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Rebrickable: Making other sets from the sets you have

andheandhe Member Posts: 4,000
edited February 2012 in Building and Techniques
For want of a better title, I found this link to a site called http://rebrickable.com/ which lets you enter 6 sets you have and shows you what other sets you could make from the pieces. Or gives you a percentage of how much of the other set you own and will give you a list of the pieces you are missing!
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Comments

  • rebrickablerebrickable Member Posts: 36
    Hi, I'm the creator of Rebrickable and I'm glad you like it :) I'd just like to point out that after you sign up you can add unlimited sets, either manually or importing your sets from Bricklink or Peeron. Happy to answer any questions?
    - Nathan
  • atkinsaratkinsar Member Posts: 4,258
    That looks great Nathan, you've clearly put a lot of time and effort into it and with good results at first glance. I haven't got time to check it out fully now, but will do so over the weekend.

    Quick question, I just tried to import my Brickset list but it gave an error, is this import supposed to be working yet?
  • rebrickablerebrickable Member Posts: 36
    Thanks, it has been a while in the making! It is supposed to be working and has been for a while, I'm not aware of any errors but I just added Peeron import functionality so might have broken something. Could you please send me your file and I'll take a look: support at rebrickable dot com.
  • StuBoyStuBoy Member Posts: 623
    Awesome site! Thanks for the link, I've been waiting for something like this, a lot slicker and user-friendly than Peeron. My Brickset import worked fine.
  • atkinsaratkinsar Member Posts: 4,258
    Ok, had another go, it does seem to have actually imported some of the sets (those in your database only maybe??) but it still gives an error. That's good enough for now though for me to have a good play with the site.

    Next question then, and I may have missed this, but once you get to the screen where it says you can build this set and you have this many pieces missing, is there a way of seeing which pieces need to be taken from which sets?
  • HuwHuw Administrator Posts: 7,116
    Very cool site, rebrickable. I think we might need to discuss some sort of collaboration to our mutual benefit, if you're up for it.
  • rebrickablerebrickable Member Posts: 36
    @StuBoy - thanks :) it also shows you the best % matches which I don't believe peeron can do?
    @Atkinsar - correct in that it will not load sets I don't yet have in the database (will get them all in eventually!), but it still should not error. I'd still like to take a look at your file if you don't mind, errors are bad mmm'kay :)
  • rebrickablerebrickable Member Posts: 36
    Very cool site, rebrickable. I think we might need to discuss some sort of collaboration to our mutual benefit, if you're up for it.
    Absolutely! That would be fantastic :D
  • atkinsaratkinsar Member Posts: 4,258
    edited September 2011
    ^^ I've sent you my .csv file.
  • andheandhe Member Posts: 4,000
    For a brief moment after logging in I thought I'd become massively popular. Be great to see some sort of link up between all these sites though.
  • StuBoyStuBoy Member Posts: 623
    @rebrickable - Yeah I noticed that, great feature. I've been building a few old Forestmen sets lately, this site would have been great for seeing what I've got and what I need. Will definitely use it next time!
  • rebrickablerebrickable Member Posts: 36
    You may have noticed I also have a number of MOCs with building instructions that have been added (mostly technic, some star wars). I have quite a lot more still to be added (if only there were more time in the day!), but if you know of any from non-technic themes I'd love to hear about them - they seem to be hard to find.
  • rebrickablerebrickable Member Posts: 36
    @atkinsar - haha I just got your file and noticed how many sets you have.... omg! I'm jealous :)
  • atkinsaratkinsar Member Posts: 4,258
    I am but a small fish in a very big pond round here ;o)
  • StuBoyStuBoy Member Posts: 623
    @rebrickable - http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/201803

    Here's a link to a guy that designed an Optimus Prime with LDD instructions. You could ask his permission to use this on your site. I've built it and while the LDD instructions are a bit confused and don't piece together in what would seem like the logical order, it looks pretty cool sitting on my desk!
  • rebrickablerebrickable Member Posts: 36
    @Stuboy - that's cool :) I'll add it to my list, thanks. For now I'm not adding LDD files but will later. I would prefer to come up with a better way of auto-generating building instructions from these CAD files first.
  • vortexdragonvortexdragon Member Posts: 24
    Wow this is awesome. I was looking for something like this every since I got back into Lego a little while ago.
  • Si_UKNZSi_UKNZ Member Posts: 4,179
    edited September 2011
    Haven't tried this yet (I'm at work) but what a great idea - this exactly the kind of site I've always been looking for - so useful. It would be nice too if you could reverse engineer it, i.e. if you want to build a particular set, you can see the different combinations which could be used to get the bricks.

