
BrickInstructions.com: Lego booklet site - fritz_vd
http://lego.brickinstructions.com
======
100ideas
On the topic of LEGO instructions, LEGO released a surprisingly sophisticated
CAD tool called LEGO Digital Designer[1] way back in 2004. It contains 3D
models of basically all LEGO pieces and modeling tools for creating arbitrary
assemblies out of them. Users can snap pieces together, specify joints, and
pose various parts. The software can also generate assembly instructions on-
the-fly for any given design.

LEGO also runs a website where designs can be shared, for instance "Computer
Problems"[2].

Here are some screen shots of the software in action[3] and the source of the
design file[4] - ".lxf" files are just zip archives containing a preview png
image and an xml file specifying the LEGO parts and their location in the
assembly.

It would be interesting to know how this assembly planner was implemented: how
does the 'compiler' decide on the order of operations? It seems to have
heuristics for breaking the design into a series discrete of submodules that
can be assembled independently, then combined at the end, as opposed to a
simple linear strategy. Presumably the shape of the assembly tree is optimized
for human "execution" \- not too broad, nor too deep.

In particular, I wonder what kind of human the instructions are optimized for,
if at all: children, or adults? In other words, are there some assembly
strategies that adults prefer (more complex subassemblies for instance) that
children are less successful at following?

\---

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Digital_Designer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Digital_Designer)

[2]: [http://ldd.us.lego.com/en-
us/gallery/51887f3e-1474-4411-9dcb...](http://ldd.us.lego.com/en-
us/gallery/51887f3e-1474-4411-9dcb-677d704ceb1c)

[3]: [http://imgur.com/a/hgeb7](http://imgur.com/a/hgeb7)

[4]:
[https://gist.github.com/anonymous/1b333df3b864c48bfa48](https://gist.github.com/anonymous/1b333df3b864c48bfa48)

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jluxenberg
LEGO's official site seems a much better source:
[https://wwwsecure.us.lego.com/en-
us/service/buildinginstruct...](https://wwwsecure.us.lego.com/en-
us/service/buildinginstructions)

~~~
douche
I always liked Peeron[1]. They have a great selection of the old instructions
booklets scanned in, and half the time I've lost my old instructions or my
nostalgia-driven Brickset order didn't come with them.

[1] [http://www.peeron.com/](http://www.peeron.com/)

~~~
Larrikin
Is the linked site using their scans? They seem to be about the same lowish
quality

~~~
douche
The quality for Peeron isn't always the best - it's very much still a Web 1.0
site, and so they aren't full-resolution, HD scans, just whatever was uploaded
at the time.

But what I like about it is that it has pretty good coverage of what is for me
"classic" Lego. The official site in the parent looks like it only goes back
into the 90s, and is missing a lot of sets.

EDIT: read too fast the first time. It does kind of look like the same set of
scans for the linked site, although they have coverage for newer stuff as
well.

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gburt
Isn't this a pretty significant copyright infringement?

~~~
colinbartlett
In the same way that publishing the owners manual for the Apple II is a
copyright infringement.

LEGO has zero incentive to crack down on this since the only way you can buy
the book is with the set itself. Allowing fans to relive old sets is in no way
hindering sales. Most likely then opposite.

~~~
johansch
All (?) of these images seem to be rendered from the PDFs that are available
for free download at lego.com though.

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kbatten
With the explosion of 3d printing I would love to see what Lego does to
capture this market. I can already print lego clone pieces. My niece doesn't
really know about intellectual property, she know about mashing plastic
together.

They can be the leader, but the window that they can take advantage of this is
closing quickly. A 300 dollar printer id not that big of an investment and
once you have it you can print a big item for about a dollar in plastic.

~~~
dlp211
The difference is that 3d printed piece will hold up for what, a year if that.
There is a reason that Lego cost as much as they do, and it isn't because they
are greedy. The tolerances on the blocks that they produce are beyond tight
and their blocks are guaranteed to work basically for life. Ever try
megablocks, that is what 3d printing your own pieces is going to be like...at
best.

Lego is something that was passed down to me and I have passed it onto my own
children and the amount of blocks we have continue to grow.

~~~
kbatten
Can you give evidence to it only lasting a year? I print in PETG which is the
same plastic used by Coke to create their 2 liter bottles. Even "if" it only
lasts a year, the cost of the plastic is cents so I'll just print another.

I'll pass down the schematics which are more durable than even plastic.

~~~
tehbeard
If you print another brick, what happens to the old brick? Another piece of
trash for landfill?

~~~
kbatten
PLA is easy to recycle, though as I said I mostly print PET. That does seem to
be recyclable though I question the cost/benefit of doing so since the
recycling itself has cost and it may weaken the plastic.

Personally I have a bucket filled with the scraps till I can figure out what I
want to do. But I know I've thrown away far more plastic packaging than I
waste printing so I don't stress about it.

Nevertheless your point is valid and needs to be considered as 3d printing
becomes mainstream.

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javajosh
You can buy instructions on bricklink.com, too, if you like paper. BL is a bit
of an old beast of a site, but it's got (by far) the biggest collection of
LEGO stuff on the planet - and I include LEGO Inc, in that.

------
freshyill
I love this site. My parents saved all my early '90s pirate sets, but they
eventually got pretty beat in cardboard boxes. Now, my kids get to enjoy the
Black Seas Barracuda too.

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mcphage
Ah, phooie, no instructions for the Architecture Studio :-(

Edit: okay, they don't have a PDF, but they do have page by page scans. So
that's something, at least.

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nullsocket
What, no SW UCS kits? Lame!

They have the original Technic sets though, that's pretty awesome.

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8ig8
I wonder what SEO keywords they're targeting with that Welcome copy?

