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Build Virtual Lego Models On Your Computer With Lego Digital Designer

via MakeUseOf.com by Jorge Sierra on 3/9/09

lego-logo LEGO is a timeless toy that generations have enjoyed around the world. Back in 2003, LEGO released a free software tool called LEGO Digital Designer. The easiest way to describe it is to say that it is a CAD tool that uses LEGO bricks to perform the design.

You can download LEGO Digital Designer for both Mac OS X and Windows. When you start it up, you'll see that you have the option to build a design using factory, mindstorms, or creator. For each of the three options, you can choose to use a starter design, free build from scratch, or open a model you've previously saved.

ldd-start-options

To start designing, you just select bricks from the brick palette and start placing them down on the surface with your mouse. The bricks are grouped together by type, so you can expand a group and then select the type and color of brick you want to use. Then just place it wherever you would like.

Placing the bricks can be a little tricky at times. Sometimes the bricks just don't seem to go where you want them to go. To help get things into the right place, you can move the view around with the right mouse button.

Just press and hold down the right mouse button, and then move the mouse around to rotate the view. If the design has fallen off the screen after you've rotated it, you can hold the shift key down while you also hold down the right mouse button. This allows you to move the entire viewport up, down, left, and right.

There are a number of selection tools available in the toolbox.

selection-tools

Single Selection tool – Select a single brick at a time
Multiple Selection tool – Select multiple bricks at a time
Connected Selection tool – Select a single brick, and all bricks connected to it will be selected as well
Color Selection tool – Select all bricks of the same color of the brick selected
Shape Selection tool – Select all bricks that have the same shape of the brick selected
Color and Shape Selection tool – Select bricks that are the same color and shape of the brick selected

There is also a LEGO Factory Gallery, where you can see designs that others have made and uploaded. You can download the designs and customize them any way you want. All of the designs in the gallery are free to download.

lego-gallery