Getting Started with LEGO Digital Designer 2.0

Contents

• Get started
• Mouse Controls
• The Viewpoint control
• The icon bar
• The Check price window
• The 3 modes
• The Build mode
• The Building tools
• Choosing your bricks
• The view mode
• The Building instructions mode
• The building instructions control
• Keyboard short cuts overview

Get started

Whenever you launch LEGO Digital Designer, restart the program or start on a new model, you will see the Get Started with LEGO Digital Designer window. Here, you can choose from the following options:

• Starter Model: Use this option if you would like to start with a pre-built model
• Free Build: Start building a new model from scratch
• Open a Recent Model: Use this option to open a model already saved on your hard drive

Mouse Controls

Here’s what you can do with the buttons on your mouse:

• Left mouse button Click on a brick to select it Click and drag to move a brick around on the scene
• Right mouse button Rotate the camera view of the scene

Camera control

The Camera control let you rotate your model and zoom in and out so you can see the model from various angles and in different sizes.

Rotate view - (Num Lock: on-8, 2, 4, 6) You can rotate the camera view with the buttons on the Camera control, or you can use the keyboard.

Zoom view - (Num Lock: On- +key and -key) Click the + and - keys on your keyboard to zoom in or out of your viewpoint.

Reset view - (Num Lock: On-5) Click Reset to return the viewpoint to its standard position, with all bricks and models visible and centered on the scene

The icon bar

New - (Ctrl-N/Cmd-N) Open a new document with a blank scene.

Open - (Ctrl-O/Cmd-O) Load an existing model from your hard drive.

Save - (Ctrl-S/Cmd-S) Save the model on the scene to your hard drive.

Print - (Ctrl-P/Cmd-P) Print an image of what’s on the scene.

Undo - (Ctrl-Z/Cmd-Z) Take one step back to undo your last action.

Redo - (Shft-Ctrl-Z/Shft-Cmd-Z) Take one step forward to redo your last undone action.

Check price - (Ctrl-B/Cmd-B) Get the estimated price of your model. From the Check Price window you can go to the LEGO Store on LEGO.com.

Send to LEGO.com - (Shft-Ctrl-B/Shft-Cmd-B) Submit your model to one of the online galleries on LEGO.com.

What is this? – (Ctrl-T/Cmd-T) Get more information about LEGO Digital Designer options, controls and items.

Help - (F1) Launch the HTML manual.

Screenshot - (Ctrl-K/Cmd-K) Save an image of your model just as it looks on your screen to your "LEGO Digital Designer" folder.

Play animation - (Ctrl-G/Cmd-G) Animate your model and watch it in action.

Explode - (Ctrl-U/Cmd-U) Blast your model to bits and watch it rebuild itself.

Backgrounds - (Ctrl-V/Cmd-B) Change the background behind your model.

Output as Html - (Ctrl-H/Cmd-H) See your Building Instructions as a printable HTML page.

Check price window

Check price - (Ctrl-B/Cmd-B) Click Check Price to open the Check Price window and see the total cost of the price of the elements on the scene.
Click Return to close the Check Price window so you can continue building.


Click Go to LEGO Store to open the online LEGO Store in a browser window. Here you can purchase the physical brick equivalent of the virtual bricks on your LEGO Digital Designer scene.

The 3 modes

LEGO Digital Designer has three operation modes:
1. Build mode
2. View mode
3. Building Instructions mode
You can switch between the modes by clicking on one of the three mode icons located in the bar at the top of the application.

1. Build mode

Build mode - (F5 key) Click Build to go into Build mode. In this mode you can build and edit your model and the scene.

Building tools

The building tools are only available in Build mode. Use the tools to select, move, clone, color and rotate bricks in many different ways.

Advanced selection tools - (Shft-V to toggle between the tools) Click the Selection tool to display the Advanced Selection Tools panel. Advanced Selection Tools allows you to select multiple bricks – and to make selections based on brick color, shape and connectivity.

Selection tool - (V key) Use the Selection tool to select single bricks on the scene. Double-click the Selection Tool button to reveal a panel with Advanced Selection Tools.

Clone tool - (C key) Use the Clone tool to make duplicates of bricks that are on the scene. If you have more bricks selected on the scene (see Advanced Selection Tools), you can clone multiple bricks at the same time.

Paint tool - (B key) Use the Paint tool to change the color or material of the bricks on the scene.

Hinge tool - (H key) Use the Hinge tool to rotate bricks that are connected with a hinge or a single-stud connection.

Delete tool - (E key) Use the Delete tool to remove bricks from scene.

Using the Hinge Tool: The Hinge tool allows you to select a hinged element on your model and move it in the directions indicated by the arrows. To move the selected element, you can use your mouse cursor or the arrow keys on your keyboard.

When the element can be rotated in multiple directions, the selected direction is indicated with a green arrow. To select a different direction, click on one of the yellow arrows or use the TAB key on your keyboard.

Choosing your bricks

When you start a new model in LEGO Digital Designer, you will be given a Brick palette with unlimited number of bricks.

