Problem solved.

LuxRender is freakin' amazing. It took me a bit to get it all figure out, but in the end, with just 10 samples, I got this in just under 15 minutes. Yes, it was done on my GPU, which is why I now prefer LuxRender over Cycles.

Last edited by Littlebrick (January 16, 2015 (10:29pm))

Yeah, I am using a bevel modifier. Since it's so much simpler to use it, I'd be all for finding a way of getting around that pillow effect. I imagine it could be done by tweaking some settings around, perhaps adding a few more lights.

Last edited by Littlebrick (January 16, 2015 (11:57pm))

Another renders:

Built them in LeoCad... If you would have built them in LDD you could use the LDD to POVRay converter, which is super simple, however not too realistic, though, it may suit your purpose for backgrounds.

If you want to, you can save your LeoCad models as .LDR, use the LDR Blender importer to import them into Blender, change the materials on each color brick to match that of my custom LEGO shaders (which are slightly more accurate and realistic than PoVRay, though, they may need some tweaking) light the scene, and render them in Cycles. Though, Cycles is slow on computers without NVidia graphics cards.

Alternatively, pay me a hundred bucks and I'll do it for you.

Nah, just kidding about the hundred bucks. I may be able to do them if you later this week or early next week, if you cannot figure out how to render them yourself.

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"Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." - 1 Corinthians 10:31b

That is a method, but importing the raw LDR files does have it's benefits. Though, for everyday use, yes, I'd say export as an OBJ. I forgot all about it.

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"Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." - 1 Corinthians 10:31b

Well, in older versions (2.49), imported LDR files treated same pieces as Linked Duplicates, thereby linking their mesh with each other.  A change to one piece applied to all duplicate pieces (triangulate faces, subdivide, etc.).  But that benefit seems to not have carried over to 2.70.

I usually, after building in MLCAD or LeoCAD, reduce the model to 1 of each needed piece, import to Blender, and rebuild the model using Duplicate Linked.  Of course, I compiled a Blender file of all the pieces I've used in the past so I don't have to start from scratch on tweaking pieces I've used before.

I really wish this was still a thing. I've figured out how to go about linking them back up in a rather efficient and easy way, but if it was done automatically it would save a bunch of time.

Sounds interesting, Littlebrick. A library of high quality bricks would be nice. I usually use LDraw, but have to modify every brick myself, so having one already done would be great. We could use LDraw as a base, and just make them high quality and improve the meshes. That would help with consistency and size.

I am able to contribute my LEGO stud model, which is beveled, and has the LEGO logo already on it (I'll get the link soon).

Question about modeling the "high quality" bricks: are you going to bevel them, or subsurf them? I prefer Bevel (a 1 level bevel), that way they are not too terribly high poly in case you are only using them for backgrounds. A subsurf works well over a bevel too.

I may also be able to help with materials and rendering since I have a powerful GPU. (I have made some photorealistic renders in the past, so I have some leftover textures and materials that help with realism). I have little time to model lately, but I can contribute a very accurate minifigure modeled (rigged both ways, similar to yours). I also have a LEGO Friends mini-doll modeled.

I can pull up links in a little bit, I have to sort out my folder and upload the files.

Last edited by rioforce (February 21, 2015 (01:19pm))

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"Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." - 1 Corinthians 10:31b

I threw together this brick today. It's beveled (I tried fake bevels through normal maps, but they didn't work out, so I'm going to do some more experimentation). It's also subsurfed to make the bevels looks smoother. I used a Normal Map for the LEGO logo on the studs.

(please pardon the artifacts around the studs, I don't know what happened)

To enhance the workflow of a 3D LEGO brick library, we could use a common stud model with a built-in UV map and normal map. We should also use a common bevel amount for the outsides and tubes of bricks to keep consistency. I think I used 0.03 with 2 segments for the outsides of the brick (I forgot about the stud, but will be redoing this, and writing down the values next time). I do think that the bevel on the edges of the brick are a bit too strong though, it looks too smooth compared to a real LEGO brick.

I am also going to be taking a lot of reference images of bricks so we can make sure we get things as accurate as possible, detail-wise.

Also, I have a question for the moderators:

Why is this topic in Post-Production? This is barely a post production topic, I'd say it was more of a Production topic, but since it concerns Software, maybe it should be in Software & Hardware?

Last edited by rioforce (February 22, 2015 (02:55pm))

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"Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." - 1 Corinthians 10:31b