What steps are taken when you plan on designing a build?

[TheOrcKing]

Another builders question from me. I'm curious to hear what more experienced builders and MOC'ers do when they wish to design a build.

Do you start off with a sketch on paper and/or design it virtually with a CAD program?

How about coming up with a list for parts; do you create a little checklist and go down the line?

Do you research to see what currently available sets contain most of the parts needed, just buy what you need through Bricklink, or maybe visit the Pick-a-Brick wall at a nearby Lego Store?

Whatever it may be, I'd like to hear about your methodical processes.

[TheOrcKing]

No custom builders here then? Nobody has tried to design something themself?

*sigh* Well, I tried.

[spener90]

I'm working on one right now.  Not sure what it will end up as, but I have far to many pieces to not do something.

[spener90]

If people like designs, check this out!

 

http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/295233

[@rtisan]

Not enough time anymore. I used to plan thinking up an idea, figuring out the scale I wanted to go by, figuring out the overall layout/look, colours, then individuals pieces by quantity. Been wanting to get back into building for over 2 years now, but just hasn`t happened yet. Investing and the online community is the only thing keeping my childhood love of Lego alive at this point 

[TheOrcKing]

I'm working on one right now.  Not sure what it will end up as, but I have far to many pieces to not do something.

Same here. So many parts acquired over the years, it would be a crime not to build something. Looking forward to....whatever it turns out to be!

 

If people like designs, check this out!

 

http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/295233

Ah, so there is the MOCpages profile for the person who built the inside of the Tardis I posted in the Doctor Who thread. I saw that rendition of his for the Daily Planet. Impressive as heck!

 

Not enough time anymore. I used to plan thinking up an idea, figuring out the scale I wanted to go by, figuring out the overall layout/look, colours, then individuals pieces by quantity. Been wanting to get back into building for over 2 years now, but just hasn`t happened yet. Investing and the online community is the only thing keeping my childhood love of Lego alive at this point 

I can relate to seeming like there never is time to build a thing. I'm lucky to build something straight from the box with everything laid out for me.

[@rtisan]

I can relate to seeming like there never is time to build a thing. I'm lucky to build something straight from the box with everything laid out for me.

Well, here`s to spending more time building! *raises glass* 

[TheOrcKing]

On ‎10‎/‎9‎/‎2013 at 8:07 PM, @rtisan said:

Well, here`s to spending more time building! *raises glass* 

I'll drink to that! Cheers!

[justafrog]

Our custom builds are small (dance game, small diorama scenes, etc.) but here's our process:

 

1. The Idea. Very simple, we have a billion of them. :-D

2. Mr. Frog designs on Lego CAD software (I don't know which one he's currently using, he's tried at least two.)

3. Mr. Frog shows me design, I make suggestions, we engage in largely friendly and mostly bloodless design "discussions", come to agreement.

4. He hands me shopping list for prototype, I sometimes faint over the prices of some of the parts he's using, we determine if we can go cheaper on anything, sometimes yes, sometimes no. Availability of chosen parts is even more important, since the ultimate goal is to take the custom into production and sell it many times.

5. I order or pull from our building box or inventory the parts we have agreed on.

6. When parts arrive, we sit down and build the model. At this point there are generally several design changes because we're EXTREMELY fussy that the model not only look great, but that it feels sturdy and "substantial".

7. Mr. Frog takes the prototype, with its design changes, back to the CAD and alters the design. Hands over new parts list, #4 is sometimes repeated.

8. I order parts for our first production run (generally 20 units).

9. While waiting for parts to arrive, I start working on any necessary decals. I create my initial vision, and my family then tells me where I went horribly, horribly wrong. I sometimes try to argue, but it usually turns out they're right. They're like annoyingly effective editors or coaches.

10. I finalize decals, we apply them to the finalized prototype and congratulate ourselves.

11. Parts arrive, we print up decals en masse, we spend way too much time taking cute photos, we upload item for sale.

12. We start over at #1.

[Guest eightbrick]

For builds that I don't have the right pieces (yet) for I use LDD (eg. Car MOCs). This is a puzzling and head scratching exercise because digital programs lack the ability to stimulate physics and you can end up making a beautiful LDD model that ends up being as fragile as a 200 buck teapot. That said, most of my designs are a lot simpler (usually some form of modern building) and involve me drawing up a floorplan (I don't bother with elevations, I figure those out as I go) on a stack of huge graph paper I have in my room. It works out quite well and is a fun exercise in draftmanship. I have seperate collections for parts and sets, and generally use my parts collection pieces unless I see something from a set that would really make my MOC better. Just winging it is always fun too, and often your idea of the end product will always be evolving, so keep that in mind.

