BEAVeR

Wow, that's a great amount of figures. I love how you succeeded in the diversity between the recruits (the one with the curly moustache is probably my favourite), and that you framed the white troopers (as far as I can tell, those really are all stormtrooper torsos, and not just white ones... wow) in between the black pilots and gunners. The glossy floor really accentuates the troopers. Only drawback is that Darth Vader isn't visible very well against that black background. He could be conveniently walking over a white area for instance... but that's just a little disadvantage compared to the awesome effect of the reflective floor. And there's a really nice hangar too! I love how high it towers, which is exactly what it needs to give and impressive and Imperial feel. The variety between the flat pillars and the greebled surfaces is great, and you did a great job to make the wall look interesting. And all those greebles are beautiful in their own right. But there's a bit the problem: I think the greebles don't work together very well. When you're trying to go for a very vertical feel with those greebles, it's a bit akward to see some horizontal tubes. If you want some horizontality, it should be located near the bottom of the wall. And the greebles would look better if they would be more vertically alligned and more toward the center of each section. Then you're greebles would look a bit better, and would seem to make some more sense... I guess. Last remark is about the photography. The double shadow being thrown by the greebles is a bit hard and disturbing in my opinion. In such hangars, lighting typically comes from the ceiling, so the shadows should be more downward. Especially when you're going for in-MOC perspective, realistic lighting becomes an important factor. But again, you already did a lot right, with all the reflections and the contrasts. Not bad at all for a recruit!

Great to see some other people thinking about what exactly we're doing here as well. Especially when it's with such a nice build! I like that tree, and that walker is pretty great as well. It has the right, robust and manoeverable look: perfect for what you're depicting. I like how you've made it slightly posable as well, although you could use that feature some more in your build, to make it less static. Still, you've already added some life to it. I love the posing of the minifigs, and you looking away from it, with that tilted helmet. Not very subtle, but a perfect fit for the story. Also, the posing really makes sense, with the driver communicating with his superiors what area to tackle next. Well done there! Also it's nice to see those chopped down tree trunks and those bases of the trees that already went. But here, there is some more opportunity to add to the scene. Adding some tan on top of those stumps would display the inner core of the tree more, and you could make the edge more rugged and splintered with e.g. cheese slopes. You could add in some slopes touching the ground as well, as the beginning of some roots. That would help to cover up those Technic holes as well. And those dirtpatches have already been mentionned: the pure rectangleness of them doesn't feel very natural. You could mask this with placing those plant pieces around the border. Or you could place some more small green or brown plates along the edge to break it up and add in some relief. Some more tan could also work. To make more of your vegetation, you could spread those pieces out you now have stacked in the back. You can still simulate some extra exotic flora with whatever pieces you have laying around. you could even employ minifig capes to create some leaf texture... I can imagine you had a hard time building this with your limited supply of green and brown, but still you should be quite pleased with what you built. that tree is not bad, the walker is great, and I love what you did with the rounded base. Just by using your bricks a bit more clever, you can achieve a more realistic scene. you could even place some plant pieces on an extra plate to add in more relief, or you could build some more crates and equipment (in grey, hurrah!) to cover up blank spaces. you can make this scene truely yours that way! Anyway, congratulations, on the story as well, although I am planning something similar. I'm sorry for that. But it's only getting worse...

If you really want to see your functions working, you should forget working with LDD. It doesn't support rotating gears (although it can animate lever constructions). The software to make Technic creations and test there functions is SR 3D Builder. It's a little bit more difficult to use then LDD, but is capable of much more. And since you say you have some experience with these kind of programs, I don't see much problems for you. You'll see that there's better support for pneumatic hoses etc as well. Also, for more information, try posting your questions in the LDD (and other digital tools) forum. Hope this helps!

