How to Accurately Model Complex LEGO Parts in Blender
Qwerty7556 started this discussion in Help and Tips

Hello!

I've been wanting to get a digital version of part 20139 for quite some time, but I haven't been able to figure out how to model it.
I just saw Scrubs' instructions on how to model parts in Blender (which I use quite often), but it only has instructions on how to model simple parts like your everyday 1x1 Brick. Is there a method to accurately model complex parts in Blender if you have the part on-hand? Can the "calliper" shown in Scrubs' tutorial give sufficient measurements for these parts, or is a different tool needed?

Thanks in advance!

8 replies · Page 1 of 1
Avatar of Scrubs
Administrator

Hello,

For the part you are talking about, I would say no. In my case, I use a 3D scanner to get an initial mesh that I rework and retopologyze after - http://www.mecabricks.com/en/forum/topic/130

Otherwise, you can still try to take photos with different angles that you use as a background to build the 3D shape. However, this method is kinda hard for me.

Thanks for the tip! 😃

I've had trouble with the picture-taking approach as well, so thanks for letting me know that the 3D-scanner was is do-able!

Would you mind letting me know which scanner works decently but doesn't have an exorbitant price?

Avatar of Scrubs
Administrator

I have a Matter and Form scanner (https://matterandform.net/) it is good but maybe it's lacking a bit of definition and accuracy. I was originally looking at the einscan-s scanner (http://www.einscan.com/) which is working with white light instead of laser however it was over my budget. A bit sad because it seems to be way better.

[youtube]9GNG_yF_u3c[/youtube]

Otherwise you can try apps like 123D from autodesk but I'm not too sure how it would work with tiny LEGO pieces.

Thanks for the tip!

sorry if this is covered elsewhere in the forum, but are we permitted to make custom parts (i.e. non-standard, not in the lego official catalog) ? i have been wanting to build some lego models -- using as many standard bricks as possible, but would want to have a few small details customized. (some decal images, some tile textures, etc.) thanks for the awesome tool!

Avatar of Scrubs
Administrator

Hello. No currently I don't add custom parts or decorations. I'm already struggling with official catalog 😛
It was the case a few years ago just for a short period of time so you might see some floating around in very old models but they have been taken off the library now.

thanks for the reply. i understand. 😃 there is a lot to keep track of. i guess if i really want to embellish with details, i could build 99% in mecabricks and then export and add the 1% details in blender or something. i mostly just want it for rendering. take care!

Avatar of Scrubs
Administrator

Thank you. You are perfectly right. You can replace your decorated parts by existing ones in mecabricks and after export, replace the images by your own ones ready for rendering 😃

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