Subject:
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Re: Inferior colour rendering in this year's instructions
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Fri, 17 Jan 2003 22:47:17 GMT
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Viewed:
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631 times
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In lugnet.general, Huw Millington writes:
> This year all the instructions have been produced using this software, by
> the looks of things, because the main visible difference is the shading and
> top-left light source that 'illuminates' the models and thus creates
> different shades on each face of the bricks. (excuse my non-technical CAD
> terms, I am no expert)
I've noticed that it tends to be particularly bad on slopes. If the sloped
side is facing the light source (upper right, IIRC) then it is rendered about
five shades too light. Rounded pieces tend to look really weird, too. In my
opinion they should turn off lighting and render everything in flat colors.
LEGO needs to make it a goal to have the color on the page match the
color of the brick as closely as possible.
One odd thing: this new system sometimes draws black pieces as dark grey with
black lines (almost indistinguishable from dark grey pieces) and sometimes as
black with white lines. It seems to depend on what part is being drawn.
(technic pins with white outlines, plates with black outlines, for example.)
I've seen both styles mixed within a single step. Weird. In my opinion they
should make all black parts black with white outlines. Save the dark grey for
dark grey parts, now that dark grey has become such a common color for LEGO
bricks.
> Now, I don't know if it's just me, but it seems to be a retrograde step. On
> several occasions I have had difficulty telling the difference between white
> and light grey and between black and dark grey.
I've had the problem quite a bit. The lighting may make the instructions look
more "realistic," but that is NOT a good thing! A few years ago some sets (the
Mickey Mouse sets, I think, or maybe it was the dinosaurs) used photographs
instead of drawings and it was horrible. At least with this new CAD system,
it's only the colors which are messed up... photographs introduced perspective,
which is not something you want in instructions.
It gave me some trouble in two or three places in the 10030 Imperial Star
Destroyer. A few times it looked like I should use white pieces (such as 1x1
cones) but luckily I knew that all the white pieces were for use in the RBR
model (which probably should have been built first to avoid that problem). But
I did have a few scares where I was looking for something in dark grey but it
was supposed to be black, or vice-versa.
> The benefits this software brings to the artist are apparently considerable,
> so I guess we're stuck with it. Yet another subtle example of LEGO quality
> deteriorating...
Well, if they can get the color issues worked out the new system will be pretty
good. It looks like it's a bit more flexible in terms of what "camera angles"
can be used. The old system only allowed for a few fixed angles, I think. (My
guess is that it wasn't really a 3D system, but a system which used 2D drawings
of pieces at different angles .. a few times I got the impression that some
parts were only available when using certain camera angles.)
LEGO has gone though these kinds of changes before .. the 1984-1986 castle sets
show some of variety in the intructions. For example, there were changes in how
black was represented .. at least one set of instructions had a diagram showing
that black w/white outlines meant the same thing as dk grey w/black outlines.
(oddly enough one of the same problems showing up in the current system!)
Also, some sets had odd shading of rounded parts (such as helmets) although
they looked hand-drawn. Again, an interesting similarity to current problems.
They sorted that out pretty quickly and went on to produce 15 years of good
solid instructions .. we're just going through another period of adjustment (a
bit bigger and more drawn-out this time) and I'm confident that they will sort
out the problems. (Much as they have with packaging.)
> [1] I work under halogen lights, so I don't think my local lighting is an
> issue.
I've worked under incandescent, flourescent, and natural sunlight .. it didn't
matter. The colors used in the instructions are bad any way you look at them.
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Inferior colour rendering in this year's instructions
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| While at LEGOLAND Windsor last year on 'business' I picked up a copy of the internal employee newspaper 'LEGO Life'. In it was an article about a new CAD system being introduced to create instruction diagrams, called 3D Vision. This year all the (...) (22 years ago, 17-Jan-03, to lugnet.general)
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