How to make Walter

Hi guys, earlier John told you all about 'Walter', so I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and show you how to make him in 5 really easy steps.
But before that, these are the pieces you'll need.

1) So, now you've got all the pieces ready, here's what to do. First attach these three pieces together.

2) Now, put the last part to one side and put the next two pieces together.

3) Now, get back the piece from the first step and attach it to the one from the previous set to get this:

Finally attach the next two pieces and you're done. Make sure to push the eyes on properly or they'll fall off.

Make sure you send in your pics of walter to brickspace. Enjoy!
NB For more info, and to see Dan Solo's instructions, just click here.



-Luke, editor

Secret Lego II: Hinge and Flame

Hello and welcome to the second in the Secret Lego series!!

For this tutorial about the ways in which Lego pieces fit together that Jørgen doesn't want you to know about, we're gonna focus on an easy way of mounting the flame brick:

Here it is. Pretty cool. Some of you may know that it can create pretty cool rings of fire, but, if you don't, then I'll leave that one 'till later.

Now then, you'll need one of these beauties: the top part of a hinge brick. These come in 1x2 and 2x2 versions, but I think I'll just use this one. Note that you don't need the bottom part of the hinge at any point in this tutorial. Now let's connect the two...

Like so! See how the stem of the flame piece fits perfectly into the cut-out section of the hinge part. It stays there pretty firmly, too.

You can also affix the flame part to the hinge piece by means of the flame's upper stem as well, creating a lovely jaunty angle.

Now we can use the clever combination to give our abstract wood pile a bit of flare - literally! Using this technique, you can easily solve any flame problems you have. Apart from a real fire, of course! You'd need the fire department for that, not me!!

Thanks for reading, and remember:

Sssh! It's a secret!™

Editing your photos (continued...)

A little while ago I did a Tips & Tricks post about editing your photos to make them look great (Which you can go to by clicking here), and I just wanted to show you how much difference it makes. I usually edit most of the pictures I post, to make them look great and below is a half edited picture. The left half is normal, and the right half has had it's background cut out.

-Luke, editor

Secret Lego I: The Ice-Cream Brick

Hey there, and welcome to the first of our new series of posts: Secret Lego! Secret Lego is a series of Tips+Tricks posts where we show you ways in which Lego parts can fit together, that the big Jørgen doesn't want you to know! This time, we're gonna show you the secrets of the ice cream brick...

This is a conventional Ice Cream Brick. Not very common, but not very rare either. It should be quite easy to get your hands on a few. There were two, just like this, included in last year's Advent Calendar. They are very simple: the usual tube connection on the bottom, with a special ridge, and a pile of four spheres on top. Hence an ice cream.

So then, here is the first trick you can do with the Ice Cream Brick. Plonking one on top of the other will create a handy universal (ball and socket) joint, which you can use to make decorative bobbly things.

Of course, as some of you may know, the Ice Cream Brick can fit snugly into the old wine glass accessory piece, which also sports a little ridge. So you can have an ice cream in a cup. Nothing close to an ice cream cone, but we're nearly there.

Let's apply these methods in an everyday examples. Here is a cannon I am building. Its barrell is actually a cup, hollow part facing out. And I want to make the cannonball look as if it is flying out. Now, as some of you may know by searching around MOCpages, Ice Cream Bricks are very useful to emulate smoke, because of their bobbly texture and stackability. So, let's get connecting...

Ta-dah! Connecting two ice cream bricks between the cannonball and the wine glass brick, we have created a perfect explosion smoke-trail effect. Check out the next installment of Secret Lego, coming your way soon on Brickspace! And remember:

Sssshh! It's a secret!

Brick Separator

Are you fed up of your bricks getting stuck together, and pulling your hair (and fingernails) out trying to break them apart? Well, fear no longer. You can get the brick separator from lego for just £1. I got one recently, and theyre so useful. You can buy them from the lego store by clicking here.


-Luke, editor

T&T's: Adding cool backgrounds to your creations

Cut your image out (Using the tecnique in one of my previous Tips & Tips posts which you can find by clicking here) but this time, make sure to make the background trransparent (which you can do by selecting the area and clicking "colours" then "colour to alpha" if you use GIMP). Once it is cut out, save it as a png, and remember the location you saved it in for later.
-You don't need to do the above step, you can cut the image out using other software if you want
Now, find the image you want to use as the background image and open it in your photo editing software. Then drag and drop the other image in, move it into the correct spot and change it to the correct size. Then save it and you're done!

Step 1- Cut out the creation (Trooper by Jehkay)

Step 2- Find a cool background image

Step 3- Drag your creation image into the background image

Star in your own GO MINIMAN GO movie

Easily create your own Go Miniman Go movie, go to www.gominimango.com/miniyou/ and upload your (and if you want 2 other friends) picture. Then just wait as it puts you in the movie. Then you can share it via any blogging service, email, iGoogle or just watch it yourself. Check out my version, look for John, Tim and I. Can you find us?
Click here to watch it in all its full screen glory.

