User interface

Legoaizer - Help

User interface

Legoaizer is easy to use. Basically there are two types of controls: buttons that show a dedicated functional window, and the main menu bar on top. In addition, the status bar at the bottom shows some actual information; the menu has additional input and output controls.

The Graphical User Interface (GUI)
At start the interface has several functional areas. See picture below.

On top you find as usual the main menu bar, o the left side you find 8 functional buttons; top-left the source picture is shown; in the middle a large space is shown for the mosaic result picture (an empty 'chessboard' at start); and finally on the right you find the colour palette of the loaded brick-colour set. At the bottom you find the status bar with information. On the left you find the name of the loaded dataset (e.g. 'LegoNoFiles') and the current mosaic size in cm or inches. On the right you see the date and time, and the selector in which unit you are working (metric or inches). Finally the start button to create the mosaic is placed bottom left in the GUI.

Some functional buttons are greyed out at start. These will be enabled after a mosaic has been generated, and when a full valid (full) license was found (e.g. Mondriaan and the Builder will be disabled for non-licensed users, but only after the Grace Day period has expired).

The icons on the left are actually buttons. When you click on them a small window is opened, depending on the button the content is refreshed with their functions. In some cases not a window of functions is opened, but a dialog is opened, e.g. to open or create a picture library or a set editor is created. The datasets are created on the fly, based on the current selection of available colours and bricks/parts. For that reason these editors take a few seconds to be created On top the main menu is shown, with the basic controls for file management, exporting and colour/data tables. Also some tools are available, like license information and skin and language selection.

Finally, on the top of the main viewer (the one that will show the mosaic result) the cost estimation is shown. The information is retrieved from the database numbers. It's the responsibility of the user to make sure these cost numbers are accurate and complete.

Zoom bar
The large center mosaic window has a couple of zoom controls. These are use to zoom in and out to inspect and evaluate the quality and details of the mosaic blueprint. Especially when the details of bricks placement and stability (e.g. interlocking of Ministeck® parts) are inspected, this zoom function is helpful.

The little arrow on the left
A little arrow can be found next to the source picture on its right. This arrow is a button, and when pressed the functional buttons and the source picture will be hidden from the main window. This way the user can fully study and use the main result viewer, with zoom etc functions. When this button is clicked again the left part of the screen is made visible again.

The menu
The menu is mainly used for input and output, and also contains some useful tools. Most menu functions speak for themselves, or are sufficiently explained in the chapter of the GUI. Some features are also explained in more detail in this chapter. In all cases when the application is closed all the relevant settings are stored as well.

Picture above: the File commands in the menu. Most conveniently the last opened 8 picture files are remembered. Also other functionality is available, e.g. the resulting mosaic can be printed, saved in a specific location; and the video file can be saved.

This is the full menu, each with a short description:

File

Open picture: opens a submenu with the history of recently opened source pictures.

New picture: opens the dialogue to select a new source picture (more help).

Save mosaic as...: opens the dialogue to save the current mosaic picture (in jpg, bmp or png file format).

Print mosaic: opens the specific printer interface to allow for printing the mosaic image on multiple pages (or just on one page).

Save as .xlsx: this option will allow you to save the mosaic as Excel spreadsheet, in 2010 and later format. The advantage is to allow for more colours than 56 (older xls format), but it's considerably slower. Only use when you really need more than 56 unique colours.

Print special: save the building blueprint as .pdf per base plate with brick amount data per page (more help).

Save Mondriaan: save the Mondriaan painting as a bitmap (only in .bmp file format).

Save mosaic video: opens the dialogue to save the created video file.

Open video: opens the dialogue to select a video file (the format must comply; see details in the video section).

Exit: exits the application, and stores the current settings.
Projects
- Open project: opens a dialogue to select one of the saved projects. The location is defaulted by the application (more help).
- Save project: opens the dialogue to save the current settings, colours and everything into a new project file. The project files are stored in a default location.
- Save Mondriaan: save the Mondriaan painting design (areas, colours, size). This is not the same project (format) as the mosaic itself where the bricks etc is saved.
- Open Mondriaan: open a Mondriaan project. This will set the parameters of the Mondriaan, without actually creating a mosaic. That is also different with opening a mosaic project. You should save the Mondriaan painting, and also save the mosaic is you want to completely store your result.
Colour table
- Open table: opens the dialogue to select a new table. The default location is used, but it changes with the location of the current table data set.
- Save table as: opens a dialogue to save the current colour table under a different name.
- Edit table: opens the table editor. Same function as the button 'Edit table'.
- New colour/brick table: create a new colour-brick combination table from scratch (more help).
- Convert to .csv file: this will save the current data table in the Comma Separated Values (.cvs) file format (more help).
- Open .csv datafile: this will load a brick-colour table defined in a Comma Separated Values (.cvs) datafile (more help).
Bricklink
- "Bricklink" colour table: this will show the brick-colour table creator of Bricklink from which you can conveniently create a new table yourself.
- Export bricklink wanted list: this will save the used brick data in a bricklink specified xml file. You can directly upload this file to the bricklink website (more help).
- Show "Bricklink" data: this will how the current brick, colour and price database of the Bricklink website.
Special functions

Colour filters: opens the functional window for the colour filters, to tweak the way of how the source picture is analyzed.

