Foi outra das notícias LEGO do dia de ontem, o anúncio por parte da empresa a informar que iria deixar de suportar/dar apoio ao LEGO Digital Designer, um programa criado em 2004 pelo grupo LEGO que permitia aos fãs criarem os seus modelos de forma digital, podendo até carregar as suas criações para plataformas de partilha que a LEGO disponibilizou e até adquirir as peças de modo a tornarem reais os seus modelos.
Como exemplo destes programas, tivemos o LEGO Factory, uma tema que durou entre 2005 e 2009 e do qual resultaram 7 conjuntos oficiais, sendo o mais conhecido o 10183 - Hobby Trains, e que posteriormente foi pelo programa Design byME, o tal que permitia carregar modelos e comprar as peças via LEGO necessárias para a construção dos mesmos, mas que foi abandonado em 2012 pelo motivo de as criações submetidas não cumprirem os critérios de qualidade/estabilidade da LEGO.
Em 2014, ainda quando o Bricklink era independente, foi criado o Studio, o programa digital da plataforma que permitia (aparentemente de uma forma mais simples e intuitiva), a criação de modelos digitais, a sua renderização, instruções e descarregar/converter automaticamente para carrinhos de compras no bricklink as peças necessárias para construir o modelo.
Para quem não conhece bem este mundo de construção digital, aconselho que ouçam o episódio 20 do Podcast "Conversas em Construção", onde abordamos diversos programas do género e damos a nossa opinião sobre os mesmos.
E por aí, utilizam algum destes programas? Qual gostam mais? LDD ou Studio? O que acham da medida? Estas alterações terão início a 31 de Janeiro, depois disso o LDD poderá continuar a ser transferido, mas não será actualizado e conterá diversas mensagens de erro.
Fica aqui a press release oficial, em inglês:
LEGO BrickLink Studio to replace LEGO Digital Designer as the LEGO Group’s official 3D building app
The LEGO Digital Designer website will shut down at the end of January. BrickLink Studio welcomes LEGO Digital Designer users.
Billund, Denmark – January 12th, 2022: Today, the LEGO Group announces that BrickLink Studio will replace LEGO Digital Designer as the official virtual LEGO building software going forward. The LEGO Digital Designer (LDD) website will close on January 31st, after which time LDD will no longer be available for download. While downloaded versions of the LDD application will continue to work, people are encouraged to download BrickLink Studio, import their LDD files, and use Studio for 3D LEGO building files, and use Studio for 3D LEGO building.
LEGO Digital Designer was released in 2004 as the LEGO Group’s 3D building tool. LDD pioneered real-time rendering of LEGO bricks, virtual brick connectivity, and the compact LEGO Exchange file format (LXF) which made LEGO models built in LDD light and portable. It has played a prominent role in various offerings, from LEGO Factory, LEGO Design ByME, LEGO video games and movies. Now after almost twenty years since its conception and eighteen years in distribution, LEGO Digital Designer will retire and pass the mantle to BrickLink Studio as the officially supported and maintained 3D building application.
"Our initial vision for LEGO Digital Designer back in 2002 was to make building on a computer accessible and fun for children – to play with and share their creations online.” said Ronny Scherer, producer of the first-generation LEGO Digital Designer. “I am so impressed with how the community of creators has evolved. Builders—enthusiasts and professionals alike—have used LDD in wonderful and unexpected ways. They took ownership and created the most amazing virtual LEGO models and have grown the virtual building ecosystem. I am so proud of the team behind LDD and the greater virtual building community. They have truly inspired a generation of digital LEGO creators.”
Tormod Askildsen, head of AFOL Engagement for the LEGO Group, has been intrigued by digital building since using LDD to bring alternate model instructions for the LEGO Factory Hobby Train set to market in 2007. “When the LEGO Group acquired BrickLink,” Askildsen said, “one of the things that impressed and inspired us was their purposeful development of the Studio software. For digital building to be not only a nice feature for some, but a meaningful part of many people’s LEGO building experience, it must be an integrated and useful part of both the design, the building and the sharing experience. The talented team behind Studio see this clearly and continue relentlessly to further innovate and improve the Studio experience”.
In 2014, then-independent BrickLink created the BrickLink Studio software as a free virtual LEGO building tool. Studio was built on the industry-standard Unity gaming engine and is designed to integrate with the BrickLink Marketplace. Its .io file format is based on the fan community-developed LDraw standard with part connectivity data added to give digital bricks clutch power. Users can import LEGO models built in LDD, LDraw, and other popular tools. Studio includes useful features like model stability checking, built-in photo-realistic rendering, and an integrated instructions maker.
“Studio was created because at BrickLink, there is a great belief in how digital LEGO building could unlock true potential of everyone’s creativity by lowering the entry barriers and motivating people to inspire each other,” says Casper Thingholm, Head of BrickLink. “Going forward, the Studio team will continue to focus on making digital building as intuitive as physical building, and encourage even more builders to share their creations to inspire and help each other.”
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