The Download Munkey : Download This, Download That :)

I recently rediscovered the joy of playing with Lego bricks after playing Lego Star Wars : The Video Game non-stop for the past few weeks.

Since I completed the game, I’m been trying to find a fix for my Lego addiction on the Net and found these three virtual brick apps.

1. BlockCAD 3.18 by Anders Isaksson. This was my first introduction to the world of virtual bricks a few years ago. Free to download (Windows) (~1 MB). The selection of bricks is not strictly Lego-based.
2. Lego Digital Designer 1.6.680 - The official designer from the makers of Lego themselves. Free to download (Windows, Mac)(~16 MB). An assortment of bricks is included in the download but additional bricks have to be purchased online. Slow startup time but very easy to use with a decent set of features .
3. LDraw.org Tools - A set of Lego modelling tools contributed by the online community. Interface is similiar to 3D modellling apps. Steeper learning curve than Lego Digital Designer but is more powerful and also has more bricks. Tutorials can be found here. Free to download (Windows, Mac, Linux). (~45 MB).

My personal fave is the official Lego Digital Designer due to its ease of use and the fact that it feels more like playing than designing when using it. BlockCAD is also good but its features are more limited considering that it was written much earlier. LDraw would be the app to use if you’re aiming to design more complex models.