deraven

To clarify, are you asking what program you can use to build virtual Lego models with on a Mac, or what kind of tools to use to do actual photorealistic rendering of already created LDD/LDraw models?

Great. My pleasure! I'll follow this thread in case you need anything else down the road.

OK, I didn't have time to do a proper photo setup tonight, but hopefully these will be good enough to give you what you need! I got the 5 shots you asked for, plus a few angled shots to help you better see where some of the print wraps from the vertical sides onto the base, etc.. You can click through them in my flickr photostream starting here: https://www.flickr.c.../in/photostream I have a few copies of this part and I tried to use the cleanest/best condition one I had, but if you need any additional info (like wondering if a dot is a chip or actual printing - stuff like that) just let me know and I'll be happy to take a look. Thanks for your LDraw contributions!

The sculpting is great. Very nicely done! I'd love to see you do a version of the BSD Daemon!

Sorry, my bad with the copy-and-paste. Yes, I have px2 (the space version of that baseplate). :) Coming up shortly...

I have a couple 2552p05 - I can take pics a little later tonight and I'll post links to 'em on flickr, then you can give me feedback on if you need something different. Always happy to contribute to community efforts!

That white cottage is so beautifully dilapidated! Just great!

Impressive build, nice technique… but it's TOO smooth! ;D

Those do look pretty promising! I'm sure this isn't the whole line of "basic brick pack" type sets, and I'm not trying to start discussion on this topic, but one thing I noticed is that they seem much more gender-neutral. As noted, they have a nice selection of colors, and that last one has a lot of pastels without being super-pink and obviously "girly" and the others don't stick just to the more primary colors. That's great! I'm a little concerned that the pricing will be less than stellar, but the brick selection seems very nicely varied and interesting.

I couldn't agree more with this basic summation. It seems like most of the hate for BBT comes from extroverts who are into "geeky" things thinking that the show is belittling them when that's not the case at all. Being an introvert with a circle of friends that are all highly intelligent (and with a much higher than average % of scientific professions such as materials engineer, physicist, chemical engineer, etc.) I must say that many of us closely identify with the characters on the show. I think the geeks on the show are the "normal" ones (other than their own specific idiosyncrasies) and find it enjoyable to, as gedren_y said, watch them dealing with somewhat exaggerated circumstances from a viewpoint similar to my own. If you don't care for the show, that's fine... but to say it's denigrating to geeks I think is way off the mark. With the number of in-jokes in so many genres of geek culture that are included in the show, I absolutely see it as a bunch of geeky writers who "get it" doing a loving send-up of themselves and their friends through the characters on the show. ANYWAY... having thrown in my opinion on that... I will say that I was surprised that this was approved as a set. I might pick up a copy just for all the fun bits and pieces and minifigs that will likely be included, but I'm really not excited about it. Most of the other Cuusoo/Ideas sets have had a reasonable amount of wide-audience appeal whereas this seems like it'll really only be picked up by fans of the show. That's not a bad thing, just still seems like an odd choice coming from Lego. Of course... I'd have to say the same thing about one of the Doctor Who sets being approved if I was looking at it objectively, but I'd be pretty excited to get one of those! To each their own, I suppose!

I generally agree with Slegengr, but one additional observation of my own: That price range only seems to hold for 10-30ish lbs., after which the average price seems to go down. I think it's probably related to the fact that most folks who are making a "bulk" purchase are OK with the idea of spending a couple hundred dollars, but beyond that it's out of their overall budget or they have a psychological block about spending thousands of dollars on Lego at once (even if in aggregate they've already spent much more on their collection). For example, I often see mixed, unsorted lots with minifigures for for $10-15/lb - maybe 20lbs for 250ish + shipping, but then if you see a lot that's 150lbs of Lego priced at $1500 (the low end of that range) it doesn't sell. To be honest, I guess I do that myself as well. When I'm buying bulk lots I usually aim for the 20-30lb range, and the ones I end up winning are often in the $7-9/lb range. I won't go higher than $10 unless I know the lot contains something very specific that I value more highly, and generally I want to be in the $7ish range to both feel like I've picked up a "good deal" as well as to offset any off-brand pieces that are included when I'm not sure about the purity of the lot. I understand that at least part of your motivation is to help these folks out, so I think I'd just present them with all the info: They could get up to $15/lb selling it in a bunch of small lots which will take a lot of time and energy but might yield more total dollars, or they can sell it in one or a few bigger lots for less per pound but with far less overall effort. If it is reasonably sorted with storage containers (and if you want them), I'd say $10/pound is a very fair price. That, of course, assumes there aren't a bunch of high-dollar individual sets in there. If he has, like, a MISB Yellow Castle or Galaxy Explorer hidden away in a closet, per-pound pricing obviously doesn't apply! You might want to consider hitting a middle ground- maybe see what higher-dollar stuff is in there, make a fair offer (based on Bricklink & eBay pricing) for that stuff if you want it, and otherwise maybe offer to sell some of that stuff for the on consignment and take your fee in other bulk Lego from the overall collection? Just a few thoughts… Definitely can be hard to find what seems fair to all parties involved, but I think so long as you're honest with them (maybe even share this thread with them depending on where it goes!) so they know you're doing your best to fine a win-win for everyone it'll probably work out as it should.

