‘It was the best day of my life, so far!” said one of the three boys who enjoyed an afternoon of Lego fun this weekend with ex-Legoland model builder, Jamie. Jamie has an amazing Lego collection and during the afternoon shared some of his secrets to Lego building. They all agreed that making this animation above was the highlight, so read on to find out how they made it and what else they got to learn.
The boys used the animation software AnimatorDV Simple+ to create their mini movie, which they named ‘Squash’. Using the technique of stop animation, they created a moving image by taking a series of still photos, changing the Lego figures positions a little bit each time. When they played them in sequence it looked like the Lego figures were moving. There were 12 frames (photos) for each second so, as you can imagine, it took a while to create even this short movie.
Jamie also had lots of Lego models to show the boys. Each used a variety of remote controls and pneumatics together with motors, gears and pistons to create a wide range of movements.
He also showed the boys how to create copies of their favourite movie or real life vehicles by scaling them down to size on special Lego paper.
Have you ever wondered how it’s possible to create a curve shape with flat-faced Lego bricks? We’ll Jamie revealed the secret! He showed the boys how to plan it out using special paper, a compass and some maths.
It was pretty tricky to do, but it was worth seeing it through to the end.
Jamie is a dad of one of our Preschool children. He kindly offered to share his tips and passion for Lego as an item to bid for at our recent ‘Silent Auction’ fund raising event. Many thanks, Jamie. The lucky boys certainly had an amazing afternoon. I think you well and truly have inspired them to further their own passion for Lego building.