LEGO’s May mini build was a Blue Jay. I thought he’d look better in a tree which I modeled in LDD. I rendered the scene with POV-Ray 3.7RC7.
It is a strange time for me. For years, I have run my web site locally as a way to test out new designs and programs. I have used that site as the home for my catalog of LEGO parts and colors. Unfortunately, the computer that housed that catalog failed and I still haven’t gone through the trouble of reinstalling Apache. While working on a recent project, that decision is becoming a problem. Today I decided to do something to correct that. I uploaded my L-Bricks catalog to my hosted web site. Now I can find the names I need to put parts and colors into my POV-Ray renderings.
Another great build from the architecture series rendered with POV-Ray. I was trying to add some back light, but I'm not sure I'm happy with the results. It took 3 days to render and it still has anti-alias artifacts. Overall, it looks pretty good though. Besides the title brick, I only had to model a few new pieces: the fence pieces and the 4 stud brick on top. The tap on top is actually from the LGEO library since I was too lazy to build it myself.
I was reading this article from Brickset about a scanned Bricks and Pieces No. 2 from Spring '75. It was an interesting read and a fun look into LEGO's past. I especially liked the "What is it?" article, a puzzle of instructions laid out in layers. I was pretty sure I knew what it was, but I just had to give it a go in LDD to verify. I was right, it was a Panda! Not content with just a simple screenshot, I exported it into POV-Ray. I think it came out very nicely.
Ran across this 1983 Class Space set while perusing Peeron. It is a pretty simple model so it was nice quick project to build and render. Unfortunately, I didn’t have part 4360 (Black Minifig Accessory Camera with Side Sight) already. Fortunately, the piece had been modeled as part of the LGEO library so I used it. Some days I think I should just give up modeling my own.
Ran across these great seasonal models perusing Brickset. They are simple yet effective, really showing how LEGO models can shine with such few bricks. The Jack’o’lantern is just perfect and I love the use of the cheese slopes as teeth. I liked the yellow eyes of the bat. I didn’t bother modeling the ghost. It is a good model, but not enough to model.