collision detection is computationally expensive as well as annoying when using unorthodox building techniques. Though drag-and-drop would be nice.

A building system like in LDD probably never (It's one of the reason I started my own software as I really disliked it). However, an improved version of the existing snap feature yes. (Did you have a look at this tutorial: https://youtu.be/AsDczg1pOFc).

Like UltraHex said, I'm not big fan of collision detection as it is pretty restrictive in terms of building possibilities. You need hacks in LDD to sometimes position parts or to achieve "illegal" techniques.

But building in LDD is much quicker. I can't imagine building very big structures here with the current system... Will youadd a LDD import feature? 😃

It's not.
Mecabrick is much quicker than LDD. All you need is a hand on your keyboard and the other on the mouse.
Your finger on CTRL and D for quickly duplicate groupe of object, switch between the rotation tool and the translation tools with M and use the snap point on the brick a lot.
You can build really quickly in Mecabrick, much quicker than in LDD when often your fight with the stupid snap system who's not gonna let you put your piece where you want.
Building something with an angle is also a nightmare with LDD, it's pretty much impossible.
Mecabrick allow much more freedom, the only downside is the missing piece, but Scrubs does a really good job and add brick regularly.
It took me a day to adapt to the change, and now i can't imagine to go back to LDD.

But let's take for example the new Star Wars Dagobah mini set. With instructions I'd be able to build it in LDD in 2 minutes or less whereas here it'd take me 10 minutes or more 😕

Btw can you select the point which the camera rotates around in mecabricks? In LDD it works by right clicking a part and if you press shit and the right mouse button at the same time you can select the rotation point by dragging with the mouse. That's a really useful feature but maybe it's already gere and I just didn't notice it 😛

Long ago, when forums weren't on Mecabricks yet, when nobody was talking about renderings. We had this:

https://lh5.ggpht.com/vKAvISBM3IyjpqZ_2cjcQd-pePCWqixKLThFppTL77KAZw5Yv5J7fMXyYNHuM14DXpyAMmdueDKvFlWLNBejCRswj1fd8cMk-782

Mecabricks 1.0.
-No snapping tool
-No pivot tool and no pivots at all! 😆
-No guidance on alignment or movement.
-No search in parts.
-No password recovery for lost accounts. 😆

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v😮3i4MvTFLrs
Warning - It's a French vid. 😛

I think I'm talking about end 2013 but I seem to be talking about summer 2012. When Mecabricks still was an experiment. That time, LDD was faster. But now, you might consider Mecabricks faster than LDD. Especially when having more difficult builds. Oh yeah, I've also suggested that collision system. But then bricks had to be placed really corrently and math was involved. The tool was too precise a long time ago.

We got more functions like that good snapping tool. It gets better and better every day, thanks to that one guy who's probably programming all day. If you're still finding LDD easier then I'm fine with it. I just want to say. Mecabricks = mecabricks and LDD = LDD.

If you're having trouble with placing bricks in difficult locations, then you are in one of the 2 cases: You don't know what the snapping tool is or the brick has no pivot points yet. 😛

But what if you have a very big model e.g. a rocket and you want to place a brick at the bottom but it's really far away because the rocket is very big. You'll need a focus function then. Especially if you have to click so tiny dots like with the snapping tool...
I just tested it and if you scroll out the snapping points stay the same size but they start to overlap each other.

Zooming in and zooming out 😄

That again costs time...

If a pivot point is selected, the new part/duplicate part will appear at this point. You don't need to drag the new part from the origin of the scene to the position you want it too.

I really like the ability to rotate parts with the keyboard arrows.
Is it possible to move them with the keyboard ? I don't think so. That would be a great addition

By the way, when I hit CTRL+D to duplicate in CHROME it opens the "ADD NEW FAVORITE DIALOG". It's the same shortcut. Quite annoying

Except that, I think MECABRICKS is the best LEGO CAD so far. I can build what I want very quickly !

No need to press CTRL+D to duplicate. The D key is sufficient 😉

Regarding moving parts with the keyboard, it would be very easy to add. I just need to know which keys you would like to use for that.
I would need 6 keys (or combinations) for the 3 axes + 2 others to rotate around the Z axis (X and Y are achieved using the 4 arrows).

I was sure that the SHORTCUT to duplicate was CTRL+D like in BLENDER ! Sorry.

For the part moving shortcuts, the best would be the numpad but I see that some keys are already used.

what about something like this ?

NUMPAD 4 = left on X axis
NUMPAD 6 = right on X axis

NUMPAD 8 = up on Y axis
NUMPAD 2 = down on Y axis

PAGE UP = up on Z axis
PAGE DOWN = down on Z axis

I actually like it. I really want to add the rotation around Z too. Any ideas for these 2 keys?

What about HOME and END ?
I don't see anything better

I hate my Apple keybord without the numpad... -_-

I had a wireless keyboard when I bought my new iMac in January but it is still in the box! I still use my old French Apple keyboard with numpad and cable 😉

Arrow keys would be a possible option as well, I guess?

The 4 arrow keys are already used for rotation around the Y and X axes.