FWIW version 0.83.1 (October 2016) is available in Ubuntu repos.
LeoCAD – A CAD program for creating virtual Lego models
71–80 of 86 posts
Re: LeoCAD – A CAD program for creating virtual Lego models
#72Re: LeoCAD – A CAD program for creating virtual Lego models
#73Lego had its own digital designer, I remember playing around with it a really long time ago, seems its still around. http://ldd.lego.com/en-us/
Interesting. I wonder why it hasn't been more popular. Also, it would be nice if you could order the bricks for a design by a simple order process.
LeoCAD seems to have a Linux version (whereas Lego's own designer does not). For me, that'd be a compelling reason to use the former instead of the latter.
Re: LeoCAD – A CAD program for creating virtual Lego models
#74How does this compare to Mecabricks online? https://www.mecabricks.com/ And the new tool from Stud.io from Bricklink? https://studio.bricklink.com/v2/build/studio.page
Nice feature of stud.io is that it shows prices of all bricks, so you can cost-optimize your model in case you decide to build it.
I think, add this feature in LeoCAD could be simple, but ask for that on issue tracker
Re: LeoCAD – A CAD program for creating virtual Lego models
#75Wow super cool! They should have a hot swappable rendering backend so we can get globally illuminated PBR renders out. Given the limited materials that Lego bricks are made out of, getting sensible default materials and automated lighting would be hella easy.
There are tools to convert LDraw models to povray source.
Yeah, LeoCAD could export to PovRay scene format ;-)
Re: LeoCAD – A CAD program for creating virtual Lego models
#76Very cool, I've actally thought at making something like this using the OpenCASCADE CAD kernel at some point (I'm familiar with that because we are using it at work). Does LeoCAD itself have built-in capabilities to create the Lego's, using a CAD kernel? Or are they pre-modeled in an external tool? Typical Lego bricks are simple enough to build using basic Boolean geometric operations, so with just a few simple rules…
OpenCASCAD is too complex for such tasks.
Re: LeoCAD – A CAD program for creating virtual Lego models
#77LDCad[1] is the only one that won't lag with big models. The UI is a bit weird, but it works very well. I tried LeoCAD, but it was either lagging or crashing with 1000+ pieces. [1] http://www.melkert.net/LDCad
LDCad is proprietary freeware program and require modern PC with good GPU.
Tried it on 10 year laptop with integrated ATI RS600 - its has many issues and lag during modelling. Also UI not very simple.
In same time LeoCAD work on this laptop very well.
Think, for those who want more features than LeoCAD has must try LDCad. LDCad is mostly for advanced users, for learninig and creating not too big models LeoCAD is the choice.
Re: LeoCAD – A CAD program for creating virtual Lego models
#78FWIW version 0.83.1 (October 2016) is available in Ubuntu repos.
Yeah, this issue on repositary[0] system for distributing apps.
[0] https://repology.org/metapackage/leocad/versions
Anyway, you could get latest builds from OBS[1]
Re: LeoCAD – A CAD program for creating virtual Lego models
#79Does LeoCAD implement flexible items that can be bent, such as the Space Needle stems ( https://shop.lego.com/en-US/Seattle-Space-Needle-21003 )?
Ask it on Github
Re: LeoCAD – A CAD program for creating virtual Lego models
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
In principle, yes, in practice, no. The tolerances and surface quality achievable are far below what you require and expect when connecting or even just holding or looking at Legos. As ubiquitous as Legos are, they're among the highest tolerance, highest quality rigid plastic parts you're likely to encounter.
What about printing an entire model and not the pieces? In other words, could I "build" models with that software without any knowledge of 3D modeling and use those models to 3D print?
Print model consisted from many parts (bricks) directly is little complex task. Think, you need export model from LeoCAD in some 3D mesh (obj, stl or 3ds) and then need make some optimization (remove hidden faces, etc.)
But there is "ImportLDraw" addon for Blender, so its better create feature request to its developers