Building
Saving, opening and files
Where models are kept, versions, the library of real sets, and every file Brickworks opens.
Save
Ctrl+S saves the model under its name; the first save asks what to call it, and refuses a name another saved model has. File › Save as… (Ctrl+Shift+S) keeps a copy under another name. Models are kept in your browser (on your computer in the desktop app) and privately with your account, so they open wherever you sign in.
Open
File › Open… (Ctrl+O) reopens a saved model, an example, or a file from this computer. Opening over changes you have not saved asks first (Save, Don't save, Cancel), and after Don't save, Edit › Undo still brings them back. Rename or delete saved models… at the foot of Open renames or deletes them; a deleted model's row has Undo.
If the model you were working on cannot be opened at start-up (none of its parts are in the catalogue), it is kept in File › Open and said above the model, never lost.
Versions
File › Versions… keeps the last 20 saves of the model on the baseplate. Open on any one of them to go back to it.
Compare with a save
File › Compare with…, or Compare on a row of File › Versions…, shows what changed since that save, on the model itself. Parts added since are green, parts taken away are red ghosts where they stood, parts moved or turned are amber with a faint ghost where they were, and parts painted another colour are violet. Everything that did not change is faded. A part moved by less than half an LDU has not moved, and of several identical parts the fewest changes are shown: one brick moved to the end of a row is one moved part, not one taken away and one added.
The panel over the model counts each kind. Next and Previous step through the changes one by one, and the view frames each. Comparing changes nothing: the model, its undo history and whether it is saved stay as they were. Close or Esc puts the view back. While you are editing inside a sub-assembly, only that sub-assembly is compared, and the panel says so.
The library
File › Library… (or Open › From the library…) opens any of LDraw's models of real sets, or a model the community shared. Search it as you type, filter it, and open one in a new tab or window. See The LDraw library.
Files it opens
| File | How |
|---|---|
LDraw .ldr, .mpd | File › Import › LDraw model, or Open › From a file. Sub-models and steps come in as they are. |
BrickLink Studio .io | File › Import › BrickLink Studio model. Locked files too, with their prints, stickers and steps. |
LEGO® Digital Designer .lxf | File › Import › LEGO® Digital Designer model. |
| 3D models | File › Import › 3D model to brickify: OBJ, STL, PLY, 3MF, VOX, FBX, glTF, GLB. See Brickify. |
A model from Studio, LDCad or LeoCAD keeps its author's own build steps: see Instructions.
What Brickworks saves and exports is in Exports and renders.