Videogame programmer help

[Padulano]

Hello,

this is my first post.
I've been using the various LEGO CADs (LDD, LDraw, Stud.Io) mainly to render parts for a videogame i'm making.

Now, I have two questions, I really appreciate any answer I can get, because I'm no newbie but all of this is getting really confusing and I'm just thinking I need some clarifications.

QUESTION #1 - PARTS MISSING
Ok, I find that LDD, Stud.Io and LDraw have a lot of parts, but when it comes on minifigures the three lack a lot, really a lot of parts that I have phisically. Now, don't get me wrong, I KNOW that there is a lot of work behind anything so that every part is a lot of work from people not paied for the job, so really I understand this. But I take also into account that I am doing something wrong EG. not working properly or not looking in the right place. 
So: is that true that minifigure weapons, headgear and armours (I am doing a fantasy game) are so few, or am I looking in the wrong direction?

QUESTION #2 - BLENDER
Ok, the game I'm making it's a 2d classical styled one, so I just need renders. But I really wish to move to 3d sooner or later. I found out that my framework fully supports Blender, so I'd need something that correctly takes stuff into Blender. Well, I found here a plugin... so I was excited I tried to create a minifigure in LDraw, the simplest one, but I didn't see it correctly into Blender. So something didn't work properly. So: did anyone try to render or better animate a minifigure into Blender? If yes, I'd really like to know which process they underwent because that would be a life saver in order to create a working model of a minifigure who walks, jumps and does stuff.

Thank you very much and Merry Christmas.

[G.D. Grant]

QUESTION #1 - PARTS MISSING

Ok, I find that LDD, Stud.Io and LDraw have a lot of parts, but when it comes on minifigures the three lack a lot, really a lot of parts that I have phisically. Now, don't get me wrong, I KNOW that there is a lot of work behind anything so that every part is a lot of work from people not paied for the job, so really I understand this. But I take also into account that I am doing something wrong EG. not working properly or not looking in the right place.

A late response but, if you're still wondering, here's my best answer...
LDD isn't even in development anymore, so it's obviously lacking a lot of basics. Additionally, it doesn't have any vintage parts, except for Mindstorms™ NXT stuff (as far as I know), which is why I never use it.
In LDraw, well... There will always and forever be missing parts, because LEGO® is constantly releasing new ones. For what's of minifigure parts, it's even more work to make these because they have patterns (thank you for acknowledging that part authoring is a lot of work ?.)
So... For what regards actual minifigure faces and torso patterns, you can use LD Pattern Creator, which is available here. And here is how to use it.
For what regards solid minifigure parts, well, LDPartEditor is available here, and this is how to use it.
Also, make sure your LDraw library is updated to the latest version, just in case you're missing on some new goodies (?.)

QUESTION #2 - BLENDER

Ok, the game I'm making it's a 2d classical styled one, so I just need renders. But I really wish to move to 3d sooner or later. I found out that my framework fully supports Blender, so I'd need something that correctly takes stuff into Blender. Well, I found here a plugin... so I was excited I tried to create a minifigure in LDraw, the simplest one, but I didn't see it correctly into Blender. So something didn't work properly. So: did anyone try to render or better animate a minifigure into Blender? If yes, I'd really like to know which process they underwent because that would be a life saver in order to create a working model of a minifigure who walks, jumps and does stuff.

I fell upon that plugin too. I was going to say it's a funny coincidence, but not really since I'm pretty sure it's the only LDraw-Blender plugin out there (?.)
I remember having it function properly on my PC (which doesn't have a GPU and has an outdated CPU, so you're probably good...) But I no longer us Blender (?) since Windows updated without my CPU following, so I can't even run the old Blender on my PC anymore.
HOWEVER... You can export LDraw models from LeoCAD to a variety of different 3D file formats, and that's how I import LDraw models directly into Unity. An advantage with that is that the model is not exported as one big piece, but rather as several LEGO® pieces mounted together into a single model. This means that you can have a car's wheels turn independently from the rest of the model and a minifigure's arms and legs move around.
I can confirm that you can import many of these 3D formats to Blender as I did it myself in the past. You can also export your models from LDView, but there aren't as many options, I think.

Good luck, and God bless you.


--
G.D. Grant

[Sam Hsu]

@Padulano,

I made a fan-made LEGO PC sandbox game that can import LDraw files: https://sam-hsu.itch.io/brickformers

Maybe that can be a starting point for what you are trying to achieve?

Source code available on GitHub: https://github.com/SamHsuGit/BrickFormers

Cheers,
Sam Hsu