Building
Menus and commands
Every command in the Brickworks menu, File, Edit, View, Build, Tools and Help, with its key and what it does.
Find a command
Press Ctrl+/, or choose Find a command… in the Brickworks menu, and type a few letters of a command's name or of its menu: "same colour", "export picture", "turn left". Each row says the command's key and where it is in the menus. ↑ and ↓ move, Enter runs it as its menu would, Esc puts the box away. A command that cannot be used yet stays in the list, greyed, saying what it waits for, such as "Select a part first". The ones you ran last come first. In the desktop app Ctrl+Shift+P opens it too.
Every command in the app's menus, in the order the menus have them, with its key and the words its tooltip says. Made from the app itself, so it matches the version on the web.
The Brickworks menu
The mark at the far left of the menu bar, where a CAD program keeps its own menu. F6 goes to it first. Back to brickworks.diy is in a browser only.
| Command | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| About Brickworks | ||
| Send feedback… | Something wrong, an idea or a question, to the people who make Brickworks | |
| Find a command… | Ctrl+/ | Any command by its name or its menu: type a few letters, then Enter |
| Brickworks website | ||
| Documentation | How everything in Brickworks works, on brickworks.diy | |
| Beta hub | For beta testers: what to try, what we know is wrong, and how to tell us | |
| Account… | Who is signed in, and Sign out | |
| Back to brickworks.diy | Leave the app for the website's home page, in this tab |
File
| Command | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| New | Ctrl+N | Start a new model on an empty baseplate |
| New window | Ctrl+Shift+N | Start a new model in a window of its own |
| Open… | Ctrl+O | Reopen a saved model, an example, or a file from this computer |
| Library… | Any of LDraw's models of real sets, or a model the community shared, opened in a new window | |
| My collection… | The sets and parts you own: from Rebrickable, BrickLink, or typed in | |
| What can I build?… | Models ranked by how much of each you already own | |
| Save | Ctrl+S | Keep this model under its name |
| Save as… | Ctrl+Shift+S | Keep a copy of this model under another name |
| Versions… | The last 20 saves of this model, to open one again or compare it with | |
| Compare with… | What changed since one of this model's saves: added green, removed red, moved amber | |
| Share… | A link anyone can open to see this model, its steps and its parts list | |
| Build together… | Build this model with someone else, live, each in their own browser or the app | |
| Comments… | Comments pinned to the model's parts, kept with it, and a new one on the part selected | |
| Render… | A photo-real picture or turntable of the model, on a backdrop, in studio light | |
| Render queue… | Pictures lined up with Render's settings and drawn one after another while you go on building | |
| Clear the baseplate… | Empty the baseplate. Asks first: it cannot be undone | |
| Quit | Ctrl+Q |
File › Open recent
Filled as it opens, with what is yours: your recent models, or the steps you can go back to.
File › Import
| Command | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| LDraw model (.ldr, .mpd)… | ||
| BrickLink Studio model (.io)… | ||
| LEGO® Digital Designer model (.lxf)… | ||
| 3D model to brickify (.obj, .stl, .ply, .3mf, .vox, .fbx, .gltf, .glb)… | A sculpt, a scan or any 3D model, laid in bricks |
File › Export
| Command | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| LDraw model (.ldr, or .mpd with its sub-models) | ||
| BrickLink Studio model (.io) | ||
| 3D model (.glb, .gltf, .obj, .stl)… | The model as a 3D file for Blender, AR or a 3D printer | |
| Picture of the model (.png) | ||
| BrickLink wanted list (.xml) | ||
| Rebrickable parts list (.csv) | ||
| All my models (.zip) | Every model saved here, as LDraw files in one .zip: a copy of your own |
Edit
| Command | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Undo | Ctrl+Z | Take back the last change |
| Redo | Ctrl+Shift+Z | Put it back |
| Cut | Ctrl+X | Take the selection off the model, to paste somewhere else |
| Copy | Ctrl+C | Copy the selection |
| Paste | Ctrl+V | Hold a copy of what was copied: click to put it down, R turns it |
| Duplicate | Ctrl+D | Hold a copy of the selection, to put down beside it |
| Pattern… | Ctrl+Shift+D | Copies of the selection in a row, round, or along a hose, put down at once |
| Delete | Delete | Take the selection off the model |
| Select all | Ctrl+A | |
| Select nothing | ||
| Hide | Ctrl+H | Hide the selection, to reach what is behind it |
| Show only the selection | Shift+H | Hide everything else, to work on just this |
| Show everything | Alt+H | Bring back whatever is hidden |
| Lock the selection | L | Keep the selection from being picked out, moved, painted or taken off |
| Unlock everything | Shift+L | |
| Paint the selection | C | Paint the selection the colour in hand |
| Replace with the part in hand | Swap the selection for the part you hold, each in its own colour | |
| Mirror | Shift+M | Make the selection its mirror image, left to right as you see it |
Edit › History
Filled as it opens, with what is yours: your recent models, or the steps you can go back to.
