(Sadly, James died in 1997 at the age of 26 from complications of influenza something especially relevant to our current times.) In 2004, The LEGO Group released their own LEGO Digital Designer (LDD) tool for fan usage. In fact, one of my first MOCs coming out of my dark-age was a train that I designed using LDD, and then purchased the parts to build it via the now-defunct LEGO Design byMe program. These days, that type of integration of procuring physical parts to build digital creations is offered using the Studio program and its association with BrickLink. He created LDraw-and its extensive digital parts library-and then freely shared all of his efforts with the building community. Australian James Jessiman was the pioneer in creating the first digital building app that LEGO fans could use.

Younger readers may be surprised to learn that digital building has been kicking around since the 1990s.

There are certainly benefits to building digitally it’s fairly easy to swap out parts without needing a brick separator, to recolor models with a click of the mouse, to create gravity-defying structures, to have access to an unlimited assortment of parts, or even to create your own custom parts. For those interested in getting started, the Firestar Toys blog has a great write-up on all of the different digital building programs that are available today. Digital building of LEGO models has become increasingly popular within the fan community in recent years, especially with digital rendering tools continuing to improve in quality.

Digital lego building software