I hope you quoted a quote, because in Avatar, they're referencing to the Wizard of Oz classic. Well, that was a long time ago. And Oz probably is in a galaxy far far away... But closer to home, we have this terrific build of yours. It's amazing how well it complement Markus' build, and I'm quite curious how you coordinate this. Because this idea of cooperative building is really awesome, especially if I see what you guys can achieve with it, spitting out MOCs at an insane rate and with an insane quality. I'm in awe. Concerning this build, I have to say I'm a big fan of the vents, the grills and that door (although that doorstep does seem rather dangerous for tiny minifig legs). And those pipes that are just visible are really teasing. And then you have these little details like the holograms on the desk. Imperial and Impressive! If I see it correctly, I notice you built two almost mirrored halves. This gives some nice continuitiy, but on the other hand, it seems like a bit of a waste of time and opportunity. You could have differentiated more between the rooms to emphasize their functions. There could be some comfy waiting chairs in the waiting room for instance, and some kind of storage for trooper uniform in the drilling chamber. you could make the waiting room look very comfy and inviting, while making the training room way more Spartan style... But I can only comment, and I don't think I'll ever see a way to really make those ideas more concrete. I'll leave the building to the most talented builders here, and can only offer my help with some comments that hopefully make some sense. Because after seeing such an amount of great MOCs, I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever be happy again with what I come up with. Congratulations with that

Well it may be your first MOC, but it's a welcome entry for SoNE (even though it isn't an Imperial entry...)! That spaceship you built actually has something about it I quite like. It's great how you've added in assymetry in the wing decorations and little details. Also, the design with the two pairs of wings is quite interesting. You've got a lot of elements there for a really nice ship. But you're not totally there yet. You see, the ship is very blocky. Even for a freighter ship, it looks a bit unrealistic. Try beveling the edges with curve or slope pieces. Or instead of going with one big hull, split it up in several sections of different dimensions. Make some relief on the roof (this doesn't have to be raised: you could even have a little trench on the roof). There are plenty of techniques to make your ship look more interesting, and you can find a lot of good examples around the net. Another suggestion is going for a more subtle big shape. you could angle the wings for instance, to make us forget it's Lego we're watching at. You could play with different angles for the different pairs of wings. I'm just giving you some tips to get away from the overly blocky look and get to a more realistic, more fascinating, more captivating design... Let your imagination run free. And then... awesome things could happen, especially considering what you've already pulled off here. But there's more! That piece of bunker is really, really nice. That's an interesting lay out. I love the playing with layers and heights, and the impression the top floor is almost floating. Well done there! Also, the SNOT makes everything look very clean (and is a good way to save on tiles too...), but maybe a bit too clean on the top level. It looks like they're standing on a very, very smooth ice skating plane, which isn't exactly what I imagine when I think of Hoth. You could give some more studs there to create texture, maybe even recreating the pawprints of the Tauntauns. Or some slopes against that ventilator to give the impression of heaped up snow. Also, I have no idea how that Tauntaun got up that casing. It looks a bit unrealistic, but that's just a little detail. And for the rest, everything is quite beautiful here. That pillar, the corresponding vent, the speeder... plenty of things to like. Even the base looks nice. so all in all: not too bad for a first appearance. Not bad at all! Keep on building!

If I were a Rebel, I would be crying and muttering in a little corner right now. But luckily, I made the right choice as well and now I can be proud of the work of my comrades! It's a very interesting build with a well set up atmosphere. I like how you go from the rather clean and grey outside into the colorful and lively bar. This is especially emphasized with the lighting. The style of building is a little bit different too, because the closely packed lines are pretty much abandoned and make place for flat walls and slopes at the top. I'm not sure if I'm a bit fan of those flat walls, because that was an opportunity to give the bar a more chaotic and vibrant - in stead of industrial - look. There could be some kind of hologram... I don't really know. Anyway, I adore all the details like the rubbish around your table that sets it apart from the rest. Next up is the tattoo shop, with yet another beautiful technique for the walls and its very own style of decoration. I like how you've tried to include some sample artwork on the walls, but again it could be a little more crowded. But then again, the robot more or less runs the business, probably without much concern of how its store looks. Some kind of light like with the dentists would make sense though. No matter what, I like how your characters are progressing into a state where they just go and sit on the floor. And the tiny step at the door adds to the scene. One detail I like a lot is that all the figures have changed places between the two pictures of the bar. That was a really good idea, and it keeps things interesting! Anyway, the Imperial building is quite nice, especially with those delicious columns. But for the rest, I think that facade had a little bit more potential, maybe with some propaganda. but is the hothpotch of the style of the facade that bothers me most, because it just combines elements of the buildings we already saw, and doing that without much consistency. One final remark would be to make the steets a bit messier to, maybe with some thrown over garbage cans. Or maybe they just have a really good cleaning survice. But despite all the comments, I really like this build. I'm only trying to help to improve... just so that I can see more of it! Your build is as always amazing. And now I've learned to appreciate yet another one of your qualities: making good decisions, even when you're drunk.

