Answers.Body: <p><a href="http://ldd.lego.com/">Lego Digital Designer</a> (~140mb, Mac and PC) is quite useful for creating 3D designs. I haven't personally used it that much but it is quite a powerful tool. It will tell you the number of bricks used in a model as well.</p>
  
  <p>At a pinch, MS Paint (pixel-based), Google Sketchup (find some templates for bricks) and Minecraft could even be used for planing builds.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2011-10-26T22:24:42.643Z
Answers.Text: This doesn't seem to answer the question as asked. Or  explain what advantage LDD has?
Answers.UserDisplayName: Erik Olson
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2011-10-25T20:08:59.550Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2011-10-25T20:15:29.993Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2011-10-25T20:15:29.993Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: tombull89
Body: <p>It can be a big challenge to create a design for a large object. Are there techniques or tools to simplify this, and to help estimate numbers of blocks required? </p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-04-07T18:37:17.493Z
Comments.Text: If you have a 3D model of the real world object, you could check out this question: http://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/3074/is-there-a-way-to-convert-a-3d-model-into-a-lego-sculpture/3075#3075
Comments.UserDisplayName: hmatt1
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2011-10-25T20:35:08.700Z
Comments.Text: You can convert your LEGO design to a virtual object! http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=56336
Comments.UserDisplayName: fredley
Tags: <tools>
Title: Do tools exist to help me translate a real world object to a LEGO design?
UserDisplayName: Rory Alsop
ThreadText: # Do tools exist to help me translate a real world object to a LEGO design?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2011-10-25)
  
  It can be a big challenge to create a design for a large object. Are there techniques or tools to simplify this, and to help estimate numbers of blocks required?
  
  **Tags:** tools
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_2**: You can convert your LEGO design to a virtual object! http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=56336  
  > **username_1**: If you have a 3D model of the real world object, you could check out this question: http://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/3074/is-there-a-way-to-convert-a-3d-model-into-a-lego-sculpture/3075#3075  
  
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  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2011-10-25. Score: 17 | Accepted answer
  
  [Lego Digital Designer](http://ldd.lego.com/) (~140mb, Mac and PC) is quite useful for creating 3D designs. I haven't personally used it that much but it is quite a powerful tool. It will tell you the number of bricks used in a model as well.
  
  At a pinch, MS Paint (pixel-based), Google Sketchup (find some templates for bricks) and Minecraft could even be used for planing builds.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_4**: This doesn't seem to answer the question as asked. Or  explain what advantage LDD has?  
  
  ---
  
  