    Please take @Huw up on his offer, because with Brickset's reach this would benefit many people a great deal.
  • MinifigsMeMinifigsMe Member Posts: 2,844
    ^ Can't wait to try this later - thanks so much!
  • rebrickablerebrickable Member Posts: 36
    @Si_Dorking_Surrey_UK - you can do the reverse search by choosing a set you want to build and specifying at least one set which you own, then at the bottom of the page there is a list of "Other Sets to Consider" which shows how many of the missing parts they contain and you can include them in the search to recalculate etc. I also have plans to make this functionality a bit clearer, since its even hard to explain!
  • rebrickablerebrickable Member Posts: 36
    @atkinsar Sorry, I missed part of your earlier question. No there's currently no way to show which sets you are pulling parts from to build something, but I have been asked by others for that capability. It's not something I can add easily as there are plenty of common parts between sets so one specific part might come from any number of your hundreds of sets. I will definitely keep thinking about it though!
  • MatthewMatthew Administrator Posts: 3,714
    Same for me too, It's giving me an error and not importing any of them.
  • atkinsaratkinsar Member Posts: 4,258
    edited September 2011
    ^^ You could list the parts down the left-hand side, then show which sets I own that contain that part on the right of each part. I'm sure Huw has a page on Brickset that does something similar with Minifigs, but I can't for the life of me find it right now, @Huw, help!
  • rebrickablerebrickable Member Posts: 36
    @Matthew - can you please email me your file? support at rebrickable dot com
  • rebrickablerebrickable Member Posts: 36
    @atkinsar - that sounds like a good method, thanks :)
  • MatthewMatthew Administrator Posts: 3,714
    @atkinsar, it's the search results page if you search for a minifigure
    @rebrickable - will do
  • atkinsaratkinsar Member Posts: 4,258
    ^ yes that's it thank you! I'd tried everywhere else. I had something like this in mind @rebrickable:

    http://www.brickset.com/minifigs/browse/?query=darth vader
  • legoDadlegoDad Member Posts: 529
    Very cool site...I have to sign up!

    That Tie-Fighter moc looks better than the new official one coming out IMHO.
  • rebrickablerebrickable Member Posts: 36
    @Matthew The problem in your file was a newline character in the notes field.. I have updated the code to handle this scenario so it should work now!
    @atkinsar Thanks, that looks neat.
    @legoDad I'm sure Anio would like to hear that, I just wish I had instructions for his other MOCs. Maybe I'll try creating some myself!
  • gratefulnatgratefulnat Member Posts: 432
    What an amazing site you are creating.

    I think this could turn into something amazing. The amount of work you are putting into this is incredible - and please continue to do so :)

    Great to see you receiving so much support here as well, us AFOL's can only benefit from all this interaction.

    Thanks!
  • Cam_n_StuCam_n_Stu Member Posts: 368
    This is exactly the website I was asking for some months back. Fantastic work so far, please keep it up!
  • drdavewatforddrdavewatford Administrator Posts: 6,756
    Not had a chance to check this out yet; what does it offer over and above Peeron's facility for determining if you can build a set from loose parts + those you own in other sets ?
  • rebrickablerebrickable Member Posts: 36
    @gratefulnat - Thank you :) I am certainly feeling the support from everyone! I really had no idea how it would be received when I started.
    @Cam_n_Stu - haha well I've been working on it most of this year but only made it public a few weeks ago.
    @drdavewarford - I'm not much of a salesman, but here goes: you can perform a search for sets that you can build rather than having to specify a particular one you are interested in. Plus it's pretty and FAST :) I'm not trying to compete with peeron, I didn't even know they had this functionality before I released mine!
  • drdavewatforddrdavewatford Administrator Posts: 6,756
    edited September 2011
    ^ Thanks for the clarification; when I took a look at the front end it asked me to specify 6 sets I had which I didn't really understand the point of, but given that you can actually upload your whole setlist then that makes more sense. I do like the idea of being able to generate a list of sets I *don't* have from the list of sets I *do* have - nice feature if it works. And yes - speed is certainly an issue with Peeron which is sloooow. So I'll certainly have a longer look, although given that I don't mix my sets I doubt I'll ever get to use it as intended ! Nice that you're including some MOCs in the system too - I've built both of Anio's Star Wars MOCs that you have on the site and they're superb.
  • rebrickablerebrickable Member Posts: 36
    @drdavewatford thanks for the feedback, I could probably do better at explaining how/what the site does to those who don't already know.
  • MrBerreMrBerre Member Posts: 246
    Great idea and already well executed.
  • Si_UKNZSi_UKNZ Member Posts: 4,179
    edited September 2011
    Are you sure this site actually works? Apparently, if you combine all 6 of the modulars, the closest you can get to buliding a full set is 80% of 30130-1 Mini Black Pearl.
    Doesnt seem right to me ...
    http://rebrickable.com/pick_set?p=1&s1=10185&s2=10211&s3=10182&s4=10197&s5=10190&s6=10218&c=1&s=show+all
  • rebrickablerebrickable Member Posts: 36
    @Si_Dorking_Surrey_UK - Don't forget its considering colour as well. If you pick "Ignore" colours you get a better match. "Close" matching is the default and will equate various shades of gray, yellow and orange, etc... but for example the 3660 slope brick in the mini black pearl is black and the only 3660 bricks in the buildings are all grey or tan. If you do find a specific problem I'd love to hear about it, I don't claim its all 100% perfect, but I am trying very hard to make the data as correct as possible.
  • Si_UKNZSi_UKNZ Member Posts: 4,179
    edited September 2011
    OK, cool, Im just putting things up here as I play with it ...