Thanks and your welcome! Well, I found this topic in the minifig curomisation workshop. But the list only seems to contain torso's, and they don't seem to have a transparant background, which often looks off in renders. So maybe there's still room for a decoration list that includes more then just torso's?

For everyone that is into digital building: in these episodes i've always refrained to use a lot of minifigs. the big reason was that in LDD, the necessary decorations are not available, rendering your scenes instantly unrealistic. For everyone who has experienced the same problem, I've uploaded a little tutorial about how to apply your own decorations for renders. Moreover, at the end I included some of my own decorations to decorate the stormtrooper and the TIE pilot. I hope you all find this useful.

Remember those renders I posted of those minifigs with decorations? I've made a little tutorial about how to do it. At the end, you can find the decorations I designed. Hope you find it useful and that I'll see lots of stormies and tie-ies crawling around on your digital builds!

You may have encountered it: you built a nice model in LDD, but it looks surreal because it lacks decorations on e.g. the minifigs. This tutorial is here to help you with that. In this little tutorial, I will try to explain how you can enhance the POV-Ray renders of your LDD models with custom decorations. You can design entirely new figures for example, or you can apply the decorations that aren’t available in LDD. My example in this tutorial will be a stormtrooper minifig. This figure lacks all decoration in LDD, and is commonly used in digital Star Wars builds. It gives me the opportunity to explain how to decorate surfaces that aren’t directly accessible in LDD, how to fit custom decals and explain the general principles. This method doesn’t involve any hacking and doesn’t require any sick programming skills (although the custom decorations might need your artistic talents…). And the best of all: all programs I use here are entirely free! I’ll be using Lego Digital Designer, LDD2POV-Ray, POV-Ray and Inkscape. So let’s get started! Decorate the target pieces in LDD LDD2POV-Ray, the program that will eventually place your custom decorations, can only replace already applied decorations. So firstly, you need to give the pieces you want to decorate a replacement decoration in LDD. Make sure to use different decorations for each surface, so that you later can keep track of which filler to replace with which substitute. Also, taking a screenshot for reference is not a bad idea to support your memory. But wait a minute… Some parts don’t allow for any decorations at all in LDD! Minifig torso’s are not a problem at all, but things like helmets are a whole different story. But luckily, there is an easy way to apply decorations that will work in most cases (no guarantees though!). You have to export your .lxf file to the LXFML format (File -> Export Model). This .lxfml file is actually a textual representation of your model. Among others, it contains a list with the placed parts, including their color(s) and decoration(s). To find your part, use the search function (Ctrl + F / Cmd + F) and type in: in which you replace 30408 (the designID of the storm trooper helmet in this example) with the designID of the part you desperately want to decorate. You can find this ID by clicking on the part in LDD and looking at the bottom left corner. If multiple of these parts are available, you can give the specific part a different color and check for the one that says materials=”26” in which you replace 26 with the number of the color you used (you can find this number by hovering over the color in the color menu in LDD). The key part is then to change the part that says decorations=”0,0,0” in which the amount of zeros dictates the amount of surfaces that you can decorate. If the line isn’t present at all, you’re out of luck and won’t be able to decorate your part. Otherwise, replace the zeros with valid decoration ID’s. It’s best to take decorations that are square and detailed (I will explain why later), so I suggest using the decorations of the 2x2 flat tiles. You can find these ID’s by placing some of these decorated tiles in your model, and check in the LXFML file what number is filled in in the decorations line of those parts. To make it easier for you, here are some handy decoration ID’s you can use: 73023, 63708, 99825, 55350, 63404, 601245 Then, save your file, and open it with LDD. You’ll see your parts are looking very ugly with those random decorations, but you’ll be happy to have decorations. You can copy these parts to a ‘normal’ .lxf file, and get rid of the parts you used to find the decoration numbers. Now we can move on to step 2! 