Crop Your Image
Choose the crop and build size for your PhotoBlokz mosaicEnabling 3D mode allows for designing pictures with multiple layers, where some pixels protrude further out than others
This may not be a good fit for all images, but can work quite well in many cases
Supported image formats are dependent on your browser's compatibility
Due to the nature of the Lego Art sets, images with transparency aren't fully supported
Be careful when using high resolutions - this can cause performance issues on less powerful machines, especially during pdf generation and for 3D previews
Step 1
Get depth mapDepth map cropping will match input image
If you have a depth map corresponding to your image you can select it here. If you don't, you can generate an approximation in the 'generate' section.
This will compute an approximation of the depth map if you do not have one
Computing the depth map can be computationally expensive. Be prepared to wait a bit, and be careful, especially if you have a less powerful device.
How does this work?The depth map is computed using a DNN (deep neural network). For the reasons described in the 'about' section, everything is run entirely within the browser, using a modified version of ONNX.js. The model used is MiDaS - more specifically, the small ONNX version which can be found here.
Preview + Adjust
Fine-tune brightness and contrast before finalizing your buildThis setting determines which algorithm is used to resize the image to the target resolution
Step 2
Make depth discreteColor Mapping and Refinement
Click into the mosaic to manually adjust individual pixels if neededAverage ϵ:
● This section specifies how many pieces of each color you have available to create the image
● Color names are bricklink colors
● Step 4 of the algorithm cannot run unless you select enough pieces to fill the picture ('Missing Pieces' must be 0)
● If you're working with an existing set, then clear the available pieces and use the mix in option to add in the pieces from your set.
Required Pieces:Available Pieces:
Missing Pieces:
Important: Infinite piece counts were used, since a linear error dithering algorithm was selected in the 'Quantization' section, or a variable piece type was selected in the 'Pixel Piece' section
Note: Any colors painted using the paintbrush are assumed to exist when infinite piece counts are enabled
| Color | Number Available |
|---|
Important: Since a variable size pixel type was selected, 'Infinite Piece Counts' under 'Available Colors' was enabled - be careful!
Available Dimensions:● This setting determines which distance function is used to align pixels to their closest Lego colors
● This determines what strategy is used for aligning pixels
● Some algorithms run faster than others - be careful when running the greedy algorithms on larger images
Important: Since this is a linear error dithering algorithm, 'Infinite Piece Counts' under 'Available Colors' was enabled - be careful!
It's often best to use 'Euclidean RGB' for the color distance function, for mathematical cleanliness
Changing this is useful if you have a large background but not enough pieces to fill it out uniformly in step 4
Step 3
Adjust Depth Map● Click a pixel to increase its height
● Click a pixel to decrease its height
Final PhotoBlokz Preview
This is the final assembly layout of your mosaicAverage ϵ:
| Color | Dimensions | Number Used |
|---|
| Color | Number Missing |
|---|
The type of piece used depends on 'Pixel Piece' under step 3
Frame elements are not exported
Longer instructions may be split into multiple files
Color names are Bricklink colors
Depending on your hardware and the resolution you've chosen, the pdf can take quite a few seconds to generate. Be prepared to wait if you're generating instructions for larger resolutions, especially for high quality pdfs. Larger resolutions may also cause some slowness on the page or may not work at all on less powerful devices, so I recommend starting at the default and then going up.
3D Preview
If you can't see the 3D effect when hovering your mouse over the image, check the input from depth step 1● This is a (very) rough preview of what the 3D effect might look like
● Hover your mouse over the image to vary the perspective
● Make sure your depth map is not blank
● This is unlikely to work well on less powerful devices, since this is generated dynamically
● Keep in mind that the effect varies from browser to browser, can be subtle, and may not be 100% representative of what the physical art piece would look like
● This is the set of plates that may be used to generate depth instructions and piece lists
● These pieces are used as padding so that the correct pixels protrude outwards
● Note that larger plates may be difficult to attach/detach from the base
Available Plates:Longer instructions may be split into multiple files
Depending on your hardware and the resolution you've chosen, the pdf can take quite a few seconds to generate. Be prepared to wait if you're generating instructions for larger resolutions, especially for high quality pdfs. Larger resolutions may also cause some slowness on the page or may not work at all on less powerful devices, so I recommend starting at the default and then going up.
Start Your Mosaic
- Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
- Opens in a new window.