Edit › Select by
| Command | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Same colour | ||
| Same part | ||
| Same part and colour | ||
| Part number or name… | Find a part in the model by its number, its name or its colour | |
| Everything connected | ||
| Same sub-model | ||
| The opposite |
View
| Command | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Orbit tool | O | |
| Pan tool | H | |
| Zoom tool | Z | |
| Fit | F | Zoom to show the selection, or the whole model |
| Fit the model | Shift+F | Zoom to show the whole model |
| Fit the selection | ||
| Orthographic | ` | Square on, with no perspective: how a CAD drawing is read |
| Stud grid | Lines between the studs of the baseplate, for counting them | |
| Cut away | K | A plane through the model, dragged along X, Y or Z, to see and work inside it |
| X-ray | I | Everything but the selection, or the sub-assembly being edited, see-through |
| Stress | Every part tinted by how near its weakest joint is to letting go: red past its studs' working load, amber within twice it | |
| Parts bin | ||
| Assistant | ||
| Properties | What is selected: its part, colour, where it stands and what it is joined to | |
| Model tree | The model's sub-assemblies by name, inside one another | |
| Key strip | ||
| Split | F8 | A second view beside the model, square on from the front, top, side or back |
| Full screen | F11 |
View › Viewpoint
| Command | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Default view | 0 | Look at the model default view |
| From the front | 1 | Look at the model from the front |
| From the back | 2 | Look at the model from the back |
| From the left | 3 | Look at the model from the left |
| From the right | 4 | Look at the model from the right |
| From above | 5 | Look at the model from above |
| From below | 6 | Look at the model from below |
| Isometric | 7 | Look at the model isometric |
| Turn the model left | Shift+Q | |
| Turn the model right | Shift+E |
View › Floor
| Command | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Baseplate 16 × 16 | Stand the model on a 16 by 16 baseplate | |
| Baseplate 32 × 32 | Stand the model on a 32 by 32 baseplate | |
| Baseplate 48 × 48 | Stand the model on a 48 by 48 baseplate | |
| Baseplate, other size… | A baseplate of any size in eights of studs, cut from the ones the LEGO Group sells | |
| Grid floor | No baseplate: a faint ground with a line between the studs, as Studio has | |
| No floor | Nothing under the model, as a car or a ship stands on a table | |
| The baseplate is part of the model | Counted in the parts list and the shop lists, saved with the model and the first step of the booklet | |
| Start new models on this floor | What New, and a model opened from a file that does not say, stand on |
Baseplate colour:
| Command | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Green | ||
| Bright Green | ||
| Dark Green | ||
| Tan | ||
| Dark Tan | ||
| Light Bluish Grey | ||
| Dark Bluish Grey | ||
| Sand Green | ||
| Blue | ||
| White | ||
| Black | ||
| Light Grey |
View › Cut along
| Command | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Along X | ||
| Along Y | ||
| Along Z | ||
| Cut away the other side | Shift+K | |
| Leave a ghost of what is cut away |
Build
| Command | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Timeline | B | Play the build from an empty baseplate to the finished model and back |
| Next step | E | The parts put down since the last step make a step, and the next part starts another |
| Motions… | The model's own movements, Open the doors or Lift the boom: played, recorded by dragging the parts, and rendered | |
| Instructions… | Building instructions for this model, step by step | |
| Parts list | P | Every part this model needs, by colour and count |
| What do I need?… | What this model uses that you do not own, and what could stand in | |
| Make a sub-assembly… | Ctrl+G | Name the selection as a sub-assembly: it moves as one, saves as a sub-model, and its copies follow it |
| Ungroup | Ctrl+Shift+G | Take the selected sub-assembly apart one level |
| Edit inside the sub-assembly | Enter | Work on its parts one by one; what you put down goes into it (double-click does this too) |
| Done editing the sub-assembly | ||
| Rename the sub-assembly… | F2 | |
| Make this copy unique | Cut this copy loose, so editing it changes no other | |
| Suggest sections | How a builder would split this into sections, as a set into bags: shown in the model tree to accept, rename, merge or split | |
| Evaluate the section… | The selected section on its own: parts, weight, whether it holds together and stands, what joins it to the rest, its own steps | |
| Break out the section | Y | Pull the selected section away from the model to work on it, or put it back exactly where it was (Y again) |
| Put every section back | Every section broken out back exactly where it was | |
| Exploded view | Shift+Y | Every section drawn apart, and back together (Shift+Y again) |
Build › Build steps
| Command | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Move to previous step | Shift+[ | The selected parts a step earlier in the build steps |
| Move to next step | Shift+] | The selected parts a step later in the build steps, in a new step from the last |
| Move to step… | The selected parts into any step, its number typed | |
| New step from selection | Shift+N | The selected parts in a step of their own, after the step the timeline is on |
| Step earlier | The step the timeline is on, before the one ahead of it | |
| Step later | The step the timeline is on, after the one that follows it | |
| Merge with the next step | The step the timeline is on and the next made one | |
| Delete the step | Take out the step the timeline is on; its parts join the step before |
Build › Booklet page
| Command | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Turn the view left | The model turned 45 degrees for this step's picture, and the steps after it | |
| Turn the view right | The model turned 45 degrees the other way for this step's picture | |
| Look from higher | This step's picture from 15 degrees higher | |
| Look from lower | This step's picture from 15 degrees lower | |
| Use this view for the step | This step's picture drawn from the angle the window looks from now | |
| Usual view | This step drawn from the booklet's usual angle again | |
| Zoom in | This step's picture closer in on what it adds | |
| Zoom out | This step's picture further out | |
| Bigger on the page | This step drawn larger, so fewer go on its page | |
| Smaller on the page | This step drawn smaller | |
| Start a new page | This step at the top of a new page | |
| A page alone | This step on a page of its own | |
| Parts list | The box of parts this step adds, shown or left off | |
| Callout | The sub-assembly this step puts on built in a box beside it, or on pages of its own | |
| Steps a page | At most this many steps on a page: as they fit, 1, 2 or 4 | |
| Lay out the page… | This step's page by hand: drag its picture, parts list, callout and number where they go, and add words and pictures | |
| Outline new parts | The parts each step adds outlined in orange in the booklet, or not | |
| Pull out the selected parts | The selected parts of this step (all of them, none selected) drawn pulled out along the way they go in, with an arrow in; again puts them back | |
| Colour guide | This step's colours listed under its number, or not | |
| 1:1 guide | The selected parts of this step drawn at their real size, or no 1:1 guide where the booklet gives one; again as the booklet does it | |
| Sub-model preview | The sub-assembly this step puts on shown finished on the first of its own pages, or not |
Make
| Command | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Minifigure builder… | M | Make a minifigure from real parts and stand it in the model |
| Mosaic from a picture… | Turn a picture into a wall of plates | |
| Brickify a 3D model… | Ctrl+I | Bring in an OBJ, STL, PLY, 3MF, VOX, FBX or glTF model — a sculpt, a scan, anything — and lay it in bricks at the size you choose |
| Reference picture… | A photo, plan or drawing laid on the floor or stood behind the model, to build over | |
| Hose, tube or chain… | Lay a hose, a tube, a string or a chain from one connector to another, along a curve | |