2. Open your model with LDD2POV-Ray LDD2POV-Ray is a program that converts your LDD model into a file that can be rendered with POV-Ray, a ray tracer that simulates the behaviour of real light to simulate a realistic effect. You can set lighting etc, but more importantly, you can set your own decorations. To do this, go to the “Decorations” tab, and check the box “Use custom decorations”. A list will appear at the bottom, showing all the decorations you used. Clicking on them will reveal a thumbnail. Now you’ll be happy that you used different decorations to know which is which. You’ll notice that the decorations (unless they are square) are a bit stretched out. That’s because the program only accepts square decorations. So to load your own decorations, you’ll have to make sure they are square. Otherwise, they won’t cover the whole area you intended. If you already have your decorations (you found them on one of the indexes of the customisation forum here, for example), you can skip to step 4. Otherwise, I’ll give a brief account on how to make your own decorations in step 3. 3. Create your own decorations Personally, I make my decorations with Inkscape. It’s an easy to use vector based program. That means you can easily create very clean, smooth and crisp shapes. I’ll leave it to others to educate you in this nice software, but I’ll show you some general strategies to make accurate decorations. When working on complex curved shapes, like the storm trooper helmet, you won’t know for certain how your image will be mapped to the surface. That’s when the screenshot you took comes in handily. Because you have used decorations with a lot of detail (if you’ve been following properly!), you can easily see how the image is deformed and placed on the surface. You can identify the regions where you want your details to come, look to what part of the placed decoration it corresponds, see what it looks like in its flat state (you can see this in the thumbnail in LDD2POV-Ray), and place your detail in the according place. So in the example of the storm trooper helmet, you can see that the mouth should somewhere at the center of the graph. LDD2POV-Ray shows that that graph is a bit above the, so now you know you have to place the mouth around the center of your decal. When you’ve finished your decoration, you have to make sure your decoration is square. This will most certainly occur when you’re designing decorations for minifig torsos. If you leave it in its actual proportions and plug it in LDD2POV-Ray, you’ll see that the image doesn’t fill the whole area, compared to the stretched out decoration you have to replace. So you resize your decoration. In Inkscape, simply go to the top, where you can enter dimensions. Then you go to File -> Export Bitmap and a dialogue box will pop up. Make sure to select ‘from selection’, and that the amount of pixels of your image is high enough. Otherwise it will look pixelated in the render. Finally, chose .png as file format, and remove the background color of your decoration. Because it might look like the right color in Inkscape, but in your render it will look like the decal has a different color than the body, which isn’t what you wanted. So now you have your parts temporarily decorated, and you got your custom decorations ready. So time to replace them and render them. 4. Render your decorated model Firstly, you have to load your new decorations in LDD2POV-Ray. There are multiple ways to do this, but the easiest method is to select the decoration you want to replace and then click on the empty canvas. A window will pop up to allow you to select your decoration. Just select it. Repeat for the other decorations, making sure you replace the right decoration with the right replacement (that screenshot will come in handy now, especially since you can’t have both LDD and LDD2POV-Ray open at the same time at this moment!). Then you can fiddle around with different settings like lighting etc. For test renders I suggest to place in the first tab the slider on the lowest positions: ‘LDD geometry’. This will result in slightly less good, but much faster renders, allowing you to quickly get feedback about your decorations, so that you can adjust placement and proportions. For flat parts this won’t be necessary, but it can help for curved parts. That’s why I included the TIE pilot in the render. You can see the ensignas are slightly deformed. That’s not my intention, but I already predeformed the circles in the decal, so that it looks more or less round on the surface. You’ll have to experiment a lot with these ones. Anyway, when you're satisfied and feel the need for a more glamorous render, you can turn 'render with visible bevels' on in the slider bar, and wait for some time. You'll get something like this. Hopefully now you know all about rendering your custom minifigs, making your models more realistic. I hope to see some around! Anyway: happy rendering of your minifigs! If anyone is interested in downloading the decorations I designed for the stormtrooper (for now without back printing) and the TIE pilot (torso printing already present in LDD), have a look at this page. Hope you've found this useful.

