Bring Lego into Blender with Bricker

Some time ago, I wrote about [Lego CAD](LINK TO MY LEGO ARTICLE) and how it's helping me document some of my own creations (or "MOC", as you'll sometimes see custom sets listed in digital Lego communities). The CAD advantage is precision. When you use Computer Aided Design (CAD) to build something in virtual space, you have the expectation that it can be built in the real world. While the Lego CAD applications I use don't have simulated physics to verify the structural integrity of my design, every brick is laid by me to mimic the model I've made in real life.

Lego bricks aren't just raw materials for design, though. They're also an aesthetic, as evident from Lego-themed video games and movies. If you're less concerned with precision, but you still want the look of Lego bricks, there's a great plugin for Blender that can convert your 3D models into Lego models with the click of a button.

Installing Bricker

You can buy Bricker for $65 USD from

BlenderMarket

, and it's licensed under the GPLv3. Paying for it helps fund development and support.

To install, launch Blender and click the **Edit** menu and select **Preferences**. In the Preferences pane, click the **Add-ons** tab on the left.

Installing an add-on in Blender [IMG]

Click the **Install** button in the top left of the **Add-ons** pane, and select the Bricker ZIP file when prompted.

Converting a 3D model to Lego bricks

Whether you've got the universal starting point of a plain gray cube or you have an elaborate model of either your own creation or that you've downloaded from a Blender model hub, you can give Bricker a try right after installation.

First, click on the model you want to convert into a Lego model. With your model selected, press the **N** key on your keyboard to open the properties panel. Click the **Bricker** properties tab, and click the **New Brick Model** button.

[IMG]

Now that you've added the model to Bricker, click the new **Brickify Object** button in the Bricker panel.

The default settings render a pretty blocky model, with mostly 2x10 bricks, no plates, and not much detail.

Bricks [IMG]

But there are plenty of options in the Bricker plugin for you to customize, and they show up in the Bricker properties panel once you brickify a model.

Adjusting settings [IMG]

The most important settings are in the **Model Settings** panel:

• **Brick Height** sets the height of each brick in the model. A larger setting here means a less detailed model because fewer bricks are used for the sculpt.

• **Split Model** makes every rendered brick an object you can move in Blender. Without this enabled, you model looks like lots of bricks, but acts as if all bricks are glued together.

• **Brick types** controls whether your sculpt is made of bricks, plates, both bricks and plates, tiles, and so on.

• **Max size** sets the maximum size for bricks and plates used in your sculpture.

• **Legal Bricks** Only ensures that only bricks based on real ones are used. For instance, enabling this prevents a 3x7 brick, or a 2x11 plate from being generated, because there are no such pieces in the Lego catalog (or at least the LDraw parts list).

In the **Detailing** panel, you can control whether the underside of the bricks are flat (which isn't very realistic, but "cheaper" to render) or whether they're detailed to mimic the underside of an actual Lego piece.

After changing a setting, you must click the **Update Model** button, near the top of the Bricker property panel, to re-render your sculpture.

Red dragon [IMG]

Brickify

Bricker is a fun stylistic plugin for Blender. While it probably won't your go-to tool for designing real sets, it's a great way to sculpt, draw, and animate with virtual Lego. If you've been putting off your Lego stop-motion movie *magnum opus*, now's the time to get started in the virtual world.