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Subject: 
LEGO Factory impressions
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.cad
Date: 
Fri, 26 Aug 2005 04:14:20 GMT
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Well, I’ve built my first LDD model (a Railroad Crossing sign) and uploaded it to LEGO.com. Some initial impressions:

1. LDD is very frustrating if you’re trying to do anything even slightly nonstandard with the parts. In my example, I want to attach the crossing arms, which are rotated at 45 degrees, to an unrotated 1x1 brick (attached to a lantern brick). This appears impossible. I spent probably 10 minutes futzing with this last step, which I earlier did in about 30 seconds in Bricksmith. I finally gave up, and just put the crossing “close enough” but not actually attached.

2. The “instructions” that LDD generates are not very good. I checked the “Build Up From Base” option in Preferences, and it still had me positioning three parts floating in midair in step 3, to be connected to other things in step 4. From this I conclude that the LEGO software engineering team has been operating from a top-secret space station in orbit about the Earth, or possibly Mars.

3. The part selection is a little frustrating too; it doesn’t even have any 1x1 black bricks, nor brown lantern brick. I had to stick a black lantern brick at the top of my brown post, which looks rather dumb. I know, they’re planning to add more parts, but I thought they’d at least pick a handful of useful colors, and make sure all the standard bricks are provided in them. That doesn’t seem to be the case, at least not yet.

4. Perhaps the most disappointing realization: my 13-piece model costs $18.95 from S@H. Yes, it also comes with 401 extra parts, but I didn’t want 401 extra parts — I wanted my 13-piece model.

The new LEGO Factory is an impressive beginning, and the poor instructions really aren’t a big deal. But the other limitations above conspire to really limit what we’ll be able to do with this.

Best,
– Joe



Message has 7 Replies:
  Re: LEGO Factory impressions
 
What the? They're not going to come out on top with that sorta setup. 40 bucks if the kid just wants a small animal-thingy? No way'll they convince their mumsies. Here's hopin' they change it. -Stefan- (19 years ago, 26-Aug-05, to lugnet.cad, FTX)
  Re: LEGO Factory impressions
 
(...) A few nits of my own: The cursor no longer changes to reflect what tool you are using. In 1.3, if you pressed 'd' for the clone tool, the cursor switched to a little version of the clone icon. Now the only indication is that the current tool's (...) (19 years ago, 26-Aug-05, to lugnet.cad, FTX)
  Re: LEGO Factory impressions
 
(...) Today I downloaded the Lego Factory software for the first time. I tried playing with it a little but I was disappointed in the parts selection. Based on what was just mentioned in this thread..... ...If I say wanted to build a model with 24 (...) (19 years ago, 26-Aug-05, to lugnet.cad, FTX)
  Re: LEGO Factory impressions
 
(...) snip I'd love to share my impressions, unfortunately the new version doesn't run on my machine. :( The previous one did, but apparently the software has outgrown me. And after BrickFest, there's no way I can afford to upgrade my hardware, at (...) (19 years ago, 26-Aug-05, to lugnet.cad, FTX)
  Re: LEGO Factory impressions
 
(...) I ran in to that too! Your right! On the arm on my Little Blue Bot, there are 1x3 slopes in the center section of the elbow, but when the section I am adding a part to has an angle to it, like putting a part on a section of a model that has (...) (19 years ago, 26-Aug-05, to lugnet.cad, FTX)
  Re: LEGO Factory impressions (US Only?)
 
(...) Did I miss an announcement that said Lego factory was going to be US only for a bit? With my location set to the UK it refuses to tell me the price of any models, but works if I change it to the US. C'est la vie, Only to be expected I suppose, (...) (19 years ago, 26-Aug-05, to lugnet.cad, FTX)
  Re: LEGO Factory impressions
 
In lugnet.cad, Joe Strout wrote: <snip> (...) I guess it goes back to the intended audience. I get way too frustrated trying to use it (the no movement in x and y kills me). However, my 8 yo son used it for over 30 minutes to build a model he (...) (19 years ago, 26-Aug-05, to lugnet.cad, FTX)

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