![]() Adapters and connectors, that sort of thing. For instance, a GoPro mount with LEGO Technic mounting holes. Remember learning that you could dye them in RIT?Īs designers grew more confident, they created more practical projects. I have photos from the hackerspace of terrible LEGO prints from our Cupcake, but they were insanely cool at the time. The early focus in Thingiverse was the novelty factor of “gee, printing LEGO that actually could be attached to ones you bought in the store”. Finally, sometimes the building set manufacturers see digitization as a promise and not a threat: robotics building system Actobotics provides STEP files for every part, and these can be dropped into your favorite CAD program.) Owning the Schema Thingiverse has dozens of variants of the classic K’nex connector, as well as VEX-compatible parts galore. Hurbain created a VEX library for LDraw that allows you to build virtual VEX models exactly the same way as one would with LEGO. (I should point out that LEGO fans aren’t the only ones following this dream. Just look for an import tool to drop your LDraw file onto Blender, for instance, and from there you can print anything. It had been intended for use in virtual building programs, but it had an unintended benefit: yeah, we can print ’em. The resulting library explores dead product lines and obscure one-off elements. They had hundreds of legacy sets to digitize, and as each new set came out it was eagerly examined for new parts. The LDraw project was important because for the first time, and thanks to the nascent Internet, überfans were taking control of the product. The edges of the brick are geometric primitives drawn ad-hoc, but the studs are four instances of a separate file. Each of these is its own file referenced from within the main part file. The basic shape is a rectangular box with a second box inside of it, inverted. So, a normal 2×2 brick might actually consist of many sub-files. Each element’s data file consists exclusively of text instructing some sort of engine to draw certain shapes. Smaller parts of a main design, like studs, are their own file. LDraw’s unique CAD architecture was created before Open Source was an everyday concept, and consequently it followed some unusual precepts. It was also made to be platform-neutral, so any independent LEGO building program could draw using LDraw’s designs. No element is added to the LDraw library unless a committee clears it. However, his estate made LDraw a nonprofit organization in 2002 and it has taken the lead in digitizing every new LEGO release in a thoughtful, peer-reviewed manner. Tragically, Jessiman died from complications of the flu in 1997 at the age of only 26. In 1995, back when most people’s idea of a 3D printer was “tea, Earl Grey, hot”, a young Australian LEGO nerd named James Jessiman released a DOS LEGO building program with a library of only three bricks: 2×2, 2×3, and 2×4. Digitizing LEGO elements started way earlier. Interestingly, however, digital re-creations of LEGO bricks weren’t anything new even as much as a decade ago. They also tended to be badly printed as the community and the hardware toil to become ever better. The output could be (and often was) the most iconic LEGO element ever, the 2×4 brick. No one was making crazy LEGO, because the crazy part was just the making of the brick. ![]() The beginning definitely involved re-creating existing designs rather than coming up with new ones. wizard23’s Parametrized Lego Brick is a good example. In 2009, LEGO started appearing on Thingiverse. What I’m saying is that we’re looking at a future that can be described in three words: Freakin’ Huge Bricks. Still, when you look at that uneven lump of plastic as being just one step in an evolution, it’s pretty momentous. These days, no one is going to be more than mildly curious about your 3D-printed LEGO brick. But just as every technology goes through an evolution, the goalposts of coolness move on past what used to be remarkable to the new thing everyone’s talking about. It was a magical time! Everyone was 3D printing everything, though most of it wasn’t very good because the technology wasn’t there. Those magical words made real to me the wonder that was 3D printing. ![]() “Did you know you can 3D-print LEGO bricks that can actually be used as regular LEGO?”–me, in 2009
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |