LEGO 10179-1 : Millenium Falcon

[tom120934]

Hello everyone,

I just resumed my LEGO crash, after doing some IRL with my elder son. I choose to do an epic set, the minifig-scale Millenium Falcon. Instruction set is 316 pages, for a total of 5195 pieces ! The instruction set can be found here LEGO instructions and catalogs library - Instructions || theme - By Theme - Star Wars - 10179: Ultimate Millenium Falcon, featuring a convenient part list at http://www.peeron.com/cgi-bin/invcgis/inv/sets/10179-1.

So I unburied my parts library started for a car here : http://www.smcars.net/forums/work-pr...ar-8448-a.html.

Basically my workflow is the following :

- Get a basic mesh from LeoCAD LeoCAD Homepage (it may use the LDraw library http://www.ldraw.org) et import it into Blender.
- Clean it to a sketch of the piece.
- Remodel a enhanced version : polyflow, chamfers, shrink pieces a bit to allow them to fit together...
- Keep a copy of the piece in a lib file, named according to the LDraw part numbers.

The following picture shows the current stage of the project : step 16 complete, using 78 pieces (but only 13 different)

The main issue : polycount. Each piece is lowpoly, each circle is only 16 faces, so it looks easy for polycount. Mistake, it's already 230K faces at this stage... Doing a raw estimate, 230K faces / 78 pieces = 2950 faces per piece. 2950 faces per pieces x 5195 pieces = 15 M faces !!!

[SkylineArch]

Nice! I have various instructions downloaded do model one day, nothing of this scale though! Can't wait to see if finished!

[johnas]

In you previous topic Xoliul said: "You sir, are insane". I think the same again

[Panesar]

I've done a lego model before, but it was only 50 pc.s - atleast I thought "only 50" felt like 5000, you sir are insane, looking forward to more.

[VitaminD]

hoho..3d lego..
i made my lego sets/parts too...modelled them from scratch...long time meassuriing them with vernier callipers...
some parts were made looking on ldraw models ..

and polycount is really higher than expected...
but my sets wer about 10-30(max) pieces....and 5000 .. OMG!!!(looking at spaceship picture) wow...hope you finish it...good luck!

ps. i didn't make chamfers on edges of pieces or shrink them..so i could snap one to another by corner vertices

[tom120934]

Thanks guys for the support. Honestly, I'm not sure my home PC (4GB of RAM) will be enough to deal with the complete model. Not talking about rendering...

Being afraid of that polycount, I just recreated all the pieces I've got so far. So basically, I destroyed the progress and remade it all from scratch. Scratch Made Legos The poly saving come from the bottom of the pieces : I removed all the tiny bits making pieces strongly attached, and also remove the chamfering from the inside.

Good improvement : polycount at the same stage (step 16, 78 pieces) is now 174K : 25% decrease. The estimated final polycount is now 11.6 M faces...

No picture, because no real progress : the model looks almost the same at the moment, which was a mandatory requirement for the poly saving.

VitaminD : the shrink + chamfer is just to make them good looking. Please check my previous LEGO thread to see a real render, I think it turned out pretty well. For precision placing, I just refer to the Blender grid : I used 1 Blender unit = 1 LEGO unit. So a piece is 1.2 Blender unit high, making it easy to deal with thin pieces : 1/3 LEGO unit = 0.4 Blender unit. The Blender grid is auto adaptative to the view scale : zoom in, you move item 0.1 unit at a time, zoom out it will be 1.0 unit. Really efficient for placement : e.g. the 78 pieces so far are placed in less than 5 minutes.

EDIT : Step 20 achieved. Polycount is now 265K for 138 parts, so overall estimation change to 10M faces... Pic attached below.

[schaefft]

Thats indeed just insane! Good luck with that model.

But wouldnt it be easier just to download some lego software and "model" it there?

@VitaminD: Hey, I have that small prop plane in real. Totally forgot about it till now.

[SkylineArch]

woah, I just clicked your instructions link, awesome!!! I can look up the old sets I had, still have at my parents house that my kids now play with. Thanks!

[SkylineArch]

something like this would be fun...

LEGO instructions and catalogs library -

[schaefft]

Stop posting links to this site! It makes me want to go to ebay and spend lots of money for legosets I always wanted

[SkylineArch]

Stop posting links to this site! It makes me want to go to ebay and spend lots of money for legosets I always wanted

I wish I would have picked up some of the Batman sets when they were out, but my son was too young, now it's hooked on the Video Games and the sets are really expensive online.

Sorry for jacking your thread Tom...

[Skrips]

Tom, this is indeed insane as others have stated, and also amazing and brilliant and makes me excited to see the finished product! Keep it up!

[SkylineArch]

As a side note, this site has scans of stickers:
Brickfactory - LEGO® instructions
Unfortunately Tom, they don't have your set on there.

[3n1g]

If I recall correctly LEGO made an app so you could build your stuff virtually, it was quety heavy on the comp if I remember correctly.

Edit: Found it.

It was quite fun to play with. And when your done I think you can order the pieces needed if you want to build a real one.

http://ldd.lego.com/

[tom120934]

Glad to see this little project create some discussion. Indeed many boxes look sexy even by my 30yo standards My elder son have been granted more than 15 boxes, at only 7yo. I must confess I build most of them \o/

About using Blender instead of one of the various LEGO software available around there, here are my arguments :
- I can edit the meshes to enhance pieces. Like I said above, I clean the mesh, I chamfer most important edges, I remove unnecessary bits.
- I'm most comfortable with Blender than any other software to precisely move parts, and the Blender grid system make it soooo easy I can't imagine doing virtual LEGO with another software.
- I can render the model using a real renderer at any step.

I found another useful ressource for LEGO enthusiasts : samples of the used colors : Lego Color Chart - BrickiWiki. All the colors aren't perfect, e.g. the most used dark grey is brownish. But for red, yellow, tan, it just works well.

Current step is #24. 200 pieces (22 different kinds), for 325046 faces. Estimated budget for the completed model : 8.44 M polys.

[tom120934]

Step 28 complete, page 26 done, only 290 left

27 different pieces modeled, 259 pieces used, 368K faces, so rough estimation for the whole model is now 7.4M poly. It's half the initial estimate, indeed I currently use a lot of small pieces. Blender file is almost 52MB !

I took a look a few pages away. Next step are about the main access at bottom of the ship. The rear end with thrusters will come soon, it looks really amazing.

Motivation is still good

[SkylineArch]

still looking great, keep at it!

Have you found any sites that show dimension of other bricks, namely the Technic bricks (gears, the pieces with the holes and the 45 degree bend, etc.)?

[VitaminD]

still looking great, keep at it!

Have you found any sites that show dimension of other bricks, namely the Technic bricks (gears, the pieces with the holes and the 45 degree bend, etc.)?

all dimensions of lego pieces are here
http://goldfndr.home.mindspring.com/lego/legodim3.gif

and they are suitable for technics pieces too

[SkylineArch]

thanks for the link D, but I'm also looking for some of the parts in the image below, like the black bent pieces by the steering wheel.

looks like too much work the more I'm looking at these instructions!

[VitaminD]

oh..that's more difficult )) if you don't have them

i would do like Tom...get mesh from some lego soft (leocad for example)..and redo it by myself...or take screenshots and use them as a reference