Virtual LEGO


Book Description

"Virtual LEGO" introduces the reader to a suite of software that allows users to create and document computer-generated LEGO models. Written by maintainers of the official hub of LEGO model-building software, the book includes coverage of popular freeware tools such as LDraw, MLCAD, L3P, L3PAO, LPub, POV-Ray, and MegaPOV.




Building with Virtual LEGO: Getting Started with LEGO Digital Designer, LDraw, and Mecabricks


Book Description

Virtually build any LEGO creation you can imagine—with any LEGO part ever made! This fun guide shows how to create just about anything from virtual LEGO blocks using free software. Learn how to install and customize LEGO Digital Designer, navigate the user interface, and get started on your own projects. LDraw and Mecabricks are also clearly explained. Building with Virtual LEGO: Getting Started with LEGO Digital Designer, LDraw, and Mecabricks features DIY projects that illustrate each technique and software tool. You will see how to upload and share your creations online—even modify projects that others have built! Find out how to: • Download, set up, and configure LEGO Digital Designer • Navigate the LDD user interface, menus, and tools • Identify the different Lego parts and explore brick palettes • Quickly and easily start creating your own LEGO models • Access the huge library of out-of-print LEGO bricks in LDraw, including those designed by hobbyists • Get up and running on Mecabricks and launch creative projects online • Write clear instructions and share them with other virtual LEGO enthusiasts • Create custom bricks and participate in the LDraw parts design process




Medieval LEGO


Book Description

Medieval LEGO takes you through real English history in the middle ages with a unique twist, with every event illustrated by a tiny little LEGO scene. With contributions by medievalists and scholars, this book brings medieval history to life in a fun, kid-friendly way. Inside, you'll learn about events like the Battle of Hastings, the chartering of Oxford University, and the signing of the Magna Carta. You'll witness the infamous Black Death, and the Great Famine, and you'll read about famous historical figures like Robin Hood, Richard the Lionheart, Geoffrey Chaucer, and William the Conqueror. Grab your broadsword and turn the page to join the adventure.




LEGO Studies


Book Description

Since the "Automatic Binding Bricks" that LEGO produced in 1949, and the LEGO "System of Play" that began with the release of Town Plan No. 1 (1955), LEGO bricks have gone on to become a global phenomenon, and the favorite building toy of children, as well as many an AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO). LEGO has also become a medium into which a wide number of media franchises, including Star Wars, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Batman, Superman, Lord of the Rings, and others, have adapted their characters, vehicles, props, and settings. The LEGO Group itself has become a multimedia empire, including LEGO books, movies, television shows, video games, board games, comic books, theme parks, magazines, and even MMORPGs. LEGO Studies: Examining the Building Blocks of a Transmedial Phenomenon is the first collection to examine LEGO as both a medium into which other franchises can be adapted and a transmedial franchise of its own. Although each essay looks at a particular aspect of the LEGO phenomenon, topics such as adaptation, representation, paratexts, franchises, and interactivity intersect throughout these essays, proposing that the study of LEGO as a medium and a media empire is a rich vein barely touched upon in Media Studies.




LEGOfied


Book Description

LEGOfied: Building Blocks as Media provides a multi-faceted exploration of LEGO fandom, addressing a blindspot in current accounts of LEGO and an emerging area of interest to media scholars: namely, the role of hobbyist enthusiasts and content producers in LEGO's emergence as a ubiquitous transmedia franchise. This book examines a range of LEGO hobbyism and their attendant forms of mediated self-expression and identity (their “technicities”): artists, aspiring Master Builders, collectors, and entrepreneurs who refashion LEGO bricks into new commodities (sets, tchotchkes, and minifigures). The practices and perspectives that constitute this diverse scene lie at the intersection of multiple transformations in contemporary culture, including the shifting relationships between culture industries and the audiences that form their most ardent consumer base, but also the emerging forms of entrepreneurialism, professionalization, and globalization that characterize the burgeoning DIY movement. What makes this a compelling project for media scholars is its mutli-dimensional articulation of how LEGO functions not just as a toy, cultural icon, or as transmedia franchise, but as a media platform. LEGOfied is centered around their shared experiences, qualitative observations, and semi-structured interviews at a number of LEGO hobbyist conventions. Working outwards from these conventions, each chapter engages additional modes of inquiry-media archaeology, aesthetics, posthumanist philosophy, feminist media studies, and science and technology studies-to explore the origins, permutations and implications of different aspects of the contemporary LEGO fandom scene.