    If you choose to bulid a set which it doesnt recognise, it gives a divide by zero error:
    http://rebrickable.com/build_set?s=10217&s1=10185&s2=8109&s3=10182&s4=10197&s5=10190&s6=10218&c=1

    Build
    0 ()
    Pick another set...
    Warning: Division by zero in /home/kimie2/public_html/rebrickable/build_set.php on line 226
  • rebrickablerebrickable Member Posts: 36
    @Si_Dorking_Surrey_UK Thanks, always happy to see bugs I can squash. I actually just tested that on my local copy and it worked so was about bang my head against something, then realised that's because I have the Harry Potter data all set to go but haven't uploaded it to the live site yet :D
  • Si_UKNZSi_UKNZ Member Posts: 4,179
    edited September 2011
    @rebrickable,
    Ahh yes, was wondering about that - combining all the Hogwarts castles was the first thing I tried :o)

    The general lack of matches is quite a shock to me. For example, you would have thought that combining the 6 biggest castle sets would yield something, but not really.
    http://rebrickable.com/pick_set?p=1&s1=7094&s2=10176&s3=8877&s4=7097&s5=7946&s6=10193&c=2&s=show+all

    I'm starting to wonder if this is actually a reflection of the shocking lack of reuse of parts in Lego these days.
  • rebrickablerebrickable Member Posts: 36
    @Si_Dorking_Surrey_UK - I thought the same thing, I even wonder if LEGO purposefully run something similar to my site internally to make sure no set can be made too easily from other sets. At least with the few % differences it makes people think about alternate methods of building things.
  • jwsmartjwsmart Member Posts: 298
    @rebrickable - Great Site! Out of curiosity, what format do you want MOCs in?
  • rebrickablerebrickable Member Posts: 36
    @jwsmart - Anything that I can pull out a parts list and has separate building instructions . Easiest are MPD/LDR files as I can automate that, hardest are the non-3D ones with photos of the parts which take a lot more time to get in and are prone to mistakes, but I've done plenty of them.
  • Cam_n_StuCam_n_Stu Member Posts: 368
    @rebrickable - As you add more sets to the DB will my imported Brickset Set List automatically update or will I need to re-import it?
  • rebrickablerebrickable Member Posts: 36
    @Cam_n_Stu - No sorry you will need to reimport it. You can select the replace option though which should make it easier.
  • Cam_n_StuCam_n_Stu Member Posts: 368
    @rebrickable - I'm guessing you already have a long to do list with all the sets remaining to import, not to mention additional MOCs! However it would be great if you could also add the smaller 'official' builds like the LEGO Club ones including the Mystery Machine and also Shop Grand Opening sets including the unreleased Cardiff LEGO shop Welsh Dragon.
  • Cam_n_StuCam_n_Stu Member Posts: 368
    edited September 2011
    @rebrickable - Not a problem to re-import but in that case it would obviously be useful to know when new sets are added to the database. Is that something you can add to the blog or is there another method to say informed?
  • rebrickablerebrickable Member Posts: 36
    @Cam_n_Stu - I'm not sure which sets you are referring to, do you have an example link? If its possible to get a parts inventory for them, I can add them. As for the notifications, I want to setup emails (theres an option in your preferences page) when new data is added but I have not yet gotten it to work (every email gets blocked as spam). Alternatively, I usually put something on my facebook and twitter pages once I've added a big chunk of new sets. If you like my facebook page, any posts I make will automatically show up in your newsfeed. Once I've got all the sets in place, the notifications should get a lot better and more manageable :)
  • Cam_n_StuCam_n_Stu Member Posts: 368
    The Mystery Machine instructions and quite a few others can be found here:
    http://club.lego.com/en-gb/Building/BuildingSteps.aspx?cat=&showpage=0
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