Mecabricks
Mecabricks is an online tool to build, render and animate Lego in a browser using Three.js. In 2012, Nicolas Jarraud (online alias "scrubs")[1] released the first version of Mecabricks. There have been updates with new features such as a tool to animate or the mosaic tool. Mecabricks is popular for its ability to export models directly to blender for realistic rendering and its large library of models.
Type of site | Lego building tool |
|---|---|
| Available in | French, English, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish |
| Owner | Nicolas Jarraud |
| Founder(s) | Nicolas Jarraud |
| URL | mecabricks.com |
| Launched | 18th March 2012 |
Some tools the workshop has are:[2]
- The mosaic tool will create pixel art from any image
- Flex tool to manipulate flexible objects such as string
- The snap tool can snap any parts into place
- Grouping parts together
- Toggling the visibility
- Selecting by color and/or piece type
- Box & multi-select to select large amounts of parts at once
- Duplicating parts
The the color of the pieces can be changed using a color palette which corresponds to the official Lego colors.
The workshop can export and import these file formats:
| Name | File extension |
|---|---|
| Lego Digital Designer | .lxf, .lxfml |
| LDraw | .ldr, .mpd, .io |
| Name | File extension | Export options |
|---|---|---|
| Blender add on | .zmbx | - |
| Collada | .dae | Logo on studs, Instances, Normals |
| Wavefront | .obj | Logo on studs |
| Stl | .stl | Logo on studs |
Rendering change
The Mecabricks render farm was custom built by Scrubs and allows rendering models in the browser by sending the model to the renderfarm.[3] After rendering is complete, the image is sent to Mecabricks where it can be downloaded. The render farm can be used for free, but users are only allowed 10 free renders a day under 0.7 million pixels. With rendering comes a few objects that can be of help, such as lamps, cameras and the volumetric box. Multiple frames can be rendered for rendering animations and other features such as scratches, fingerprints and dents can make the render(s) look even more realistic.
Animating change
Animation can be done in nodes, which is a separate area from the workshop view that can be toggled on or off. Different node trees are executed when the animation plays. The node trees themselves contain nodes which can determine a piece's position, material (color) and visibility over a timespan. It is also possible to instance large amounts of pieces.
Other settings such as frame rate and animation length can also be determined in nodes.
Prints change
Ttextures can be added to parts, which can be uploaded to free storage for these prints. These prints are then available and can be exported to blender using the blender addon. Other people can then save this print as their own if the model is public and open to workshop.
References change
- ↑ (Article) on rendering quality improvement and products of Nicolas Jarraud
- ↑ Brickset Article, Let's build in Mecabricks
- ↑ BrickSet Article, The Render Farm