This is just epic. You don't only have that beautiful hangar bay, but also that vast array of beautiful ships Your promotion really turned out to be well deserved! The backdrop of all these scenes deserve its own spotlight. Because that hangar bay you built is quite beautiful. The walls are an excellent variety of greebles and smooth surfaces and have the right feel without being more of the same. Still, if you want to refine your greebling, you should go for less bulky pieces and less studs. Making use of more minifig tools would boost the appearance some more, looking even more realistic. Still, it's very nice how you encapsulated most of the greebling very nicely, and weren't afraid of adding in smooth surfaces as well. A well succeeded balancing act! It's also very pleasing that your notion of detail goes further than just greebling. You made good use of MstrOfPppts door technique, and those tubes peaking out from under the base adds a nice effect. Of course, the markings on the floor cannot be forgotten, as I am a big fan of those crisp white lines. The grills are very nice too, but maybe you overdid it. Details are good, as long as they retain some form of structure. So breaking up that long pattern of grill tiles with those big grills maybe isn't the best addition. And for more homogenity, use either grill tiles or grill bricks on both sides. But I suspect that your collection of bricks didn't allow for that . Also, those technic bricks with holes are a bit distrubing, as they don't seem to fulfill any purpose, but I suspect you added them for the same reason. Still you did a lot of good things to add life to the hangar, like removing one of the grill tiles. Try using more of these subtle details in stead of going for the big pieces of relief etc. Going a bit further on the details, I appreciate how you filled the area with all kinds of little crates and barrels. You're really beginning to understand how to add life to scenes, and I am in awe! Also, congratulations on the nice addition of the walkways. Not only are they original. They make sense and they are beautifully executed. And it adds more depth to the scene. My only remark about them would be to integrate them more in the scene, because now I have no clue how those people can acces them, besides climbing over the greebles... But you can't depict everything of course. That banner is a nice touch, despite the blockyness towards the bottom... My last remarks concerning the hangar would be about the more structural aspects. I love how you added some slopes in it, like at the base of the pillars in the wall. But this base hardly looks stron because of the gaps. Try covering these up next time. Finally, I would've liked the top of the white section to be tiled, and maybe a thin stripe of black to the right of it to make it more snug in the scene. But that's about all I can say about the beautiful hangar with its nice details (good control panels btw) and good layout. Luckily for me, there's still a whole bunch of ships for me to comment on! I'm beginning to like that Courrier with its bullet shape and nice back. The only thing that bothers me is the way too blocky front. The newer bubble cockpit would have been nice, and I would've liked to see it more integrated in the body with some kind of curved pieces like mudguards. With all those flat and square surfaces at the front, at the moment the cockpit seems a bit slammed on... You could also fix this with some kind of flex tubing, maybe even overlapping with the cockpit to give that area more uniqueness. The red ship has a very nice shape and the interior of the cockpit is really gorgeous with some nice parts usage. It looks pretty convincing as a ship, but lacks a bit of refinement in the back. There are a lot of exposed studs and flat surfaces. Some kind of emblem and some tiles and cheese slopes could help refine this area. Also making the red stripes more parallel to the curve of the ship would make it more menacing. The detail in the front is nice, but those plates peaking below the cockpit aren't very flattering. At least they form the base of that very nice shape that culminates at the back of the ship. So to make it short: those are two beautiful shippies. And then there's the Phantom... I'm in love. The shape, the amount of details, the wonderful back, the beautiful cockpit with exactly the right parts and a good interior... the elaborate and textured, yet with menacingly simple sides... I have nothing to add to this ship, and can only drool at its elegance. That body is just gorgeous... I dare say this is your best work yet, and I hope there is many more to come. If only there was an official set like this, I would buy it in a heartbeat. Only remark: that hinge plate at the top seems to have come loose! Or is it a brilliant detail to show of its history, just like those perfect greebles? It's pretty clear: this is a wonderful build and a great way to start of this new episode. Let the Rebels just try to top this! Anyway, I think there is a new promotion waiting for you. I'm proud to have you as a fellow Imperial pilot!

So after making all the decals myself, I can say I finally have produced a good digital representation of the TIE pilot and Stormtrooper, making our LDD builds more detailed! If someone wants a tutorial for this, just ask, and I'll figure out where to post it

I always like new attempts at recreating this tough vehicle in LEGO, and yours is quite succesful! the angles of the head are nicely done, and everything looks pretty sturdy, making it a pretty realistic set. Still, I have some problems with it... I think the cockpit looks too much like an actual face. There's a bit too much relief in it compared to the actual thing. Lowering that vertical tile in the middle one plate would make for an improvement. and I don't think that would be too difficult to implement. Also, the area with the cannons is off... They shouldn't be that far apart,and should be in some kind of hole. I imagine this would be more difficult to adapt, working on a 3 stud wide surface, but you could use the side panels as well. Also ,cutting down on dark grey and lowering that section a bit would look etter in my opinion. Although it might e a bit lacking in details in certain places, I still think you did a wonderful job in recreating this ultra-difficult vehicle. You executed the hardest part really well, and I appreciate the fact that is actual fit for a minifig. I hope there's mie to come!

