[Software] LDD2PovRay

[Lego Otaku]

I have a dual core and it takes hours to render. My son has an 8 core. It renders about 3 times faster than my dual core. I am not sure if 32 vs 64 bit makes a big difference. I do the LDD on my machine and use his machine to render when he is not using it over night.

I haven't played much with the settings other than the resolution.

More cores does help. I have a dual XEON with a total of 12 cores, 24 processes with hyperthreading. POV2Ray uses all available resources and I get my render done in average of 1/4 the time a regular desktop would have taken.

32 bit vs 64 bits, the only real difference is memory management. 32 bits OS is limited to max 4GB total RAM, and 32 bits apps are limited to 2GB RAM for their use. 64 bits OS and apps has access to a lot more. POV2Ray doesn't need lot of memory, just lot of time.

Multiple CPU solution including XEON and Optrons don't come cheap, and usually won't boost game performance. Those are mainly used for servers, rendering, and video encoding. That is, if you're making CGI movies, doing a lot of 3D rendering, or running a store with 20 cash registers, a dozen hand held price scanner, portable label printer, etc the server quality stuff helps but if you mainly play games stick with single CPU, 4 cores minimum.

[JunkstyleGio]

Here are my first adventures with the Star Wars UCS X-wing.

Extra work, like background and exhaust fumes, with Photofilter7

HD version Here: http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5542/11107807496_5f27e5bbc4_o.jpg

[LUModder]

I made a MOC (about an hour to make) and then after I was done "assembling it" I rendered it (15 min - half and hour)

Result

[Nachapon Lego]

Is it possible to add a function to simulate realistic/accurate gaps between bricks? Only the horizontal gaps not vertical gaps, just like the real bricks.

The demo model on the left using lxfml trick to scale down only horizontal size to become as same as real bricks.

Please zoom in to compare the different with original flickr pic size (2934 x 1536).

Lego CG rendering with realistic horizontal bricks gaps compare by Nachapon S., on Flickr

Lego CG rendering with realistic horizontal bricks gaps and dimensions by Nachapon S., on Flickr

Edited November 30, 2013 by bbqqq

[LUModder]

@bbqqq That seems like a great idea and all, but I don't know how it would effect my renders of my so called named "Cube Dudes"

Examples:

TF2 Engineer

My Minecraft skin

My friend's Minecraft skin

[Nachapon Lego]

@bbqqq That seems like a great idea and all, but I don't know how it would effect my renders of my so called named "Cube Dudes"

Examples:

TF2 Engineer

My Minecraft skin

My friend's Minecraft skin

The renders will more realistic because of using accurate real bricks dimensons and gap distances to render. Especially in case of small model or close-up (zoom in) camera.

ie: A 2x4 brick:

Typical Lego CAD digital brick dimension = 16 x 32 x 9.6 mm, no gaps between bricks (0 mm)

Real brick dimension rendering = 15.8 x 31.8 x 9.6 mm, horizontal gaps of bricks side by side = 0.2 mm, vertical gaps of bricks stacked = 0 mm

Very nice idea for "Cube Dudes". But this real dimension idea can't help. I suggest use 6x6 tiles instead of 1x1 tiles. The model will become huge but should be better. Are the head/arms/legs hinge-able?

Edited November 30, 2013 by bbqqq

[glenbricker]

I tried to do Ldd2Povray after the update to LDD 4.3.8 today and I get an error. Something to the effect of Part ID 2412 not in current brickset version.

Then the whole thing fails.

Edited December 5, 2013 by Superkalle

[Superkalle]

That's strange, because 2412 is there as far as I can tell.

I'm moving this over to the LDD2PovRay topic.

[Nachapon Lego]

Realistic dimensions & gaps / Parts hinges variances / imperfect built variances experiment.

LDD realistic brick dimensions and gaps with imperfect built by Nachapon S., on Flickr

[legolijntje]

That looks very nice.

Is it done manually, or did a program randomly choose some bricks to place imperfect? The second option would be the best if you create this kind of render with a big model to create more realistic imperfection.

[alkonavt96]

bbqqq, lxfml trick?

[Nachapon Lego]

That looks very nice.

Is it done manually, or did a program randomly choose some bricks to place imperfect? The second option would be the best if you create this kind of render with a big model to create more realistic imperfection.

bbqqq, lxfml trick?

Thanks guys. The realistic dimensions & gaps done manually by lxfml trick. The imperfection automatic_random_stud_rotation can be done by "Use part position variances" check box. Sample:

I am learning how to customize the ldd_part_position_variances.inc file.

Edited December 8, 2013 by bbqqq

[Leewan]

bbqqq, what's the secret to render chrome bricks ? And does it only work in chrome gold, or is it possible to get the same result with other colors ?

[alkonavt96]

bbqqq, what's the secret to render chrome bricks ? And does it only work in chrome gold, or is it possible to get the same result with other colors ?