 

Right now I'm in the middle of the draining process of sorting my parts collection, and am starting to think about sorting my sets into parts (which I think would be good but I dread because I'm not sure how I would sort them in a way that I could always be adding to the collection). But overall, the undoubtably best building technique/tip I've learned is not to be hard on yourself, a frustrating problem with a MOC shouldn't ruin your day. Have fun building, TOK!

[kenchu2000]

Our custom builds are small (dance game, small diorama scenes, etc.) but here's our process:

 

1. The Idea. Very simple, we have a billion of them. :-D

2. Mr. Frog designs on Lego CAD software (I don't know which one he's currently using, he's tried at least two.)

3. Mr. Frog shows me design, I make suggestions, we engage in largely friendly and mostly bloodless design "discussions", come to agreement.

4. He hands me shopping list for prototype, I sometimes faint over the prices of some of the parts he's using, we determine if we can go cheaper on anything, sometimes yes, sometimes no. Availability of chosen parts is even more important, since the ultimate goal is to take the custom into production and sell it many times.

5. I order or pull from our building box or inventory the parts we have agreed on.

6. When parts arrive, we sit down and build the model. At this point there are generally several design changes because we're EXTREMELY fussy that the model not only look great, but that it feels sturdy and "substantial".

7. Mr. Frog takes the prototype, with its design changes, back to the CAD and alters the design. Hands over new parts list, #4 is sometimes repeated.

8. I order parts for our first production run (generally 20 units).

9. While waiting for parts to arrive, I start working on any necessary decals. I create my initial vision, and my family then tells me where I went horribly, horribly wrong. I sometimes try to argue, but it usually turns out they're right. They're like annoyingly effective editors or coaches.

10. I finalize decals, we apply them to the finalized prototype and congratulate ourselves.

11. Parts arrive, we print up decals en masse, we spend way too much time taking cute photos, we upload item for sale.

12. We start over at #1.

 

 

Great workflow.  Could you tell us more about how you print the decals you design?  Did you print with your own printer, or did you go to the print shop?  What kind of decal sheets did you use?

 

I always wanted to do some decals myself, but no idea how to get it done.

[justafrog]

We ended up using synthetic self-adhesive decal paper from Papilio, and we take our file on thumb drive to our local Staples and their fancy color laser printer.

 

We did try using Papilio inkjet decal paper and they look nice, but they're a giant pain (in my experience) to get to NOT run when they get damp, and the sealants we tried all made a bigger mess, etc. so we've found the laser printer the way to go.

 

Down the road, when we have a steady stream of these customs (hopefully) we'll get our own small laser printer.

 

People also recommend water-slide decals and they may indeed be the nicest and best, but they're more trouble than I want to take. If self-stick decals are good enough for The Lego Group, they're good enough for me.

 

For the design process, I use public domain art or create some myself, alter it as desired, and we use Inkscape for much of that design process. My husband builds perfectly sized "templates" for me (of the pieces we'll be applying the decals to) and we use my artwork on those.

 

Application of the decals is my husband's problem. :-D He has architectural, construction, drafting, and model making experience from his first 20 year career before law enforcement, and he knows his stuff when it comes to wielding multiple exacto knives and complicated-shaped decals.

 

The other thing I'd love to do is contract out some actual pad or similar printing on the bricks, maybe down the road on that too.

[635-ukk]

Cool

[TheOrcKing]

Our custom builds are small (dance game, small diorama scenes, etc.) but here's our process:

 

1. The Idea. Very simple, we have a billion of them. :-D

2. Mr. Frog designs on Lego CAD software (I don't know which one he's currently using, he's tried at least two.)

3. Mr. Frog shows me design, I make suggestions, we engage in largely friendly and mostly bloodless design "discussions", come to agreement.

4. He hands me shopping list for prototype, I sometimes faint over the prices of some of the parts he's using, we determine if we can go cheaper on anything, sometimes yes, sometimes no. Availability of chosen parts is even more important, since the ultimate goal is to take the custom into production and sell it many times.

5. I order or pull from our building box or inventory the parts we have agreed on.

6. When parts arrive, we sit down and build the model. At this point there are generally several design changes because we're EXTREMELY fussy that the model not only look great, but that it feels sturdy and "substantial".

7. Mr. Frog takes the prototype, with its design changes, back to the CAD and alters the design. Hands over new parts list, #4 is sometimes repeated.

8. I order parts for our first production run (generally 20 units).

9. While waiting for parts to arrive, I start working on any necessary decals. I create my initial vision, and my family then tells me where I went horribly, horribly wrong. I sometimes try to argue, but it usually turns out they're right. They're like annoyingly effective editors or coaches.

10. I finalize decals, we apply them to the finalized prototype and congratulate ourselves.

11. Parts arrive, we print up decals en masse, we spend way too much time taking cute photos, we upload item for sale.

12. We start over at #1.

Justafrog, you are one hell of an amazing amphibian.