Video creation: opens the functional window for setting all the relevant video rendering options (more help).

Standard Colours: opens a window to manage colours from a different kind of dataset (more help).

Source analysis: opens the functional window for analysing the source image fro optimalisation of the mosaic colour selections (more help).
Folders
- Open Results folder: opens the windows explorer of the latest known folder of saved results (more help).
- Open Source folder: opens the windows explorer of the latest known folder of a selected source picture.
- Open Bricks folder: opens the windows explorer of the latest known folder of the last loaded photos of bricks.
Results
- Show saved mosaic: opens the saved picture into the default windows picture viewer (more help).
- Open saved spreadsheet: opens the saved spreadsheet. Only available when an instance of Excel or Excel reader is found in the system.
Tools
- Skin: selects the visual skin of the application.
- Language: to select the interface language. The language file can be translated by anyone who feels like it. Please contact APP Helmond to include your translation in the next installer.
- Preferences: opens the functional window for setting a couple of generic options (more help).
- Start maximized: the interface usually works best in full-screen, but sometimes this is not wanted. This option can turn the maximization at start on and off.
- Create mosaic: in some rare occasions the interface is larger/higher than the screen (e.g. small laptops) and the 'Create mosaic' button can be obscured. Use this 'button' to create a mosaic instead.
- Show license information: the application is freeware for 15 days, after which a license is required for outputting the results. This menu part will show the license status (days left, licensee name), and allows for loading the purchased license file in the application ( more help ).
- Check for update: when new versions are available, use this to check the internet for updates. It will start download when so wished.
- About: about us and version information.
- Help: this will open your default internet browser and opens this web-based help documentation. For convenience a stand-alone help-file can be downloaded via the website.

The functional buttons

Mosaic size: opens the functional window for setting the mosaic size.
Colour matching: opens the functional window for selecting the colour matching engines.
Piet Mondriaan: opens the Mondriaan controls and shows the painting colour correction controls (more help).
Edit table: opens the functional window for editing the colour-brick combination table.
Picture library : (not shown in the picture above, only when a brick dataset is active) will start the picture library functionality. In that case you can use real pictures from bricks etc. as the mosaic view. It's a very realistic way to get a peek preview of how your real world mosaic would look like.
Beads colours : (shown here) opens the functional window for selecting any of the 4 pre-installed bead colour sets.
Ministeck set: (not shown in the picture above, only when a Ministeck® dataset is active) opens the functional window for setting basic date on the Ministeck® set prices, incl some lay-out options.
Show builder: opens the mosaic Builder. Becomes active when a mosaic is made, and the Builder memory is sufficient to edit the mosaic bricks (more help).
Show cost: opens the overview of the cost of all the used bricks/parts and colours. Becomes active when a mosaic is made.
Show amount: opens the overview of the amount of used bricks/parts and colours. Becomes active when a mosaic is made.

The colour selector
On the right the currently available colours are shown. These colours are represented by checkboxes. At start all the colours are checked, meaning: they are taken into the colour selection of the mosaic. When a mosaic is created, only the colours that are checked are taken into the colour-brick palette. Unchecked colours stay visible. Only when the current set is saved as a new colour table, only the active colours are shown. For that reason the original 'LegoNoFile.xml' should never be overwritten.

Some buttons
There are just two 'real' buttons in the main GUI. By pressing the 'Create mosaic' button (obviously) the mosaic is created with the currently available settings and values. The other button 'Reset colours' is used to reset the colour table on the right, basically checking all the tick-boxes again. This way the colour palette is quickly reset. In case a different source picture, colour table or colour matching engine is selected this table is automatically reset.

The follow-me text option
When you check the option 'Show follow-me text' the cursor will show the nearest brick information: colour and size. This is identical to a similar option in the mosaic brick Builder. However, in case you have created a sideways mosaic (see here for details), the Builder will only show 1-stud bricks only. That is caused by the internal building and brick data management. So, when you open the Builder of a sideway mosaic you will notice that e.g. a 2x2 brick is now shown as 2x1 brick. No worries, the data is OK and the blueprint excel file is correct. But technically you have a 1-stud high brick when showing the mosaic sideways.

The status bar

Picture above: the Status bar. On the right you see the 'Metric' button. This sets the metrics in the application: cm or inches. This setting is remembered upon application exit; when metric is chosen the default print size ratio follows A4, while with inches the default print ratio follows Letter (8.5 x 11 inch). The real print size is defined when actually printing to the printer. Also for pdf printing (e.g. using CutePDF) the print size is determined by the destination file paper size settings.