This is spectacular! That interior at minifig-trophy scale is great as is the deployable ramp. Really impressive. Already one of the best midi-scale interpretations I've seen- now if you can just get the landing gear to be deployable in real bricks, it'll easily secure my top spot (for whatever that's worth)!

A third lamp and/or reflectors would help with the remaining shadows. You could post-process with Photoshop or something, yes, but I would suggest first trying different white balance settings on your camera. That might get you pretty close to what you're looking for without the post-processing effort. (Oh, looks like dr_spock beat me to it before I reloaded the page! Good suggestion about the custom white balance on the Rebel XT.)

Just glanced at this post again... to be completely clear, mink66, what you see on the flyer Super Cycle is not a single wing piece. It is made from what Penkid11 showed, illustrated both in the one color used in the movie model, as well as with different colored parts to show how they fit together since it's hard to make out the individual bricks when they're all a single color. Now, it's hard to see how they're held together, but if you watch this video you'll see a split-second shot of it being put together: Here's the best screenshot I could get of the underside of the wings: Looks like they're held together by a 2x3 or 2x4 plate, wedge plate, and either a 1x2-2x2 or 1x2-1x2 bracket that holds the 4590 part to which the missiles/guns attach.

I don't want to speak for Penkid11, but I believe they were just showing how it's made up using the different colors so it's easy to see how it goes together. The older wing pieces (with the 1x1 notch) are part numbers 3935 / 3936 and the newer 3x3 cut-corner wedge plate is part no. 2450.

I'll chime in briefly- I don't think they're horrible, but I do find them a bit annoying and would rather they weren't there. Especially if you imagine multiple people in the thread with them… all the sudden the whole page is jittery mess … and heaven help someone who suffers from motion sickness!

Very nice looking vessel. A bit different that what you usually see around here; the fully brick-built and midi-scale works well. It seems like it's maybe riding a bit high in the water, but other than that the lines are beautiful and I like your take on the sails, both stowed and unfurled! I look forward to seeing more of this type of ship building!

That's great! Might not be the best on rough terrain, though, so how 'bout making the towers detach and extend out like legs so it can walk over larger obstacles? Maybe for a version 2? The collision-avoidance and auto-firing action is great. Nice work!

Great. The shadowy ring-vision take with this little vig really works well, and it's well executed. The light, medium, and dark monotones help keep it from looking too muddled but still sell the effect. Well done!

Yes- the overall shape is great, and I always like to see the brick separators used for something creative! Looks like you've achieved a nice looking craft with a pretty low overall part count, too. Cool. I wonder if TLG would ever release a set with 6 brick separators?

Very nice! I like those quite a bit more than the official Ent we got from TLG. I really like the little bit of (non-Ent) greenery as well.

Surprised that original ones wouldn't be somewhat dried out. I guess if they're sealed well enough... Perhaps oiling them would help keep them pliable? But that could get messy. Certainly, if you have the time and effort to put into it, finding something similar with a silicone based material (like the new "rubber" bands in Technic sets over the past several years) would definitely yield better results over time. If you do find something better, please make sure you share!

Agreed with v6TransAM - You can find "new" vintage tires, but the condition would still be questionable. You can fabricate them yourself, but finding the right material and taking the time to do so is a pain, so best to just buy from someone who's already done the legwork. Here's one such product up on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/lego-30x-12v-Replacement-Rubber-Rims-fit-for-1980s-Lego-Trains-12v-4-5v-motor-/131267455236?pt=UK_Construction_Toys_Kits&hash=item1e90266904 Those appear to be just a touch thicker than the originals, but should work just fine, and the price and effort seems about right. :)

Those are really fantastic! Nicely done. Do you have any pics or info about how you made them? I'm sure that took a good chunk of time, but the result was worth it! Also, welcome to Eurobricks!

I like the use of the hinge plates as support feet for the trailer. Nice.