do the rendering.

impressive model!!

Hi there! I'm a huge fan of your works, loved those gravity activated walkers :) Great to here you like Blueprint, thanks! Actually support for LDraw is planned, the software is already predisposed for "pluggable" backends. I have other things i'd like to do before that, anyway. But who knows :)

I mean your entire neighbour :) Joking aside, it will not explode and to be honest even the chance of it crashing are kind of small, it's quite stable :) what do you mean with upload? If you save often, you're probably good. If you want, make a backup copy now and then but that's enough. The original LXF is only read at the beginning but then it's not used, Blueprint use his own format (.blueprint). Thanks everybody, let me know if you like it, or if you have any suggestion :)

Here we are! After some more tweaking on the program, i feel it's stable enough to be usable. So i hereby present: Blueprint A building instruction generator for Lego Digital Designer. How it works: You import an LXF in the program. The program will generate a default serie of building steps (taking into account LDD group definitions). You then refine building steps by moving parts around, creating steps, submodels and callouts and organizing stuff as you prefer. When you're done, you can move to the "Page layout" and generate the illustrations, that you can adjust as you prefer. Note that this is still beta software, it may crash or explode without warning taking everything you hold dear with it. Many of the features are there but are awkward to use (see model rotation), waiting for a better user interface. Many of the comforts of mature software are completely missing. Features: Handle callouts and unlimited submodels Per-model and per-step orientation Easy drag-and-drop steps definition interface placed part highlighting Treat LDD groups and subgroups as submodels Unlimited Undo/Redo Flexible part support Stickers support Multiple export format etc Limitations: no stickers flexible part are rendered unflexed multipart pieces may or may not work no "undo" may rough edges on the interface no alert on exit many more... Documentation: A tutorial is available here. A wiki is available with plenty of documentation. Issue Tracker: Have any bug or feature request? Be a good fellow and report it in our shiny issue tracker. Requirements: Java8 (revision 8u40 or better) Opengl capabilities, version 3.2 or better (if you have a semi-recent graphic card, you should be ok) Lego Digital Designer Disclaimer: Use at your own risk, i decline any responsability for anything that may happen to you using the program. Donation: Should you like the program and you feel like, you can donate any amount of money here: https://www.paypal.me/msx80 thanks in advance! Download: You can download Blueprint version 0026 for Windows here. Mac version courtesy of @Malou here Screenshot: Example Output: Changelog: 0026: part lengths for technic parts (customizable) working arrows and custom texts support align right/bottom 0025: You can now set custom colors on pages. There's no UI, you have to change the config file at C:\Users\[you]\AppData\Roaming\blueprint.ini and set properties like this: page.color.0=#d5ecf9 The color is in RGB and the index is the submodel depth (0 main model, 1 first level submodel etc) There's a new function Merge design: you can now open a model and then merge a second model in it. It's useful if you have some illegal connection: you can split your model into two legal models and then handle it in Blueprint (which of course doesn't have collision detection and such). 0024: Added an "Add Page" command on the layout. Solved the CTRL-S bug that unintendedly rotated the step. 0023: it's now impossible to delete last step of a submodel (should make it impossible to incour into the "ghost submodel" problem, even if not the most user friendly solution) steps can now be selected by clicking on an image (CTRL+click to select multiple, no shift click sorry), this is necessary for... selected model can be rotated by keyboard with WASD keys, all selected model will be rotated together. new steps inherit the rotation of the "sibiling" step (uh i lot track a little here) 0019: Compatibility with latest LDD update 0018: Delete page on canvas Lighting and shading option in renderer Bugfix in page setup when loading a model Image export now reset the counter and pad the numbers Resizable text element (step num and part counters) Very very crude first implementation of BOM pages 0017: Uhm i've forgot to update the page, i'm sure there were many great stuff https://bitbucket.or...milestone=P0017 0016: Removed some bug on outlining for multisurface parts Copy/paste submodel command to move submodels around Unwrap submodel command to move all steps in a submodel to the parent Pink highlight now optional Avoid generating page on lxf import (just a waste of time) Pdf/cbr/zip export Drag-select for page layout Page layout is now flat, not hierarchical Much improved memory usage (just a single page is now kept in memory) Textured parts support Update modified LXF without making a new blueprint file 0015: unlimited undo/redo. This may still have a couple of little bugs but usually works perfectly. Feels much more like a professional program now! better memory management. Turns out i was.. ehm.. wasting quite a lot of memory by keeping all the geometries in memory in different formats.. uh.. multiple times.. but hey enough details, the program should be faster and use much less memory now. There is probably more margin to save but that's enought for now. flexible part support! Chain, tubes, hoses etc should render correctly in most cases now. Page setup is now available in program (before it was only limitedly available from the settings file). You can specify page size and separate zoom value for assemblies and part lists. better import of LXF files: no more empty submodels and now it supports subgroups small bug fixing

awesome, i like the intricacy

i like it! neat design! remings a little of ED-209 or starcraft's Goliath

That Akyuky must be a freaking genius. Anyone who ever attempted to build a GBC know how hard it is. The balls seem to be alive and wanting to stuck in ever more unexpected ways, and even the simplest lifter neer carefull parts selection to work properly. Having such mechanisms as this moc, performing multiple back and forth movements, pauses, etc, is mind blowing. This high quality review perfectly examine the functioning and was an awesome, awesome read! (And to say nothing about reverse engineering this monster)

Here's my entry for the Category C. It's the Barracuda (crewed by the Cursed Corsairs)! It's some kind of space galleon. I choosed a black/white/trans neon color scheme that i think works well (and reminds a little about blacktron). The black struts are supposed to give an "industrial" vibe to it, and of course provide the curved ship-like shape. The yellow fins are meant to recall sails (they're indeed "cascade resonance solar collectors" or something like that :P), but with a more punkish style.The cannons and the mast complete the theme mixture. There's also a brick built skull on the mast, symbol of the bad intentions of the crew. It turned out much smaller than i was aiming to (it's only 204 parts!), but otherwise i'm very happy with the results! What do you guys think? The roof is weakly attached, can be removed to access the inside where two minifig can seat.

Here's my crew! This contest is real fun :P Single characters:

awesome crew :P i especially like Tur Aghaidh, so badass with the skulls of the enemies!

I prefer to open a new topic when i'll release a public version :) No, currently it works only with LDD files, but it's predisposed to work with different standards and there's an LDraw skeleton implementation. I don't think i'll pick it up before other, more important things, anyway.

Thanks everybody! :) yes, send the mail too A couple more info on Blueprint: the program is divided in two functions: in the first one you define the building steps, distributing pieces in various step and substeps/submodels, in the second one you can design the instruction pages by moving and laying out the images, much in the same way as other systems like LIC. You can then export them. It currently support smallish models (2/300 pieces), with bigger models it starts to get heavy (and crashy), but that depends mostly on the hardware, i think. The program uses Java8, JavaFx and Opengl. Here's a couple of screenshot:

Hello there, lately i've been working on a software for creating good looking building instructions for LDD models, that is called Blueprint. The program is in a very alpha stage, but some basic functionality is somehow there. I'd like to test it on some different graphic hardware to see if it runs. Is there anybody kind enought to donate some time? Must have some minimal tech skill, like knowing what a stacktrace is, using the command line, configuring java versions etc. and some patience. PM me if interested :) Thanks!

wow very nice :) i remember following the landing of philae for the whole day..

i like the curves on the body, nice colors too. Great little ship!