At the moment, I'm making custom decorations for my renders. I've done a TIE window, and now I'm working on TIE pilot minifig, so that I can apply them via LDD2POVRAY. That way, I can finally have realistic figs in my digital builds. After this, I'll prepare some strom trooper decals as well, and I'll be happy to share them with whoever can use them!

I'll be building mostly vegetation (that's a first...), and if I have time, I'll throw in a TIE Bomber. I'm pretty much settled on the story as well, letting my character fall further in some kind of shellshock... @ goatman461: I had a good look at what you build, and I'm even more impressed then the previous time. The details are superb! Looking at it, it actually doesn't need some edited in star background. It's super as it is. And I see that stubble of your character turned into a beard? I love character development @ VK-318: good luck building in LDD! I'll happily do what I can with that rendering, although that will cost you for all the electricity and my patience . No no, in the exams my computer won't be too busy anyway, so your most welcome.

So... since our conversation seems to be on a holiday, let me just ask it here. Most of us will be building vegetation, especially ferns and large trees. Does somebody have some nice techniques for this? I can already suggest this thread, full of useful examples. Also, my experience in creating columns seems to help me... Well, everybody, get inspired and start building!

Well, I don't think... that dragon should be feared that much. He hadb't burnt a single thing in this entire scene, so I think it's safe... kind of. But we're not here to talk about the dragon (o, nostalgia, although I was curious to see a brick built one... well, maybe this is only the child of one really big dragon?). We're here to praise your luttle brother once more! I'm beginning to see a lot of nice overall techniques tucked away in these luttle builds. To place those buildings at a soft angle is not something I expect kids to bother with, but it's great to see it because it gets away from the blockyness. Same goes for the very tiny height difference present in the build. Apart from the good buildings, it are these hidden subtilities that indicate your brother is definetly on the right way to become one really great builder. I hope that one day all the things he has learnt converge into a big diorama. I mentioned the good buildings. But I'm not finished with them! The tower is great in colors and simplicity, and I like the subtle use of pallisade bricks as corner stones. Definetly a technique I will remember... Also the slim windows, sloped arch and more texture make it a really nice tower. The wooden shack is a bit too basic though, since it's just some pallisade bricks with some tiles. No offence, because that roof is well executed and such, but it lack a bit of refinements on details. Some moe texture in the roof would be nice, evoking layers of slabs or straw. The walls don't have to be adorned to make it interesting. There could just as well be some tools and utilities leaning against the wall. That would give a hint about the function too, and bring more life and meaning to the creation. The vegetation and such is nice as always, and I'm liking the simple base of the tree. The height difference could be alittle more exagerated though, making more sense for the tower. But overall, once again an impressive build by your brother. Now just wait untill our heroes show up!

'Secret plans'... some one has been playing Lego Star Wars II, I guess... It's nice to have an episode that isn't centered around conflict... I'm curious to see the stories every one will come up with. And a job on a nice quiet forest planet? I can handle that. At least there won't be a lot of killing involved this time. But wait... Endor huh, why did Markus post his spectacular diorama a week too eraly? Darn it... I'm just wondering why the old scoring system is adopted again without any changes. Bu at least now, I guess there will be an even amount ofentries from each faction, so that should be okay. So now on to build some vegetation... there's a first time for everything and I just love that SoNE keeps pushing me to tackle all those different challenges!

O, that's a really nice build! It's a shame that you didn't receive any points for your effort. Maybe you can still ask to consider it as a free build? That would also be a perfect excuse to give us the accompanioning story... But let us talk about the build now we're here. Well, each section has it's charm. The grey area is really nice. It's very typical for Cloud City, and the smoothness, railings and color shades are very nice. The black of the railings is a bit too harsh though. It's nice that the inside has a different color, and that sculpture there is pretty exceptional and very appropriate. The relief bricks are a great touch, but still I think it is a bit empty. Maybe sole real relief in the walls on multiple levels and some piping would do a better job. I can't say much about the white section since I don't have a full view, but I'm liking what I see. The tan-white combo is very nice. And the window is nice. Rounding off the corners of the door more would be nice. The platform isn't bad at all, and I like that speeder, although it's very reminiscent of Coruscant. As a final remark, I'm not quite sure about the overall layout of the build with those two entirely different views of CC so right next to each other without any kind of buffer region. Maybe placing them back on back or on top of each other would meke more sense visually. But still, the individual parts are very good on their own and I congratulate you on them. Hope you keep improving for future episodes!

