Technic 2022

[Michael Klein]

I saw your Twitter post.

Note that the Studio render and your Blender render look similar. This is because Studio uses Blender's Cycles and the shaders from Mechabricks. There's some community politics in there that I won't delve into.

EDIT: The YouTube video didn't show up for me the first time. That's Awesome! Amazing work!

Yes, Stud.io has "stolen" the rendering concept and shaders researched by me with MODO and adapted and further developed by Nicolas Jarraud (Mecabricks) but they never updated them. Fortunately! We are not amused by this because Stud.io got more attention in the end.

The Mecabricks shaders are more complex now. I am involved in the development process as the "influencer" since the end of 2014 because all this is based on my deep research results on how to render LDraw data in a photoreal look with different 3d applications. When I found LDraw in 2000 I always came back to figure out a way how to import LDraw into Softimage XSI. At this time and till 2014 it seemed to be impossible.

2014 I found an LDraw importer for Blender not supporting shaders and instances but it was able to convert proper meshes. Then I made my first tests with MODO. When you search on Google for "rendering digital LEGO" you will find the first result of the Star Wars Snowspeeder I posted on Eurobricks.

The actual LDraw importer by Toby Lobster contains fundamental and important features like realistic shaders and instancing support because my first promising tests ended with the Millennium Falcon. It took 16 hours to convert the data to MODO and the file size was 2.4 GB. So I gave up the idea to import more complex LEGO models but then I found Mecabricks end of 2014 and contacted Nicolas Jarraud to share my results with him. This was the beginning of the efficient and photoreal rendering concept with Blender.

I can say that everything we see in the community today in terms of images and animation is based on my research from 2014. The LEGO Group itself had never responded to my inquiries about this, as I see a lot of potential here.

Best,
Michael
Renderbricks

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