• Select a brick to build with - Find the brick you want to use and click on it. The brick will become transparent and will attach to your cursor. Move the brick onto the scene and place it by clicking your mouse again.

Collapse divider - (Ctrl-G/Cmd-G) Closes all dividers within the palette. By default, this button is disabled and is only active when dividers are open.

Hide colors options - (Ctrl-H/Cmd-H) Hides the various color options for the different bricks in the palette.

Filter Bricks by Boxes - (Ctrl-J/Cmd-J) When you click on this icon, a panel will open up below the icon. Select the LEGO set you are looking for. This will filter the brick list so it only shows the bricks contained in that LEGO set.

Find bricks by color - (Ctrl-K/Cmd-K) When you click on this icon, a panel will open up below the icon. Select the color or material you are looking for. This will filter the brick list so it only shows bricks in the color you have selected.

Reset - (Ctrl-L/Cmd-L) Returns the palette to default, so all dividers are closed, all materials are visible, and all filters are removed.

2. View mode

View mode - (F6 key) Click the Edit icon and go to View mode. In this mode you can view your model with different backgrounds. You can also see some of your models being animated here (ex.: train)

3. Building Instructions mode

Building Instructions - (F7 key) Click the Building Instructions icon to switch to Building Instructions mode. In this mode you can create and view Building Instructions.

Building instructions control

The Building Instructions player is visible in the Building Instructions mode. It allows you to play through the building instructions steps.

First Step - (Home key) Rewind the building instructions to the first building step.

Previous Step - (PgUp key) Take one step back in the building instructions.

Play - (Enter key) Play through all the building steps automatically.

Next Step - (PgDn key) Take one step forward in the building instructions.

Final Step - (End key) Forward the building instructions to the final building step.

Building instruction presets - There are three presets that let you generate different types of building instructions:

Building - This preset generates building instructions for buildings.

Vehicle - This preset generates building instructions for all kind of vehicles.

Technic - This preset generates optimized building instructions for models that use LEGO Technic elements.

Bricks per step - This makes it possible to set the number of bricks added to the model with each step.

Keyboard shortcuts

Viewpoint controller :

PC

MAC

• Rotate view left
• Rotate view right
• Rotate view up
• Rotate view down
• Reset view
• Zoom in
• Zoom out

4 Key
6 Key
8 Key
2 Key
5 Key
+ Key
- Key

4 Key
6 Key
8 Key
2 Key
5 Key
+ Key
- Key

Building tools :

• Select tool
• Toggle Select tools
• Hinge tool
• Clone tool
• Paint tool
• Delete tool

V key
Shft-V
H key
C key
B key
E key

V key
Shft-V
H key
C key
B key
E key

Icon bar :

• New
• Open
• Save
• Print
• Undo
• Redo
• Check Price
• Send to LEGO.com
• Expand tool tip
• Help Manual
• Screenshot
• Play animation
• Stop animation
• Explode
• Background
• Output as HTML
• Build mode
• Building Instruction mode
• View mode

Ctrl-N
Ctrl-O
Ctrl-S
Ctrl-P
Ctrl-Z
Shft-Ctrl-Z
Ctrl-B
Shft-Ctrl-B
Ctrl-T
F1 Key
Ctrl-K
Ctrl-G
Ctrl-G
Ctrl-U
Ctrl-V
Ctrl-H
F5 key
F7 key
F6 key

Cmd-N
Cmd-O
Cmd-S
Cmd-P
Cmd-Z
Shift-Cmd-Z
Cmd-B
Shift-Cmd-B
Cmd-T
F1 Key
Cmd-K
Cmd-G
Cmd-G
Cmd-U
Cmd-V
Cmd-H
F5 key
F7 key
F6 key

Building Instruction controller :

• Play
• Stop
• First step
• Final step
• Next step
• Previous step

Enter key
Enter key
Home key
End key
PageDn key
PageUp key

Enter key
Enter key
Home key
End key
PageDn key
PageUp key

Menu items :

• Import model
• Export model
• Save as
• Exit
• Cut
• Copy
• Paste
• Delete
• Select All
• Help
• What is this?
• About
• Show/Hide Camera Control
• Show/Hide Brick Palette
• Show/Hide Tool Box
• Show/Hide Templates
• Show/Hide Brick viewer
• Show/Hide Player
• Reset Interface

Ctrl-I
Ctrl-E
Shft-Ctrl-S
Ctrl-Q
Ctrl-X
Ctrl-C
Ctrl-V
Delete key
Ctrl-A
F1 key
F2 key
F3 key
Ctrl-1
Ctrl-2
Ctrl-3
Ctrl-4
Ctrl-3
Ctrl-2
Ctrl-5

Cmd-I
Cmd-E
Shift-Cmd-S
Cmd-Q
Cmd-X
Cmd-C
Cmd-V
Delete key
Cmd-A
Cmd-?
F2 key
F3 key
Cmd-1
Cmd-2
Cmd-3
Cmd-4
Cmd-5
Cmd-2
Cmd-5