The difference is that MECABRICKS has an export feature supporting so called "instances" of master bricks. One master as a real model. 1.000 instance copies just for rendering. This will keep the scene of even bigger models extremely small with good performance.
The editor is very easy to use and intuitive. Once you have built the model you export it in a second and import it in a second. Extremely easy. Of course the model meshes are a bit lower but overall good for renderings. I wished they were in a kind of subdivision/nurbs format to keep it resolution independend. I had a discussion with the maker of MECABRICKS. He never thought about rendering and to rebuild everything is too much work for one person. He definitely needs support.
For the parts you don't need bevel edges. I use a rounded edge shader implemented in MODO what Nicolas Jarraud (MECABRICKS) adapted for BLENDER. This is a good solution with good results keeping the geometry simple. But it's not 100% correct because the studs have a bigger bevel. I can live with that.
I also recognized that LDRAW models are not 100% measured correctly. You will see that when comparing the studs with real LEGO and MECABRICKS models. As I understand this is a result of the LDRAW format.
All available export methods from LDRAW-tools (3DS, OBJ) failed. Then I found the BLENDER add-on and this worked but it's extremely slow when importing bigger models.
Example:
The Millennium Falcon UCE model will take via BLENDER many hours to import to BLENDER. Importing to MODO with clean-ups till ready to render will take again a few hours. Let's say you have to invest two days.
With MECABRICKS the same model will take a few seconds to export and a few seconds to import. In around 10 minutes the scene is ready to render.
The LDRAW screne takes around 1GB. The MECABRICKS scene around 40MB. Because of instances.
And another important difference: MECABRICKS is using hi-res textures for the decorations while all textures are modeled in LDRAW. This will also cause bad shading artefacts especially at Minifig-Faces/Heads.
I love LDRAW because of its huge library. But MECABRICKS is actually the way to go.
The editor is very easy to use and intuitive. Once you have built the model you export it in a second and import it in a second. Extremely easy. Of course the model meshes are a bit lower but overall good for renderings. I wished they were in a kind of subdivision/nurbs format to keep it resolution independend. I had a discussion with the maker of MECABRICKS. He never thought about rendering and to rebuild everything is too much work for one person. He definitely needs support.
For the parts you don't need bevel edges. I use a rounded edge shader implemented in MODO what Nicolas Jarraud (MECABRICKS) adapted for BLENDER. This is a good solution with good results keeping the geometry simple. But it's not 100% correct because the studs have a bigger bevel. I can live with that.
I also recognized that LDRAW models are not 100% measured correctly. You will see that when comparing the studs with real LEGO and MECABRICKS models. As I understand this is a result of the LDRAW format.
All available export methods from LDRAW-tools (3DS, OBJ) failed. Then I found the BLENDER add-on and this worked but it's extremely slow when importing bigger models.
Example:
The Millennium Falcon UCE model will take via BLENDER many hours to import to BLENDER. Importing to MODO with clean-ups till ready to render will take again a few hours. Let's say you have to invest two days.
With MECABRICKS the same model will take a few seconds to export and a few seconds to import. In around 10 minutes the scene is ready to render.
The LDRAW screne takes around 1GB. The MECABRICKS scene around 40MB. Because of instances.
And another important difference: MECABRICKS is using hi-res textures for the decorations while all textures are modeled in LDRAW. This will also cause bad shading artefacts especially at Minifig-Faces/Heads.
I love LDRAW because of its huge library. But MECABRICKS is actually the way to go.
LEGO IS MORE