I really like this one! Those angles are near perfect... It's really nice to some other shapes emerge than all the rectangular stuff. And in this MOC, there aren't even parallel walls. Still, it looks very familiar and harmonic, so you did a very good job on that balancing act. Also, when using such angles, things tend to get gappy. But no such thing in this build, since you choose the right elements. The shape of those doors is quite special (almost dwarvish?), but I really fancy it. It could be a bit too artistic for a detention block, but that's okay. Those grills are a nice addition by the way, making it look very Star Warsy. Also, those angled stripes within the doors are a very nice touch, although they don't come out really good in the pictures. That corridor is well executed, and it's nice to see one of the doors opened, so that the little bit of assymetry makes the scene more interesting. In the first picture, it's a bit disturbing however to see a long hallway behind one of the doors, and nothing at all behind the others. Maybe adding some kind of ceiling would be better. It would have been nice to have more controls around as well. Those consoles are pretty empty, and now don't seem to have any function except supporting stromtrooper bodies (I think that posing could've been a bit better). And that Rebel on the left is just touching a wall... a panel there would make sense. But it's still a great build, with those nice half-hidden pillars, differences in rosters etc. Yes, there are a lot of visible studs, but that actually only evokes the stony feel more. So yes, that's one very nice build. Congratulations on all the angles!

As for making the flex tool easier to use, wouldn't it be nice if you could position certain points of it and define tangent lines, just like when making bezier curves? The ability to semi-hide sections (just making them a bit transparent, but not so that you can see the inside of the bricks, and making them unselectable, accept perhaps with a special tool), could come in handy. It's especcialy hard to work on internals once you've already built pieces around it in thight structures, and that tool could help. It would also be nice for instructions.

You just created the perfect wallpaper. I am eagerly following your exploits with this rendering, and i must say that I am stunned again. It's incredible that things keep looking so real even when you zoom in. If in ten years this kind of software is available for us mortals, that will mean a big democratization of Lego, stimulating more and more people to MOC. You mentionned those phone pieces being a little off, and you're right, I'm also a tiny bit bugged with those 2x2 round domes in the engine section. The polygon geometry is clearly visible against that background, creating a confusing pattern. But that's just so minor in such a large model, and I have to admit that I really went searching to find such 'faults' in this near-perfect render. I will never be happy again with what I produce, but don't let that stop you!

Wow, if now the Empire doesn't win, I must be halucinating. Thanks new recruits for helping the Empire strike back! Hope you have a wonderful time here.

Next in line of Star Wars Technic figures is the Stormtrooper... or so says the box. It's not my favorite model, and the functionality isn't as nifty as I'm used to from the other models. And that alternate model... don't even ask me what s is supposed to be. I gave it a name myself (how about 'Imperial Artillery Unit'?), because I couldn't find one anywhere. In fact an alternate model isn't even mentionned anywhere. Strange, since it did appear in the instructions... Still, I had a nice time, once again! I tried to get the flex tubes etc right this time, and the custom built bionicle body was quite a challenge. Am I lucky there are still a few of these models left! 8008 - Stromtrooper (A Model)- Theme: Star Wars (Technic) LXF File (LDD 4.3.8) Errors: - Missing sticker - Part 32165 and part x209 not available in LDD. Replaced with similar foot piece. - Part 32489 not available in LDD. Replaced with custom built solution (I also grouped those bricks). - Part 32074 and 32133 not available in LDD. Replaced with similar cannon and projectile. - Part 6644 and cable not available in LDD. Left it out since no similar solution can be found. - Part 78c03 not available in LDD. Replaced with custom and flexible solution. - Part 75c10 not available in LDD. Replaced with shorter flex cable. 8008 - Stormtrooper (B model) - Theme: Star Wars (Technic) LXF File (LDD 4.3.8) Errors: - Part 32165 and part x209 not available in LDD. Replaced with similar foot piece. - Part 32489 not available in LDD. Replaced with custom built solution (I also grouped those bricks). - Part 32074 and 32133 not available in LDD. Replaced with similar cannon and projectile.

Wow, great to have yet another very talented builder on our team! I'm excited to see what you'll come up with, and I'm very glad you made the right decision.