Willem van Heemstra: Playing Well

LEGO... have you played with it?

Though LEGO make toys, they are not just a toy company. Though they are famous for their product, they are defined by their philosophy.

The world Lego comes from the Danish 'leg godt' which means 'playing well'. It also means 'I put together' in Latin.

It is both our name and our nature. "We believe that play is the essential ingredient in a child's growth and development. It grows the human spirit. It encourages imagination, conceptual thinking and creation."

Well, that said I think we should give LEGO a try and start modeling them into our virtual world ;o)

To do so I have downloaded a software package called LDGLite at http://www.ldraw.org

LDraw™ is an open standard for LEGO CAD programs that allow the user to create virtual LEGO models and scenes.

You can use it to document models you have physically built, create building instructions just like LEGO, render 3D photo realistic images of your virtual models and even make animations. The possibilities are endless.

Unlike real LEGO bricks where you are limited by the number of parts and colors, in LDraw nothing is impossible.

This is what a first import of an LDRAW file looks like in LDGLite (for Mac OS X in this case).

Click to enlarge: LDRAW of LEGO

The LDRAW file is actually a simple set of instructions that looks like this.

0 Untitled
0 Name: mini.dat
0 Author: CJMasi
0 Unofficial Model
0 ROTATION CENTER 0 0 0 1 "Custom" 
0 ROTATION CONFIG 0 1
1 4 10 0 10 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 2420.DAT
1 4 -10 0 10 0 0 -1 0 1 0 1 0 0 2420.DAT
1 4 -10 0 -10 -1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 -1 2420.DAT
1 4 10 0 -10 0 0 1 0 1 0 -1 0 0 2420.DAT
0 STEP
1 4 -30 -8 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 -1 0 0 3023.DAT
1 4 30 -8 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 -1 0 0 3023.DAT
1 0 0 -8 -40 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 122C01.DAT
1 0 0 -8 40 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 122C01.DAT
1 0 30 -2 -40 0 0 1 0 1 0 -1 0 0 3641.DAT
1 0 30 -2 40 0 0 1 0 1 0 -1 0 0 3641.DAT
1 0 -30 -2 40 0 0 1 0 1 0 -1 0 0 3641.DAT
1 0 -30 -2 -40 0 0 1 0 1 0 -1 0 0 3641.DAT
0 STEP
1 0 0 -16 40 0 0 1 0 1 0 -1 0 0 3022.DAT
1 0 0 -16 -50 -1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 -1 3023.DAT
1 14 0 -16 -30 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3829.DAT
0 STEP
1 4 -10 -32 -50 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 6091.DAT
1 4 10 -32 -50 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 6091.DAT
1 4 -30 -32 0 0 0 -1 0 1 0 1 0 0 4865.DAT
1 4 30 -32 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 -1 0 0 4865.DAT
1 0 0 -24 30 -1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 -1 3023.DAT
1 4 0 -24 50 -1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 -1 2436.DAT
0 STEP
1 0 0 0 -70 -1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 -1 3710.DAT
1 4 -30 -32 -50 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 2420.DAT
1 4 30 -32 -50 0 0 -1 0 1 0 1 0 0 2420.DAT
1 4 0 -32 40 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3020.DAT
0 STEP
1 4 -30 -24 -70 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4070.DAT
1 4 30 -24 -70 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4070.DAT
0 STEP
1 47 30 -14 -84 1 0 0 0 0 -1 0 1 0 4073.DAT
1 47 -30 -14 -84 1 0 0 0 0 -1 0 1 0 4073.DAT
1 47 0 -80 -30 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3823.DAT
1 47 0 -80 30 -1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 -1 3823.DAT
1 4 30 -32 -70 -1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 -1 3070.DAT
1 4 -30 -32 -70 -1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 -1 3070.DAT
0 STEP
1 15 0 -88 20 -1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 -1 4213.DAT
1 15 0 -88 -30 -1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 -1 4315.DAT
0

What can be (hardly) seen at the bottom of the previous screen-print in grey text is that the image is building up in STEPs, adding more LEGO parts to the model incrementally.

The .DAT files come standard when installing the software and the numbers give meaning to the selected LEGO pieces, like color size, etc.

For example, 3023.DAT contains the information for a plate of 1 x 2 knobs:

0 Plate  1 x  2
0 Name: 3023.dat
0 Author: James Jessiman
0 Original LDraw Part
0 LDRAW_ORG Part UPDATE 2002-03

0 BFC CERTIFY CCW

0 2002-05-07 KJM BFC Certification

1 16 0 4 0 1 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 1 stud3.dat

0 BFC INVERTNEXT
1 16 0 8 0 16 0 0 0 -4 0 0 0 6 box5.dat

4 16 20 8 10 16 8 6 -16 8 6 -20 8 10
4 16 -20 8 10 -16 8 6 -16 8 -6 -20 8 -10
4 16 -20 8 -10 -16 8 -6 16 8 -6 20 8 -10
4 16 20 8 -10 16 8 -6 16 8 6 20 8 10

1 16 0 8 0 20 0 0 0 -8 0 0 0 10 box5.dat

1 16 10 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 stud.dat
1 16 -10 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 stud.dat
0

NOTE: James Jessiman is the founder of LDRAW.

The website of ldraw.org has a whole collection of drawn LEGO parts (some of which never exist in the real world) such as this one:

3068bp60.dat - Tile 2 x 2 with Shell Logo Pattern
3068bp60 (uncoloured) [DAT]

SHELL tile in LDRAW

These are thus adjustable, opening up the World of LEGO!

A few more STEPs through the images shows the complete mini car.

Mini car in LEGO... actually in LDRAW.

Now... let's see if we could look at the car from different angles!

.. to be continued

SIDE NOTE: As we can see LEGO has been seriously / funfully applied for storyboarding films! Such as JAWS - the shark - by Steven Spielberg. LEGO released a Steven Spielberg Moviemaker Set in 2001. The set includes 433 LEGO pieces, a PC movie camera, editing software, a director's handbook, backdrops, and a user-friendly tutorial. While other LEGO sets are not necessary to the gainful use of this package, they could add substantially to the production aspect of a Moviemaker Set project. [no longer available]