
Videos de lego digital designer software#
"I haven't seen anything from them," Malec said, "which I am perhaps incorrectly taking as turning a blind eye (since) I haven't seen anything negative from them."īut Lego said that though it wasn't expecting the user community to act so quickly, the software adaptation done by Malec and others fits into the company's larger plan. But they are fairly sure they haven't upset the powers that be at the company. Meanwhile, though Lego's policy has been to get behind the software modifications done by the adult community, the company oddly hasn't communicated that position explicitly to the users, Malec and others said. "We have a huge adult community, so if we can make our software in a way that will allow our fans to adapt it to their needs," we'll support that. "We really encourage and embrace" some modifications of our software, he said. Scherer explained that Lego has to walk a fine line when it comes to allowing access to its systems but that the company recognized the value of letting users adapt the tools to their needs. "The adult community found out within a few days (of the Lego Factory launch) how these bags were mixed together," said Ronny Scherer, a senior producer in Lego's interactive experiences group. Maybe (instead of buying) that one piece which takes a whole bag that you're not going to use, you might choose a different bag."ĭespite the fact that the efforts of Malec and others in the Lego community were likely to result in smaller price tags for the custom models, Lego's reaction has been largely positive, even though the company was caught off guard. If you could see it at the bag level (instead of the larger digital palettes offered by Lego), maybe you might make a different decision. "You'd see a lot of fan creations" on Lego Factory, Malec said, "costing $400 or $500 because fans are not using the bags efficiently. Malec explained that he and a few others were able to modify the actual digital files that list the palettes users would see in Lego Digital Designer so that they were broken down With that, they could compile a database that lists which bags must be purchased in order to collect specific bricks.


The idea, he said, was that by reducing the number of bricks in a palette, builders would be able to purchase smaller numbers and thus cut their overall costs.Īccording to Larry Pieniazek, an IBM software architect and an avid Lego user, Malec and others realized that by coordinating their efforts, community members could keep track of the actual bags of bricks Lego provides in its stock sets-and the specific pieces contained in each bag. With that in mind, Malec and a few other Lego users wondered if they could find a way to cut down on the size of the palettes they could choose from. However, the adult Lego community knew that each palette-when delivered-was actually made up of several physical bags of bricks.
