Lego building blocks (a.k.a. DNA)


OK, well here’s something I’m sure you’ve all wanted to do – build cool sciencey stuff out of Lego….. I’m sure this isn’t the way real Lego builders do it, but should be possible to get some really cool (and really precise effects). Imagine taking any 3D model, sculpture, CAD model, and recreating a scale model. Here’s an example.  (1) Build a 3D model.  (2) Convert it to 3D Lego bricks using Rob Abbott’s excellent Legoizer Lscript. (3) Write some code to manipulate the data into a human usable form. (4-5) Export 155 image files, detailing each layer of the structure.  Hey presto, usable building instructions to recreate any shape out of Lego  🙂 The building instructions show the position of bricks in each layer, and faded depiction of the layer below for reference.  Right, got some Lego arriving in the post, let’s see how it looks for real….
DNA 3D model
(1) DNA 3D model
DNA Lego model
(2) DNA Lego model
code monkey
(3) Some custom Lscript…
Building instructions layer 15
(4) Building instructions layer 15
 
Building instructions layer 49
(5) Building instructions layer 49