[Dallas20]

Sounds like you have a great system worked out! I'd love to see some of your customs that you've put into production!

[comicblast]

Depending on the purpose, I build in a few different ways. For contests, I usually spend maybe 20 minutes envisioning what I am going to make on paper, or in my head, then starting with a "skeleton" of a build, then filling in cool functions and decorations. I've uploaded my most recent one into the Gallery, if you want to take a look. As you can see, there is still quite a visible skeleton, but I started out with 4 columns and a platform, then put together the ramp, which was inspired by the 41999 Crawler and the spear holders.

 

On casual builds, I still like to make an outline in my head, but since I am not limited to a prompt, I just fill whatever seems like it would fit. Earlier this summer, I put together a LEGO minifigure out of bricks, that was 6x larger than the conventional minifigure. With builds like that, you are basically just clicking away for the experience. One of the big things I was working on for that build was the curvature of a LEGO minifigure head, which I've really never attempted.

 

Finally, look at what other people have done in the past with their MOCS. Even take a look at some official LEGO models. Use a mix of bricks and Technic pieces, build for a variety of themes. You learn a whole lot!!

[mrj205]

First time posting, long time lurker. Moderately committed investor. Happy to be here!

 

For me it takes some inspiration to get started. Case in point, take a look at the free holiday set coming up in a few days. I thought to myself, "wow, a tree stand!" Then I start turning the wheels, and decide I'd love to see a full sized, stocked tree stand. One just like those I remember visiting while growing up. In my town, they consisted of a fenced off area in a parking lot, with a temporary/transportable stand,/building and a few attendants roaming the grounds. Thus, the process starts:

 

1. Get inspired.

2. Think about it for a few days.

3. Draw mental images.

4. Play around in LDD, get frustrated, take a week away from it.

5. Come back, start building from the bottom up. 

6. Reinvent the design at least a dozen times to make sure it is scalable, affordable to build, and will fit its purpose (in this case, that it is Winter Village inspired).

7. Get the design completed, then rebuild half of the stuff I don't like.

8. Finish build, then start to price parts through PAB online and Bricklink. Consider a few changes to accomodate more afforable parts.

9. Print a picture of the design and show it off to the girlfriend, who tolerates my Lego obsession solely because she loves decorating the house in seasonal themed Lego designs/sets (particularly Halloween and Christmas).

10. Start buying parts.

 

Attached is that tree stand I'm talking about. Some inspiration from the holiday giveaway, light posts are a mixed inspiration (I might have too many, but remember an abundance of artificial light from the trips as a kid), as it would be crazy to have all the lamp posts match in the Winter Village... Looking at you, Lego. I'm sure I'll change something else once the actual building commences...

[justafrog]

LOL, thanks, TOK. ;-)

 

 

Sounds like you have a great system worked out! I'd love to see some of your customs that you've put into production!

 

 

I have photos of our first one in my gallery here on the site. I have the second one 99% complete and mocking me on my desk right now (our house move slowed down everything, but the last box I need to unpack is on the kitchen counter so there's hope ahead!).

[justafrog]

Mr. J, that's a beautiful scene!!

[CelesAurivern]

I build ships with no master plan.

I just wing it from hull to bow to stern. Then modify a few parts here and there until it turns out right.

The sections are all modular, so I can swap them out here and there.

[naf]

First off, I'm not master builder.  As an AFOL who recently came out of the dark ages, I haven't built anything freeform for over 20 years.

 

Like most things I do in life, I plan very little when I build.   I don't get much enjoyment out of planning, and it in fact stresses me out.  Therefore, it would be counterproductive to plan my Lego builds as I do it for the fun of it.  I usually start off with a rough idea in my head and then I just dive into the plastic and start building.  The design comes together organically as I build.  Of course, there are times where I have to deconstruct a large portion of a build because I need to add a feature and didn't plan ahead, but at the same time I've come up with some great builds due to just picking up the bricks and building things.

[StompingFreak]

I'm working on incorperating all the castle/kingdoms sets into one large build. So village, castle wall, outer buildings etc. I used to fight with swords for fun. Yep that's me in the pic's. Stomping

[MartinP]

Another builders question from me. I'm curious to hear what more experienced builders and MOC'ers do when they wish to design a build.

Do you start off with a sketch on paper and/or design it virtually with a CAD program?

How about coming up with a list for parts; do you create a little checklist and go down the line?

Do you research to see what currently available sets contain most of the parts needed, just buy what you need through Bricklink, or maybe visit the Pick-a-Brick wall at a nearby Lego Store?

Whatever it may be, I'd like to hear about your methodical processes.

I always start out with a sketch on paper. It works better for me and I can change the design with ease. For parts, I look at which colored bricks I need and which colored bricks I have. If I need pieces, I would either bricklink them, or visit my local Lego store and see if they have some of the pieces on their PAB wall.