| Reshape the hose or chain | Drag the selected hose's bend, or put its chain round other sprockets | |
| Part maker… | Make a part of your own from the part in hand | |
| Print on a part… | Draw a print on the part selected, printed where it stands, or on the part in hand | |
| Put a sticker on… | Click a face of the model, then draw the sticker that goes on it | |
| Printed versions… | Swap the part for one of the prints or stickered versions the LEGO Group made of it |
Tools
| Command | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Select tool | V | |
| Place the part in hand | Q | |
| Move tool | ||
| Rotate tool | ||
| Hinge tool | ||
| Connect tool | N | |
| Clone tool | ||
| Paint tool | ||
| Hide tool | ||
| Delete tool | ||
| Turn the part in hand | R | |
| Tip the part in hand on its side | T | |
| Measure | U | A ruler: click two points for the distance in studs, plates and millimetres |
| Check stability | Find the joints that would give way, and select the parts on them | |
| Simulate mechanism… | Turn a gear train from a crank or an axle: how fast each part goes, each arm's period, what locks it, and whether it stays standing as it turns | |
| Colour the hidden parts… | Give the parts nobody sees in the finished model a colour for each section, stage or side, as big sets do, so you can find your place while building | |
| Seat parts on their studs | Find parts a fraction of a stud off their studs, and offer to seat them | |
| Ask Claude about this… | Ctrl+K | Ask Claude to change the selected parts, and only them, or ask about them |
| Connect your AI… | Let your AI app (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and others) build here, from your own account with it | |
| Settings… | , | Which way the wheel zooms, and what the middle button does |
Help
| Command | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Keys and controls | F1 | What every button and key does |
| Take the tour | Build your first model, seven short steps done in the app |
On a part
A right click on a part (a long press on a touchscreen) offers these, for the part or the selection it is in.
| Command | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Ask Claude about this… | Ctrl+K | Ask Claude to change the selected parts, and only them, or ask about them |
| Ask Claude to brace this… | Ask Claude to make this joint hold: what it carries, on what, and its margin, asked for you | |
| Comments… | Comments pinned to the model's parts, kept with it, and a new one on the part selected | |
| Everything connected | ||
| Same part | ||
| Same colour | ||
| Hide | Ctrl+H | Hide the selection, to reach what is behind it |
| Show only the selection | Shift+H | Hide everything else, to work on just this |
| Copy | Ctrl+C | Copy the selection |
| Duplicate | Ctrl+D | Hold a copy of the selection, to put down beside it |
| Delete | Delete | Take the selection off the model |
| Paint the selection | C | Paint the selection the colour in hand |
| Split into smaller parts | Alt+S | Plates, bricks and tiles into 1 x 1s, a 1 x 1 brick into three plates, slopes into 1-wide slopes, on the same studs |
| Merge into bigger parts | Alt+M | The selected plates, bricks and tiles of a colour into the fewest real parts made in it: three plates high a brick |
| Replace with the part in hand | Swap the selection for the part you hold, each in its own colour | |
| Printed versions… | Swap the part for one of the prints or stickered versions the LEGO Group made of it | |
| Swing on its hinge | J | Swing the selection 15° about the hinge, clip or turntable it hangs from; Shift+J swings it back |
| Move to previous step | Shift+[ | The selected parts a step earlier in the build steps |
| Move to next step | Shift+] | The selected parts a step later in the build steps, in a new step from the last |
| Move to step… | The selected parts into any step, its number typed | |
| Make a sub-assembly… | Ctrl+G | Name the selection as a sub-assembly: it moves as one, saves as a sub-model, and its copies follow it |
| Properties | What it is, its colour by every name, where it stands and what it is joined to |