Bricklayer
The Bricklayer install software bundles an IDE, a set of graphics libraries, and web viewer. This provides a self-contained environment for constructing Bricklayer programs and viewing the results of their execution.
- MacOS – BricklayerIDE (version 3.1.1 – 2022.12.12)
- Mac OS 10.6-10.14 – BricklayerIDE (version 3.0.0 – 2019.05.17)
- The BricklayerIDE can also be downloaded from the following mirror site.
Download and open the Bricklayer dmg file. If you have administrator privileges and wish to install the Bricklayer client for all users on the computer, simply drag the Bricklayer application to the Applications folder link shown in the dmg window. Otherwise, drag the bricklayer application to a directory of your choosing. After placing the Bricklayer application in a directory, you may drag the Bricklayer application into the dock.
In addition to its native web viewing capabilities, the Bricklayer graphics library also ties seamlessly to various third-party display tools (see the Bricklayer documentation for more details). The two primary third-party display tools are LEGO Digital Designer (LDD) and LDraw.
- Link to LDD download – LDD (version 4.3.11)
- Link to LDraw download – LDraw
Bricklayer programs have a “dot-bl” extension (e.g., myProgram.bl). A Bricklayer program can be run by opening it using the Bricklayer IDE (aka Bricklayer) and then clicking on the run button.
Validating that an Install is Working
To validate that your installation is successful, do the following:
- Download the following zipped Bricklayer program to any folder you like: Test Program.
- Navigate to that location and unzip the file. The result is a file named minecraft_birch_scene.bl.
- Open the file in the Bricklayer app.
- Click on the Run button at the bottom of the Bricklayer window.
- LEGO Digital Designer (or LDraw) should open automatically and display the artifact
NOTE: To execute properly, Bricklayer programs must have a “bl” extension (e.g., myProgram.bl).