Behind the Bricks- Turning

-Luke, editor

Behind the Bricks- Walking

Hope you like this simplified version of behind the bricks which I made. Thanks to John for the technique which I found on the original "Behind the bricks".

-Luke, editor

Lighting

Lighting is key to any picture, whether Lego or not. In this quick tutorial, our admin John will explain to you the basics of lighting and an introduction to one, two, three and also four-point lighting systems.

Whenever I see a Brickfilm on YouTube, my perspective of it is not based on whether there are some good fight scenes in it, or cool minifigs and sounds and modded guns from BrickArms. I see the Brickfilm as it was made: with lights, cameras, and a script. Lighting is essential in ALL Brickfilms and pictures taken of your lego creations, for if it wasn't very good, you wouldn't be able to see the creation at all! My colleague Luke, as some of you may know, is forever criticizing otherwise-good creations because of their lighting and picture quality.

So, let's get our equipment together. To start, let's get ourselves two angle-poised desk lamps, preferably with daylight bulbs, but halogen is OK. You'll also need a stable table (ha ha that rhymes), a DECENT camera, and some willing lego subjects. Please note not to use any bulbs over 50W (50 Watts), because you might melt your lego. No, really!

Ok, let's get started. Turn on your first lamp, on the left. Ta-dah! You've created light! Now take a picture of your lego subject (in this case, Mr Johnson, a famous lego figure).

Hmm. This picture is OK. The lighting really isn't good enough, there are huge drop shadows on Mr Johnson and half of Mr Johnson's body is obscured in a dark cast shadow. Let's improve this... by turning on the next light! Mwa ha ha!

Ok, this is looking great now! Mr Johnson is nice and bright, the colours are vibrant and he's not in the shade anymore! By adding in another - opposite - light, we've cancelled out the shadows made by the first one, and our picture is starting to take shape! Wa-hoo!

Now, you could leave it there, but take a look at the table behind Mr Johnson. Doesn't it look a bit orange? Well, that's caused by the two halogen bulbs. Halogen bulbs give off yellow-orange light that can cause colour problems. The chances are, the bulbs in your lights are halogen. To fix this, you can use daylight bulbs - bulbs with a 'white' light. 

So let's add a third light into our setup: a small one, this time, but still as powerful. It doesn't matter whether it's halogen or daylight.

And....BANG! Our image comes alive! Mr Johnson is glittering in the glow of the third light, which adds more light to the setup and also gets rid of any unwanted shadows. The third light can also be used to illuminate the background.

Add in a fourth light and you have the ultimate in lighting layouts. Though a fourth light can be placed anywhere, the main idea in a fourth light is to properly illuminate the background which, in this picture, is not really the best idea. The fourth light should be placed on the other side of the subject to the third light, the same distance away. However this light is pointed at the background, whereas the third light is pointed at the subject.

Well I hope that helps you in your quest for the ultimate lego pic! Good luck!

-John, Admin

Coolris

Download piclens by clicking here. It makes viewing brickspace much easier, and you can see how to use it by wattching the above video. Please note Coolris is just the new name for Piclens.

-Luke, editor

Make your own...Nannish Staricases!

The razor-sharp edges of the beige blocks make a stark background for the black, foreboding minifigures dying on each surface. On one wall, a rectangular void drips blood. On another, a scorpion digs its Lego pincers into its minifigure prey. On a platform close to the top, two swirling staircases circle each other, creating an amazing double-helix shape. This is a description of Nannan Zhang's Metamorphosis III: Insanity, An intricate metaphor of madness. The staircase also shows up in Contortion, another of Zhang's works, in which they form the basis of the creation.

But how are these staircases made? How do those 2x2 plates connect at an angle? Well, here's a short video showing you how to make your own Nannish Staircases. Here's one I made earlier (ha ha ha)...

Double whammy: Making your creations look great & Oblivion

Quite often, you spend ages making a great lego model, take a picture to put on somewhere like moc pages or brickshelf only to find it looks terrible because you've got lots of things in the background, like your bed or other models. Well you can make your creations look great, quickly and easily by using GIMP. It's a free photo editing software, and you can go to the website and download it by clicking here. Then just use the magic wand tool and the eraser to get rid of the messy background (NB it works better if you have a single solid colour in the beckground). Here's an example I did earlier.

Notice how much more professional the bottom one looks. Please note you can make yours look better than that by taking your time. I did that one really quickly. Now for the review...

This sculpture, named Oblivion, was created by Nowhere Man. There isn't much to say, other than it looks great. The colours are good, and my only criticism is the dark, blurred photo. You can find more pictures of it by clicking here.

-Luke, editor