Parts and colors¶
The page shows how to find parts and colors, and the shape each family gives a part.
Parts and colors carry their BrickLink ids, the ids LEGO® builders and sellers already use.
The part 3001 is a Brick 2 x 4, and the color 5 is Red.
The catalog guide says where parts and colors come from, and how to import them all.
Finding parts¶
The command bricky parts searches the catalog, so a script never needs to guess an id.
The search matches every word of the query against each part's id, name, category and family.
A size such as 2x4, 4x2 or 2 x 4 matches whole sizes only.
The query plate 1x2 therefore finds Plate 1 x 2 and skips Plate 1 x 12.
Parts with a shape come first, plain parts before printed ones, and shorter names before longer ones.
DUPLO, Quatro, Primo and Modulex parts come last unless the query names their system.
Each row gives the family, the footprint, the height and the studs, and how the part sits when unrotated:
id name family x by y height studs
3040 Slope 45 2 x 1 slope 1 x 2 3 plates 1 stud
falls toward -y (the front) when unrotated
3039 Slope 45 2 x 2 slope 2 x 2 3 plates 2 studs
falls toward -y (the front) when unrotated
2 of 6 matching parts; --limit shows more
Sizes read x by y with the part unrotated: a Brick 2 x 4 (3001) spans 2 studs along x and 4 along y.
The rotation R90 makes it span 4 studs along x.
Slope names give depth first: Slope 45 2 x 1 (3040) spans 1 stud along x and 2 along y.
In a script, builder.catalog.find(family="plate", size=(1, 6)) returns every Plate 1 x 6, plain parts first.
One part in full¶
The command bricky catalog show describes one part: its category, its other numbers and its shape.
The description also maps the part's studs and anti-studs, and lists the colors it comes in.
A part with an uneven top also gets a map of its height over each stud square, showing which way a slope falls:
3039: Slope 45 2 x 2
category: Slope
other numbers: 6227, 35277, 63341, 3039f1, 3039f2
shape: slope, 2 x 2 studs (x by y, unrotated), 3 plates tall, 2 studs, 4 anti-studs
falls toward -y (the front) when unrotated
top studs, north up:
o o
. .
underside anti-studs, north up:
o o
o o
height over each square in plates, north up:
3 3
1.75 1.75
colors (34): White, Tan, Yellow, Orange, Red, Green, Blue, Black, Trans-Clear, ...
The option --render also renders the part, into bricky's cache folder.
Families¶
A family converts a few numbers from the catalog into a part's exact solids and connectors. One tested generator therefore serves every part of the family.
| Family | Parts | Shape |
|---|---|---|
brick, plate, tile |
3001, 3020, 87079 |
Boxes; bricks and plates carry studs, tiles none |
baseplate |
3867 |
Half a plate thick: parts standing on it start at z = 0.5 |
slope |
3039 |
Falls toward -y; the rows behind the slope carry studs |
inverted_slope |
3660 |
Its underside rises toward -y |
curved_slope |
15068 |
Curves down toward -y, as flat facets |
round |
3941, 4032 |
Round bricks, plates and tiles, as many-sided prisms |
side_studs |
87087, 4733 |
Studs on one or more sides, facing as the name says |
jumper |
87580 |
One stud in the middle, half a stud off the grid |
arch |
3659 |
A leg at each end, spanning along y |
boxes |
3700 |
Any part converted from LDraw: its body as boxes, its connectors one by one |
Curved and round surfaces become flat facets whose corners stay on the grid. The shape therefore stays close to the real part and remains exact.
Converted parts¶
Parts whose names follow no family pattern, such as windows, Technic bricks and logs, take their shape from the LDraw.org Parts Library. The catalog guide explains the conversion.
Colors¶
A script names a color by its name or its id: color="Red" and color=5 are the same color.
Each color carries BrickLink's name and id, an RGB value and a type: solid, transparent, pearl, metallic and more.
Each image shows transparent colors see-through and pearl colors with a sheen.
uv run bricky colors gray # every color whose name contains "gray"
uv run bricky colors "#F2CD37" # the five colors nearest to an RGB value
