Table of Contents

Basics of LEGO Building

  1. Introduction to the LEGO System
    1. A brief history of LEGO
    2. How LEGO clicked: Breaking down a remarkable success story
    3. Basic LEGO elements
    4. LEGO measurement units
    5. LEGO Technic
    6. Digital Building
    7. The LDraw format
  2. All about scale
    1. Scale and proportion
    2. Upscaled bricks
    3. The minifigure scale
    4. Picking a scale for your model
  3. Basic LEGO techniques
    1. Overlapping bricks for a stronger structure
    2. Alternating the orientation of bricks between layers
    3. Creating sloping roofs using regular bricks
    4. Creating sloping roofs using slope pieces
    5. “Illegal” Techniques

Venturing outside the LEGO grid

  1. Half stud offsets
    1. Half stud offsets in one and two dimensions
    2. Creating recessed wall sections, windows, etc.
    3. Centering elements with odd vs. even number of studs
    4. Smoother tapers using jumper plates
    5. Tapering by unequal amounts in two dimensions
    6. Other uses of jumper plates
  2. Building sideways aka SNOT
    1. The headlight brick
    2. Bricks with studs on their sides
    3. SNOT with half stud offsets
    4. Plates with studs on their sides
    5. Brackets
    6. Half plate offsets
    7. Quarter plate offsets
    8. Stud reversal
  3. Angled Walls
    1. Angled wall basics
    2. Angled walls using hinge elements
    3. Angled walls using turntables
    4. Near triples
    5. Using jumper plates for even more options
    6. The “mirrored hypotenuse” technique
    7. The “switched diagonals” technique
    8. Creating polygonal walls with LEGO
    9. Building angled walls in Bricklink Studio
  4. Round Shapes
    1. Using SNOT to create small cylinders
    2. Bending LEGO walls to create round shapes
    3. Mixing regular bricks with round bricks to create round walls
    4. Round walls using hinge elements
    5. Building round walls in Bricklink Studio
    6. Building a sphere by stacking bricks or plates
    7. Lowell spheres

Computer-assisted LEGO building

  1. Mosaics
    1. Image resolution and color depth
    2. Image resizing, color quantization and dithering
    3. Regular mosaics
    4. Studs-up mosaics
    5. Lenticular mosaics
    6. Isometric pattern mosaics
    7. Creating mosaics in Bricklink Studio
  2. Sculptures
    1. Introduction to 3D models
    2. Voxelization
    3. Studs-up sculptures
    4. Mixing bricks and plates in studs-up sculptures
    5. Studs-out sculptures
    6. Creating sculptures in Bricklink Studio