Virtual and Mixed Reality


Book Description

The 13th International Conference on Human–Computer Interaction, HCI Inter- tional 2009, was held in San Diego, California, USA, July 19–24, 2009, jointly with the Symposium on Human Interface (Japan) 2009, the 8th International Conference on Engineering Psychology and Cognitive Ergonomics, the 5th International Conference on Universal Access in Human–Computer Interaction, the Third International Conf- ence on Virtual and Mixed Reality, the Third International Conference on Internati- alization, Design and Global Development, the Third International Conference on Online Communities and Social Computing, the 5th International Conference on Augmented Cognition, the Second International Conference on Digital Human Mod- ing, and the First International Conference on Human Centered Design. A total of 4,348 individuals from academia, research institutes, industry and gove- mental agencies from 73 countries submitted contributions, and 1,397 papers that were judged to be of high scientific quality were included in the program. These papers - dress the latest research and development efforts and highlight the human aspects of the design and use of computing systems. The papers accepted for presentation thoroughly cover the entire field of human–computer interaction, addressing major advances in knowledge and effective use of computers in a variety of application areas.




The Art of the Brick


Book Description

Nathan Sawaya is renowned for his incredible, sometimes surreal, sculptures and portraits—all made from LEGO bricks. The Art of the Brick is a stunning, full-color showcase of the work that has made Sawaya the world’s most famous LEGO artist. Featuring hundreds of photos of his impressive art and behind-the-scenes details about how these creations came to be, The Art of the Brick is an inside look at how Sawaya transformed a toy into an art form. Follow one man’s unique obsession and see the amazing places it has taken him.




Lego Software Power Tools With LDraw MLCad and LPub


Book Description

Create Virtual 3D LEGO Models Using LEGO Software Power Tools LEGO Master Builders have created a powerful set of tools that are distributed as freeware to the LEGO community to assist LEGO fans in their building adventures. Until now, these tools have been difficult to find, and even more difficult to configure to work with one another. Here, in one book, readers will find steps for installing and using all of the most popular LEGO freeware applications. Also, all of the applications are consolidated into one simple-to-install program that allows readers to be up and running in minutes Ø Wide market appeal. This book will appeal to the huge established consumer base of the LEGO community, as well as to children, parents, and teachers who may have been intimidated by the difficulties of bringing all of these applications under one roof. Ø The only book of its kind to cover the wide variety of applications available. Some books in the past have touched on one or two of these LEGO applications, but none has covered them all in such detail. Ø CD provides all of these freeware applications in one easy to install program. Included CD packs more than 8 applications into one easy-to-use format, making it easy for readers to have access to all of these applications in minutes and avoid the headaches of trying to download, install, configure, set up folder structures, and troubleshoot such a wide variety of loosely related freeware applications. Ø Will coincide with the release of Lpub. This will be the first in-depth look at LPub, the new creation of Kevin Clague, which ties LDraw, MLCad, L3P, and POV-Ray together to allow users to easily create professional quality LEGO instructions for both the printed page and the web.




Deconstructing LEGO


Book Description

This book investigates a paradox of creative yet scripted play—how LEGO invites players to build ‘freely’ with and within its highly structured, ideologically-laden toy system. First, this book considers theories and methods for deconstructing LEGO as a medium of bricolage, the creative reassembly of already-significant elements. Then, it pieces together readings of numerous LEGO sets, advertisements, videogames, films, and other media that show how LEGO constructs five ideologies of play: construction play, dramatic play, digital play, transmedia play, and attachment play. From suburban traffic patterns to architectural croissants, from feminized mini-doll bodies to toys-to-life stories, from virtual construction to playful fan creations, this book explores how the LEGO medium conveys ideological messages—not by transmitting clear statements but by providing implicit instructions for how to reassemble meanings it had all along.




Digital Pedagogies


Book Description

This publication features twenty-seven refereed essays on pedagogical approaches to digital media applications for art and design. Authors from around the world presented theories and strategies to engage students for enhanced learning experiences in digital media courses in educational settings ranging from high school to graduate school, in a wide variety of design fields including furniture design, graphic design, set design, fashion design, interior design, urban design, and architecture. It consists of 144 color pages, and has been widely distributed in hardcopy form to most schools of architecture and interior design in the United States and other developed countries. This series continued following the framework I set with three subsequent issues.