In addition to the standard LDraw Lego modelling environment you get:
A library of 168 Minibrix parts, plus a couple of dozen primitives used
to create them.
Note: The parts are all the
building components that were ever issued in the Minibrix boxed and
tubed sets. This includes the Tudor Minibrix range and the rainbow Junior
Minibrix range. It also includes the “hidden” parts
– the ones you would never normally see – such as the
Universal Pin and the sets of Purlins. This is so that, if desired,
you can create the full building instructions for making the real
version of the model.
All the building parts that were never included in the standard
sets: the Number 4 Roof, the green Roof Tiles and the Baseplates.
Eleven new (that is, not Lego) colours, matched to the original Minibrix parts.
For rendering the high-quality ray-traced images, appropriate
textures are set for the bricks (rubber), purlins (wood)
and windows (translucent or clear).
The adaptions needed for some of the advanced Tudor models.
These are the cut-down pieces created with the aid of a sharp knife: the
half windows and the split Ridge Tiles.
A couple of adaptions that make building easier and speed up the
graphics performance.
The Tudor Half Bricks (one black, one white) come in two versions
– with or without the dovetail. The dovetails should never show
in a finished model, so only the purist (or the creator of detailed
building instructions) will need the dovetailed versions. Using the plain
versions will speed up the drawing and rendering processes without
affecting the appearance of the model. In the real
world, on the rare occasions that a stray black lug showed, it was
normal to take a sharp knife and cut it off anyway!
Roofs folded in a variety of directions.
Roofs were a challenge, but I have created 12 standard combinations
of slopes – those that involve lying on Angle bricks, Double
Angle Bricks and flat surfaces. If you need something more complicated,
you can build it out of individual tiles then manipulate it on a fine
grid setting of the CAD tool.
What you don’t get
The only parts not currently included are the plastic additions (plants,
fences, lamps etc.) that appeared very briefly at the very end of Minibrix
production.
Also, not so much an omission as a minor inconvenience: it is not
possible to lay roof tiles over Double Angle Bricks using the default grid
setting of the CAD tool. Because of the rules of geometry they do not interlock.
Once a row has been laid, using the standard grid for the horizontal spacing,
the row has to be shuffled into its vertical and lateral position on a fine
setting. Sorry – don’t blame me, blame Euclid!
Requirements
The instructions here are for installing on a Windows platform. The software
has been tested on Windows 98, ME, NT Version 4, 2000, XP (Home and Pro) and Vista
(all versions). Windows 64-bit is NOT supported. Some functionality will not work.
There are equivalent packages for Macintosh and Linux, and there is no
reason why the Minibrix add-on shouldn't work on these, too. However I have no means
to test this. (Perhaps some day somebody will let me know if it works!) The tool
set is slightly different for these platforms, so the process for creating high-quality
images may need rethinking. If you wish to experiment with non-Windows platforms, the
place to start is the main LDraw download page
at http://www.ldraw.org/Article126.html.
When you have installed the appropriate LDraw software package, return to these instructions
at Step 2 below.
Installing and using the software
There are four steps to getting your Virtual Minibrix up and running. Select each of
the following pages in turn.
If you are already an LDraw user for the Lego
modelling environment, just read Steps 2 and 4, which will tell you how to add and
use Minibrix modelling.
Step 1:
Download and install the base LDraw (Lego) software.
