sparkart

As I was shopping for the real bricks on Bricklink to make this LDD design a reality, I noted that many of the elements used didn't exist in the LEGO parts catalog until just a few years ago. It's inspired by the Dorvack Powered Armor designs from the early 1980s. I used LDD to design the model, then Bluerender to render the wire frame views. I used Photoscape to put the views together into this animated turn-around.

Done. Thank you for updating and improving an already great tool. Kudos to msx80 for having the patience and politeness to entertain requests, too. Some of the suggestions are useful and of great benefit to many users, but others...I shake my head, and hope that Nick doesn't waste his time pursuing a solution that brings no or low added value to the majority set of users (or paying supporters) of Blueprint.

Thanks for checking them, guys! These were made for a contest on Reddit.

These MOCs are made from 50 pieces, no more, no less. Click on the images to get a breakdown/parts list, and you can make them for yourself!

This was my first stop-motion project in, literally, (30+) years. A few benefits of using LDD: 1) Easy to reset "the world" to a previous position either with CTRL+Z or a saved file. You can even test what a movement looks like with CTRL+SHIFT+Z and CTRL+Z, like how a hand-animator looks through a series of drawings on several pages. 2) Smoother zooming and tracking using the on-screen rotate & zoom controls. 3) Easier to hide the supports for mid-air parts positioning and easier to just build things in mid-air, too, in the virtual world. In this video, when Batman and Man-Bat are tussling and tumbling in mid-air, falling to the rooftop, they are traveling down the studded pathway of SNOT (Studs Not On Top) 1xN plates that's been angled to trace a falling path. 4) Don't need a large inventory of LEGO. I guess I could've built a more detailed city, but my old computer was starting to noticeably slow down when the "sets" got more parts-intensive, so I made the movie "sets" simpler. I used Windows Movie Maker to assemble the screen-caps into a movie, and to add sound. The musical soundtrack is a simple ditty I made up. I tried to make it sound Batman-ish, without actually playing a Batman theme.

Nope. When I was a kid, I had OCD. I would lock the door before I left home 16 times, checking the lock four times in four sets. When I read about OCD behavior at the library (no Internet when I was a kid!), I made up my mind to not be a slave to the irrationality of it. There's too many fun things and more important things to do in life than to be held hostage by irrational OCD behavior I told myself. I used to call myself a LEGO purist with my MOCs, until I found out that my favorite building style and techniques were NASAL builds (Not Acceptable Stress Allowance Levels), in other words, would never, could never appear as a construction assembly in an official LEGO set. So now, I relax, just like the great poet and philosopher Frankie (Goes To Hollywood) urged.

Here a model of Jester from Titanfall 2. Jester is a simulacrum, an AI robot imitation of a person, but doesn't realize or accept that. The model is about 1/10 scale, 7 inches or 18 cm tall. He's packing a couple of weapons that are actually throwbacks to the first Titanfall game, a white, black, and orange CAR SMG (Combat Advanced Round Submachine Gun) and a RE-45 large caliber handgun on his right thigh. Red grenades hang from the green tactical vest he wears. The Wampa/Taun-taun horn hanging from the back of his head is supposed to be a raccoon tail. I haven't seen any art that suggests there is a red rising sun motif on the back of Jester's vest, but I like the red design on that dark green, and the boat-stud keeps those plates together and helps hide their unsightly undersides. The fanny pack is a rocket pack that grants players enhanced jumping and parkour mobility in the game. The model has 14 points of articulation: neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, abdomen, hips, knees, & ankles. The base holds a polycarbonate bar (light saber) that inserts into the bottom of a ski that forms his feet. I had to shorten that bar by about a millimeter to get the foot to be flat and flush against the tile flooring of the base. The abdomen has a couple of 1x2 grille tiles that aren't attached to anything, but trapped by the geometry of the surrounding parts. These move up and down as the chest and hips are posed to simulate pivoting pistons. Thanks for stopping by and having a look!

Good review, thanks for sharing the interesting photos and thoughts. It definitely is a good start to making a nice model of the US Capital Building. I'm sure soon enough we'll see DIY builds of the complete building with a West Side from interested builders with a lot of extra brick handy. Ironic that you show the instruction book open to a photo of the West Side of the building which is completely missing in an out-of-the-box build. I'm only guessing that the original development model for this is set in Billund is complete, and it was not the design teams first choice to merely provide 3/4 of the building. The omission of the West Side kinda is a big deal, though. It's the pretty, photogenic side with a big lawn, and a side of the building you see a LOT in media, where all the US Presidents have been sworn in for the last 30 years. If anyone wants a mini-model of the whole building, I made plans: Earth vs. the Flying Saucers by SPARKART!, on Flickr.

