Lego CAD software?

[jhuynh]

I hope I'm putting this in the right section.. otherwise, moderators.. please move it.

I was wondering what's a popular Lego CAD software that's up-to-date and easy-to-use. It'll be quite useful to build a model on software first then go out and by the parts that you need for it.

Please reply with Lego CAD software that you use along with a few pros/cons.

Thanks!

[SpaceViking]

Two of the best options are: Lego Digital Designer (LDD) and Mike's Lego CAD (MLCAD).

LDD is produced by Lego, and integrates well with the online pick-a-brick store. The downside is that the parts selection is limited, as only PaB parts are in inventory.

MLCAD is much more versatile, in that one can use any part including historical/out-of-production parts. It takes a bit more effort to get it working, however. The parts are pulled from ldraw.org, so that needs to be installed first, and then MLCAD needs to be configured to find the parts.
http://mlcad.lm-software.com/e_default.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

One advantage to having LDraw installed is that most other Lego CAD/redering programs (pov ray tracing for example) use it as well.

So, depends on where you plan to pull parts from to build your CAD models. If its from Lego's PaB, then LDD is a good choice. If from your own collection or Bricklink, the MLCAD is worth the effort.

HTH

[vynsane]

LDD is produced by Lego, and integrates well with the online pick-a-brick store. The downside is that the parts selection is limited, as only PaB parts are in inventory.

This is untrue - using other 'building themes' you can access a larger selection of pieces. The 'DesignbyMe' theme is the most limited, but using 'LEGO Universe' building mode adds the ability to paint the pieces any color you want, and you can also unlock 'LDD Extended' mode which gives you even more pieces and colors to choose from (including some legacy colors like the old grays). Take a look over here for more info on LDD and how to unlock 'Extended' mode.

LDD is my preferred program as I have a Mac and the pickings are slim for that platform. For some reason most open-source LEGO programs are written for Windows.

[jhuynh]

Awesome! Thanks for the info.

I'll probably give LDD a try, as I have both a Mac and a PC to use. I'm assuming saved files could be transferred between machines.

If there are more suggestions and/or tips, please post. It'll be greatly appreciated..

Thanks!

[vynsane]

Not a problem!

I'm assuming saved files could be transferred between machines.

Yes, LDD .lxf files should be transferrable between platforms.

[SpaceViking]

LDD is produced by Lego, and integrates well with the online pick-a-brick store. The downside is that the parts selection is limited, as only PaB parts are in inventory.

This is untrue - using other 'building themes' you can access a larger selection of pieces. The 'DesignbyMe' theme is the most limited, but using 'LEGO Universe' building mode adds the ability to paint the pieces any color you want, and you can also unlock 'LDD Extended' mode which gives you even more pieces and colors to choose from (including some legacy colors like the old grays). Take a look over here for more info on LDD and how to unlock 'Extended' mode.

LDD is my preferred program as I have a Mac and the pickings are slim for that platform. For some reason most open-source LEGO programs are written for Windows.

Interesting. I'm glad to hear that LDD has more parts now. I haven't looked at it since before 'LEGO Universe' was released.

As for platform, I run linux almost exclusively, and haven't had any trouble getting open source Lego CAD programs to run, including MLCAD (which I run in 'wine', the windows emulator). So, I would expect getting things to run on a Mac would be possible, but probably not as easy as LDD.

[xSergio]

Hi,
SR 3D Builder is another good CAD software with advanced features for technic models.
You can find it here : http://sr3dbuilder.altervista.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Don't miss the videos...

Sergio