Monastery (Mlcad)

[Freddy Mallins]

A Medieval monastery-like building.

123456789101112Before I actually start talking about the MOC itself, I do have two things I'd like to say:1. I did ask bonesiii, and this is NOT violating the religious rules on BZP.

The rule is against the discussion of (or posting of) religious details in post content. Shouldn't be anything controversial about an image of a church building. And similar buildings have been featured in BZP's news from brickfest-type events.

2. The program that I'm using obviously isn't Lego Digital Designer. This program is called MLCad, or Mike's Lego Cad. It's freeware, but unfortunately I can't post a link to the download page, due to there being links to other forums (but that's what we have Google for). As you can see from picture 12, it's definitely harder than LDD - for one thing, it's not just one view that you can move around, but 4 separate windows of different view points which you have to work through. There is a 3D option (on picture 12, it's the lower right-hand window), however you can't actually build in that window; it's for viewing only. Another thing is that it works a lot with math, and you can displace bricks in ways that aren't physically possible. Because MLCad is a CAD, or engineering, program, it isn't specifically designed to work with Lego like LDD does. In LDD, the program places restrictions on where you can put certain pieces - for instance, I can't put the Minifig apple piece on the Minifig plate piece (as dumb as that actually is). But in MLCad, not only can you put the apple piece on the plate piece, it's actually possible to put it through the plate piece.In this MOC, there are a few instances of non-real brick placement - both of the stained glass windows, the rope coming out of the bell (there's no flex tool in MLCad like there is in LDD, either), parts of the fence cutting into each other, and the grass on the ramp next to the building (there aren't any studs underneath it; also some of the grass pieces cut into each other and the fence/building/trees around them).So yes, there's my MOC. I had a lot of fun building this, and it's actually my first completed MLCad MOC. I've messed around with the program years before, but I'd never gotten any completed results like this. There are some things I don't like, though - namely the cramped space inside (which is extremely hard to negotiate using a digital builder unless you know your Brick geometry really well and can apply it) and a section of the roof near the right side (looking at the front) that's a bit buggered up. Other than that, I feel that it turned out quite well.

[xccj]

Yeah, I like MLCad because it has a somewhat larger selection of pieces than LDD. However, I don't like the whole overlapping thing that it allows.But moving on, this is a very cool structure. I especially like what you did with the stained glass windows; those are very cool. The grass and trees also help set the scene, and it turns out really nice. Props also given for creating this model in MLCad. Nice job.