This document is part of the Guide to the unofficial LEGO® FTP Archive.
This page is a guide to the directory of computer-aided-design (CAD) tools in the unofficial LEGO® FTP archive. This page is maintained by David A. Karr. Please note that I do not maintain the archive itself.
This directory contains various files and tools for drawing your
own LEGO instructions or creating images of sets from descriptions.
The file README has some general remarks.
Some sites of related interest are:
The cad directory has the following subdirectories:
According to the README file, this contains
two-dimensional views of various LEGO pieces drawn by
Ed J. Gurney (egurney@vcd.hp.com).
There are files for use with Canvas, Adobe Illustrator, and PostScript.
This contains two-dimensional views of various LEGO pieces by Steve Putz (putz@parc.xerox.com), suitable for use in FrameMaker or compatible tools. (Maker Interchange Format files are provided.) A few examples of constructions (such as a LEGO elevator) are provided.
This contains a program by Todd Lehman (lehman@geom.umn.edu) for drawing layouts of specialized LEGO baseplates (such as crater plates and road plates). The program requires a PC with VGA graphics.
This contains PostScript files by moselecw@elec.canterbury.ac.nz with two-dimensional drawings of LEGO pieces and drawings of a tractor built from those pieces.
This directory contains a PostScript ``program'' by Stephen Gustavson (stefang@isy.liu.se) capable of producing true three-dimensional views of LEGO models. The program has certain drawbacks (for example, it isn't able to deduce the correct order of drawing to provide the correct occlusions, and in some cases can't draw the pieces correctly at all unless the user manually ``breaks up'' some pieces), but it produces the best ``instruction-style'' drawings this reviewer has yet seen. Stephen Gustavson explains:
The file legoPS.sh has everything you need to do drawings of lego models in the postscript language. The installed directory is just an expanded version of legoPS.sh for your browsing pleasure.
There are some excellent examples of the output of this program on Brian Ward's LEGO page in Austria and in the United States.
This directory contains the "Virtual Reality Building Blocks" program by Brian Paul (brianp@ssec.wisc.edu). This program runs only on Silicon Graphics workstations, but it presumably produces three-dimensional drawings.