How to make professional LEGO instructions!

You’ve sent a lot of questions about the program we used for our LEGO instructions. Therefore I made this tutorial.

First of all you need your LEGO creation. You could also make instructions without your creation, but that is really difficult. These 7 steps will teach you how to make those professional LEGO instructions.


       Step 1: How to download MLCad and LDview
The first thing you’ve to do is to download MLCad and LDview from www.ldraw.org. With these programs you can make the instructions. Click on Get Started in the left menu, underneath the Software header to download the program.
You’re now in the Get started area. Click on the installation guide (Windows, Macintosh or Linux). We’ll only help you with the Windows version in this tutorial.
So if you’ve got Windows software on your computer click on LDraw Tools Installer (Recommended). Scroll downwards until you see How do I install LDraw and download the ldraw_setup_2006g3_full_J.exe file by clicking on the file.




       Step 2: How to install MLCad and LDview
After you’ve downloaded the .exe file, you have to install the file. Double-click on the .exe file and follow the install menu. Choose at the third window the intermediate install type. Then just finish the rest of the installation. You could use this page if you have errors with the installation.


       Step 3: How to launch MLCad and LDview
To launch MLCad, double-click on the icon of MLCad on your desktop. You’ll get an error window, like on the image. Change the Base Path in C:/LDraw and click on the OK button. Now you’ve launched MLCad. To launch LDview just double-click on the LDview icon on your desktop.




       Step 4: How to make a digital LEGO model
Launch MLCad to make your model. It’s easier to make models/instructions, if you’ve made the model already with real LEGO, otherwise you’ll make too much faults. To make your model, choose your bricks in the left brick menu.
To make for example a 4x4x2 model, drag four 2x4 bricks to your screen. You can find the bricks in the left menu. For the 2x4 brick, click on Brick. Then search for Brick 2 x 4. Click it and drag it to the screen to the right position. Then just repeat this action four times, and drag the four 2x4 bricks to the right position. You’ve made your own LEGO model! To change the colour of a brick, select it and click on the colour you need in the colour bar. The colour of the brick has changed.



Now you have to save your model. Click in the menu on File and then on Save. Give your model a name and save it.
It costs a lot of time to make a model of your LEGO creation, so don’t be impatient. It’ll go faster when you have more experience, so just practice.

       Tips for modelling with MLCad:
Set the grid to fine mode (see the image) to work more accurate.

Use the Move buttons to move the bricks very accurate.

You can rotate the bricks with the rotate menu (see the image).

You can use the window in the left-under corner to search the bricks easier and quicker.




       Step 5: How to display your model with LDview
After you’ve launched LDview, a window will automatically open. Select your model in the correct map and click on Open. Now you see your model in spectacular 3D graphics. You can rotate your model with your cursor.

       Tips for using LDview:
You can change the colour of the background by clicking on the Gear icon, (preferences). After you opened the window, you can change the colour of the background in the General tab.

Experiment with the buttons in the top menu. You can show the edge lines for example.

You can also download the models of our LEGO creations from Lkmachines.com. Just download the file from the creation’s page and open it with LDview to take a closer look or to modify it with MLCad.


       Step 6: How to make instructions with MLCad and LDview
You can combine MLCad and LDview to make instructions for your creation. But be aware of the fact that it costs you a lot of time!

Just make the first part of your creation, which will be the first step in your instructions. Save it and give it an obvious name, like Single Shot Lego Gun step 1. Launch LDview and open Single Shot Lego Gun step 1.ldr. Rotate it until it's in the good position and click on the camera in the menu. You’ve made a picture of your Single Shot Lego Gun step 1. Then make Single Shot Lego Gun step 2 and do the same. Repeat these steps until you’ve made a good picture of all the necessary steps.


       Step 7: How to give other LEGO fans your instructions
A lot of people can’t make good LEGO creations without any instructions. And you can help them with your professional homemade LEGO instructions! You can send your own LEGO instructions to support@lkmachines.com and we will upload them on www.lkmachines.com! Just send us an email and send the instructions as an attachment with it (please only send the separate pictures of the instructions, we’ll do the rest of the instructions). Your instructions will be viewed from all over the world!


Any corrections, more tips or do you still have a question? Please post them beneath this article and we will modify the tutorial and answer your question.

RoeNand