I know you know Lego. Most people grew up playing with their legos, using all of those little easy-to-swallow parts to create a masterpiece (or a pile of crap, either way it was fun when you were little). Eventually, you became estranged from them, labeling them as little kid toys because you were a sophisticated preteen. Then you got older and nostalgia drew you back, making you realize that they were still fun, maybe even more so than when you were a kid. Most of us are at that last part.
You could always buy sets of legos and build what they told you to, but where's the fun in that? What you want to do is make something all your own. Unfortunately, you only had the blocks from various sets to work with, making it pretty boring. Well, how would you like to make your own set with its own instructions? Now you can, with [url=http://designbyme.lego.com/en-US/default.aspx]Lego DesignByMe[/url]. In theory, you build a model of the product on the program from a wide variety of bricks, Mindstorms robotics pieces, and even old pieces no longer in production to create anything at all possible with legos. You then create a set of instructions and customize the box, pay, and have the custom set mailed to you. Unfortunately, the theory never made it to reality.
Pros:
1) It exists.
Cons:
1) The program's user interface is only passable.
2) There is no variety of bricks. There are very few types of traditional pieces, each with only a few colors. There are no "useful" pieces to fill in obscure possibilities, you can't actually buy the Mindstorms pieces, and the Technic (Bionicle-style) pieces are outright missing.
3) The promise to reproduce old pieces goes unfilled.
4) There are no customization features. No custom pictures on pieces, no custom brick shapes, you can't actually choose the color of your brick, etc.
5) The pieces are hand-picked instead of making machines to automatically fill in your order, which makes the custom set ungodly expensive.
tl;dr: DesignByMe pretty much sucks, just buy the normal lego sets from stores.
Can I make them send me parts to build a phallic shape?
[QUOTE=ASmellyOgre;18735687]
tl;dr: DesignByMe pretty much sucks, just buy the normal lego sets from stores.[/QUOTE]
Then why make the thread?
[QUOTE=Wootman;18735751]Then why make the thread?[/QUOTE]
To inform people it sucks.
How is this, or for that matter the OP, dumb?
When I was nearing the end of the second paragraph I found it pretty cool, until I read the final sentence.
Damn you.
Shit Elexar
It's Cheezy.
Stop saying Legos.
We actually used this in my math class
[QUOTE=lettuce_head;18736031]Stop saying Legos.[/QUOTE]
The plural of the word "Lego" is a hotly debated subject. I, for one, support the term "legos."
Yes, yes, yes, I know the word LEGO® really refers to the company, but due to the fact that the vast majority of people use it as a noun as well, I will use it as such.
[b]Which is correct as the plural of LEGO: [/b]
'Lego' or 'Legos'? Neither, actually. The word 'LEGO', when used as a noun, should only refer to the company that makes the product. Otherwise 'LEGO' is supposed to be used as an adjective. Thus, when referring to the pieces, neither 'lego' nor 'legos' is correct... rather one should say: 'LEGO bricks' or 'LEGO pieces' or whatever (using LEGO as an adjective -- and one should really capitalize all of the letters, and put the little 'circle-R' symbol after it (®)). This is all a matter of protecting the trademark of 'LEGO' for the company (using it otherwise degenerates the strength of the trademark). This is not to say that I use the word correctly 100% of the time... but that's the answer to the question
I will post it again
here's a nice quote
[quote] One catalogue, dated 1980, has the following on its back page:
Dear Parents and Children
The word LEGO(R) is a brand name and is very special to all of
us in the LEGO Group Companies. We would sincerely like your
help in keeping it special. Please always refer to our bricks
as 'LEGO Bricks or Toys' and not 'LEGOS.' By doing so, you will
be helping to protect and preserve a brand of which we are very
proud and that stands for quality the world over. Thank you![/quote]
I don't exactly have a source but that's real.
[img]http://ve3dmedia.ign.com/images/01/57/15725_normal.jpg[/img]
"I don't remember building that."
damn it, were doing this in our robotics class. After we finished Lego Mindstorms, we started playing around with this. I hate the fact that:
1. Windows cant be connected to anything while building
2. Wheels require you to put a + stick in another brick with a + hole.
3. Its impossible to insert + sticks.
Weren't they called lego digital designer?
or lego brickbuilder?
I used to love that program, I used to make trains out of them, before they canceled the lego train line
:frown: