Build LEGO models with LDraw and LeoCAD
Tutorial – LDraw and LeoCAD
LDraw and LeoCAD help you become a virtual LEGO architect.
For decades, young and old alike have enjoyed the well-known bricks by Danish toy manufacturer LEGO. The success story began in 1932 with wooden toys. In 1949 the first plastic bricks went into production, and since 1958 they have been available in the form that remains popular. Today, LEGO is far more than just a children's toy; there are also many adult LEGO fans. LDraw and LeoCAD help you plan your own LEGO models on your PC.
Before you get started, there are two things you need to do. First, install LDraw [1] on your system. This is an open standard for LEGO CAD programs. The tool comes with 3D models of the bricks and a file format for the notation of the models you build with the bricks. Download the complete brick list [2] and unzip the ZIP file to the ~/ldraw/ folder or another directory. The bricks included in LDraw are constantly updated.
The second step is to install a LEGO CAD program, which you use to turn the virtual bricks into digital models. Of the various programs that use the LDraw standard [3], we chose the current 21.06 version of LeoCAD [4] for this article. For the sake of simplicity, it is a good idea to download the AppImage variant [5], which you can launch directly without installing. Alternatively, pick up the source code from GitHub and compile the program yourself [6].
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Blender App Makes it to the Big Screen
The animated film "Flow" won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature at the 97th Academy Awards held on March 2, 2025 and Blender was a part of it.
-
Linux Mint Retools the Cinnamon App Launcher
The developers of Linux Mint are working on an improved Cinnamon App Launcher with a better, more accessible UI.
-
New Linux Tool for Security Issues
Seal Security is launching a new solution to automate fixing Linux vulnerabilities.
-
Ubuntu 25.04 Coming Soon
Ubuntu 25.04 (Plucky Puffin) has been given an April release date with many notable updates.
-
Gnome Developers Consider Dropping RPM Support
In a move that might shock a lot of users, the Gnome development team has proposed the idea of going straight up Flatpak.
-
openSUSE Tumbleweed Ditches AppArmor for SELinux
If you're an openSUSE Tumbleweed user, you can expect a major change to the distribution.
-
Plasma 6.3 Now Available
Plasma desktop v6.3 has a couple of pretty nifty tricks up its sleeve.
-
LibreOffice 25.2 Has Arrived
If you've been hoping for a release that offers more UI customizations, you're in for a treat.
-
TuxCare Has a Big AlmaLinux 9 Announcement in Store
TuxCare announced it has successfully completed a Security Technical Implementation Guide for AlmaLinux OS 9.
-
First Release Candidate for Linux Kernel 6.14 Now Available
Linus Torvalds has officially released the first release candidate for kernel 6.14 and it includes over 500,000 lines of modified code, making for a small release.