THANK YOU!

Excellent!

I just made of MOC of Big G, and looked at a lot of photo stills from the movies and posters. Onscreen, Godzilla is dark gray or black. I think we all remember him as green because that's how poster artwork, animated shows, comic books, and toys have depicted him, but if you go to the source material, like the color movies, he's not green.

Here's a mini version of the US Capitol Building! The Flickr page also has a link that leads to an LDD file for this, too. Earth vs. the Flying Saucers by SPARKART!, on Flickr.

I haven't seen a "canon" or fan-produced First Order Scout Trooper, yet. But it's easy to imagine one!

Not just you, I spent most of today making a mini LEGO US Capitol Building, and looking at floor plans and maps...yes, the LEGO model appears "abbreviated". Check out the overhead view of the model on Brickjournal.

What does the acronym "AR" mean? The more you learn about LEGO culture, the more you appreciate how large and diverse it is. If you can find a local LEGO User's Group (LUG) and go to a few meetings it can give you some interesting perspectives. Good luck.

Looks like a mean machine, nice build! Black LEGO is like Bigfoot and UFOs, i.e. hard to photograph well.

Thanks for checking these out and the kind words and comments! These speeders are about 9.5 inches or 24 cm long. The figures are similar in size to 3-3/4" action figure scale, so about 1/18~1/20 scale. I tried to imagine them as JJ Abrams would have approved, that is, not change them much from what appeared in the original trilogy. I actually designed these before seeing the Hasbro First Order Speeder Bikes on the toy store shelves, if you're wondering why they don't have a "canon" appearance in colors or details. The bikes are red with white and black accents to evoke a Nazi flag color scheme. Originally, these were set up in a little vignette, with Kid Kylo leading two Stormtroopers (without backpacks). I thought it would be more interesting to introduce a bit of variation, so I made one of the riders a Flametrooper and added a backpack of tanks. I wanted a First Order Stormtrooper with shoulder pauldron and blocky black backpack, because, hey, who doesn't love that stylish Sandtrooper look?

Nice job! LEGO also made a similar sized one, part of their Brickmaster series. I made a couple of variations on that one: Slave 4 U by SPARKART!, on Flickr. This one can carry the Boba Fett micro-fig inside: I see why they call you the best bounty hunter in the galaxy. by SPARKART!, on Flickr.

First Order Trooper on Speeder Bike by SPARKART!, on Flickr. First Order Trooper on Speeder Bike by SPARKART!, on Flickr. First Order Trooper on Speeder Bike by SPARKART!, on Flickr. Flametrooper on Speeder Bike by SPARKART!, on Flickr. Flametrooper on Speeder Bike by SPARKART!, on Flickr. Kylo Ren on Speeder Bike by SPARKART!, on Flickr.

Good to hear that something works, and something doesn't work. Several times I tried this morning, the US-English part of LEGO.com was working, except for LDD.LEGO.com. Now...hey! It works! Sorry for the panic. Mods, feel free to remove this topic.

For years, I've been telling young and old alike to download LDD at LDD.LEGO.com, but today...it seems to be finally gone. I know it was, as Kyle Reese put it, "targeted for termination", but it seems unceremonious to remove it without a bit more warning. I mean, where can I download a setup/installation file for LDD 4.3.9, now? When I search for LDD on LEGO.com, I get crickets. It appears that LEGO is treating LDD as the Pharaoh Sethi treated Moses, "Let the name of Moses be stricken from every book and tablet, stricken from all pylons and obelisks, stricken from every monument of Egypt. Let the name of Moses be unheard and unspoken, erased from the memory of men for all time!" It's a sad day for me. The sun's a little less bright, the birds are more quiet, and the air smells less fresh.

LEGO model of Psycho Zaku from Gundam Thunderbolt by SPARKART!, on Flickr. LEGO model of Psycho Zaku from Gundam Thunderbolt by SPARKART!, on Flickr. LEGO model of Psycho Zaku from Gundam Thunderbolt by SPARKART!, on Flickr. Click here for Flickr album with more photos...

Thanks for checking it out and for the kind words. I'd be interested to see another UCS Interceptor! Mine sags. Sounds like a personal problem, I know, but I'm wondering if there's a better way to make the dagger wings at the root where they join the pylons so they resist the torque forces better.

Thanks for the kind words. I did get around to fitting the ball and pylons to a couple of out-of-the-box UCS TIE panels: LEGO UCS TIE Fighter by SPARKART!, on Flickr. I think the TIE Interceptor is a classic, too: TIE Interceptor by SPARKART!, on Flickr.