Try to use this file http://yadi.sk/d/e3DURqA5E426F

[Lyichir]

I still wish there were some way to run PovRay (and LDD2PovRay) natively on Mac. I just tried to figure out how to download Wine to my MacBook and had to quit after being flummoxed by techspeak and vague instructions. I want to be able to use LDD2PovRay to put finishing touches on some Cuusoo projects, but if I can't get it to work then a number of my models may never see the light of day.

[Nachapon Lego]

bbqqq, what's the secret to render chrome bricks ? And does it only work in chrome gold, or is it possible to get the same result with other colors ?

Chrome need things to reflect. So build things surround it or or/and use sky sphere image.

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=71654&st=525#entry1707837

Try to use this file http://yadi.sk/d/e3DURqA5E426F

Thanks, I will try it.

Flickr Original pic size (4096 x 3072) AA.

lego ldd cmf 9-11 gold hq _ lxf by Aanchir by Nachapon S., on Flickr

Edited December 10, 2013 by bbqqq

[hrontos]

I am learning how to customize the ldd_part_position_variances.inc file.

ldd_part_position_variances.inc first defines 3 constants, if not defined: ldd_ppv_x_shrink_amount, ldd_ppv_y_shrink_amount, ldd_ppv_z_shrink_amount. These define how much smaller the bricks should be comparing to original LDD dimensions. Modifying these values will result in larger gaps bewteen bricks which have some variance defined. It is enough to define custom value at the top of the POV file like this: #declare ldd_ppv_x_shrink_amount = 0.006;

Then there are some "typical" brick variations defined. Like ldd_1axis_symetric_top_studed_ppv or ldd_2axis_symetric_top_studed_ppv. They consist of definition of shrinking in each direction, tilting in each direction and rotation in each direction.

Shrinking generates gaps.

Rotation is a result of a building process - people usually do not pay attention to the exact orientation of some bricks, so logo on studs might be rotated. Or steering wheels, technic pins may be randomly rotated.

Tilting is a result of brick not being attached precisely enough. Amount of tilt is related to the amount of shrink (gaps), because with real bricks, brick has to fit between neighbouring bricks - it cannot be tilted too much, otherwise it would overlap next bricks.

These typical variations are then assigned to some bricks based on similarity in position variability. Like steering wheel and technic pin are similar in position variability. Car rim with pin hole can be also freely randomly rotated. Car rim with cross hole can be rotated only in 90 degree steps. Car tyre can be freely rotated on rim.

[Nachapon Lego]

@horntos, Thank you for your instructions.

[Phoxtane]

Well, I finally got rendering again! I had a bit of free time and figured it out. Hopefully, I'll get some pictures up soon

And here it is! I discovered a while back it goes much faster if I add the outlines... and I get a nice effect as well [in my opinion, at least].

Edited January 2, 2014 by Phoxtane

[Fox Hound]

Why does the visible bevels option take so long? I rendered for 16 hours with bevels on my SSD. It was going 1% / 3 hrs before I quit. I turned off bevels and it fully rendered in 90 minutes!

[Calabar]

Maybe bevels add a great number of polygons, making the scene much more complex to render.

Anyway usign bevels makes the rendering much more realistic, so if you want an hight quality render, I think you should maintain the option checked.

Edited January 2, 2014 by Calabar

[Ironman102]

I am new to this pov-ray program. I have installed everything, set up all the paths, and input a test model to render, but once i push render I get an error message. The message says "Unable to generate necessary includes. Access to the path 'C:Program Flies\LDD Includes\ldd_main.bin' is denied." Any suggestions would be helpful. I am running Windows 8 64bit OS.

[BEAVeR]

I am new to this pov-ray program. I have installed everything, set up all the paths, and input a test model to render, but once i push render I get an error message. The message says "Unable to generate necessary includes. Access to the path 'C:Program Flies\LDD Includes\ldd_main.bin' is denied." Any suggestions would be helpful. I am running Windows 8 64bit OS.

Well, I had a similar problem, and I'm running the same OS. The way I fixed it, was to make a new folder C:output-lddtopovray be sure to give full acces. The, set your output path (under settings in ldd2povray) to that particular folder.

It's a bit of a dirty trick, but it works for me. That way, I don't have to mess around among the 'Program flies', as you like to call them ;)

[legolijntje]

I've got Windows 8.1 for 2 weeks now, so I haven't installed POV-ray yet, but I had a similar problem using Brickficiency.

What solved the problem for me was to run it as administrator. A more convenient solution would be to edit the read and write permissions if you don't want to run as administrator every time, but obviously that would creat a small security risk (although it's not really serious). You could do that (as administrator) by right clicking on the folder Program Files (or any other folder you want to edit) and go to the bottom of the list to properties and choose the tab Security. Then choose Edit and you can edit the permissions.

[Ironman102]

Well, I had a similar problem, and I'm running the same OS. The way I fixed it, was to make a new folder C:output-lddtopovray be sure to give full acces. The, set your output path (under settings in ldd2povray) to that particular folder.

It's a bit of a dirty trick, but it works for me. That way, I don't have to mess around among the 'Program flies', as you like to call them ;)

Thanks BEAVeR that was the exact issue. Test model rendered well and now i get to play with all the settings Muahahha lol