BrickPix: An app for generating mosaics
Posted by Huw,
Have you ever wanted to build a 2D LEGO mosaic of a picture but struggled to find suitable software to help you design it?
Brickset member bestulin aka Boris couldn't find anything that met his needs, so he decided to write a mosaic-generating app, which he's made available free of charge.
Boris writes "One day I wanted to build a 2D mosaic of a picture using lego bricks. I started looking for an app that would let me do that. I found a few, but to my surprise, none of them were great. They either lacked some basic features or required that you purchase the bricks from them to get the build instructions. So I decided to build an app myself...."
BrickPix is a very simple-to-use app that gives you the opportunity to use something personal like a photo and make it into colourful art. It gives you a chance to be creative. You start by selecting an existing image or take a new picture with the camera on your device.
You then choose the width and height of the mosaic you want to build, crop the image, and hit generate.
And that is it. You can preview your creation in 3D, where you can rotate and zoom in/out to see exactly what the final mosaic would look like. You can also select a 2D preview that shows where each brick needs to be placed.
Finally, you have the “parts list” screen that shows you exactly how many lego bricks of each colour/shape you would need to build the mosaic.
BrickPix has a number of other useful features. By default it will try to use larger bricks whenever possible to reduce the number of bricks needed and to save you money. Also, by default it will try to use all the available lego colours to make the mosaic look as close to the original image as possible. However, you can modify this behaviour. From the main screen you can choose the Bricks/colours menus to specify which brick shapes and colours to include or exclude when generating the mosaic. If you want to only use 1x1 bricks for example, just unselect all other shapes in the Bricks screen. If you are missing some colours and want to exclude them, just unselect those colours in the colours screen.
Another useful feature is the ability to adjust the colour of individual bricks in the mosaic. You just long-press on the brick you want to adjust in the 2D preview and select the desired colour from the colour swatch.
BrickPix also lets you share the 2D, 3D, or both renderings of your mosaic via many options on your device.
To see some sample projects created with BrickPix you can check out the Instagram page. BrickPix is available on the web at brickpix.app or for download as a mobile app for your Android or iOS device.
166 likes
75 comments on this article
Nice work, Boris!
Thanks, i will proceed to never use this because I don't have any interest or enough parts for a mosaic.
There is hope for humanity yet.
Looks great and what a lovely gesture to make it available for free.
Here’s to you Boris :-)
I was gonna say there’s already a ton of these but the parts list isn’t something I’ve seen in one of these before— well done, Boris!
A really nice feature would be if you could tell it you have one of the art sets already, and you want it to do its best to reproduce your image only with the pieces in that set - basically create alt builds.
Boris, if asked to compare against the mosaic generation in Studio how would you respond?
CathyVT asked about alt builds and while it would take a little bit of work I know Studio allows for custom palettes so a palette could be set to only the pieces from a certain build.
No matter what well done on creating the software and making it accessible.
The app needs some functions:
Optimization of contrast/brightness/color for the lego colors.
Export of partlist
Thank you for your time and talent.
On first inspection, looks much better than any alternative I've tried. On a couple of samples it's the only one to render the picture recognisable as a mosaic from the images I used. I'll need to fiddle with the colour palette - unfortunately the default colour palette is every solid colour Lego have ever produced.
Certainly, looks promising enough for me to want to spend some time with this.
@audaver said:
"Boris, if asked to compare against the mosaic generation in Studio how would you respond?
CathyVT asked about alt builds and while it would take a little bit of work I know Studio allows for custom palettes so a palette could be set to only the pieces from a certain build.
No matter what well done on creating the software and making it accessible."
Oh, I didn't even know Studio has a mosaic creator. I'll have to check it out.
@gunther_schnitzel said:
"Have I ever wanted to build a 2D LEGO mosaic of a picture but struggled to find suitable software to help me design it?
No."
Ok.
Looks amazing and clearly took a lot of skill to make. Congratulations!
That's a great idea ! it can be so useful !
That's funny cause i was wondering a few days ago how could i make a mosaïc from a picture.
And it's free ! Thanks a lot !
Great job Boris !
Another option - check out 'LEGO ART Remix' website. It's more suited to the ART style mosaics using tiles/studs rather than different size bricks etc. Lots of great options and works really well.
@CathyVT said:
"A really nice feature would be if you could tell it you have one of the art sets already, and you want it to do its best to reproduce your image only with the pieces in that set - basically create alt builds."
Search for 'LEGO ART Remix' website. It can do just that. Just edit the 'Input Pieces' to select what ART set to use.
Great stuff! There's definitely a lot of potential in the digital Lego space, I hope we see more things like this.
I have wanted to create mosaics for quite some time (quite inspired by members of our LUG), but haven't found the pixelating gene within my DNA to make it happen.
Thanks to this app, I can see success in my future. Thank you for creating it and making it available.
Thank you for taking the time to create this app and for making it available for us.
I will definitely be creating a mosaic of my little boy :-)
@R1_Drift said:
"Thanks, i will proceed to never use this because I don't have any interest or enough parts for a mosaic."
That's a very insightful and valuable comment! Thanks for your input.
@gunther_schnitzel said:
"Have I ever wanted to build a 2D LEGO mosaic of a picture but struggled to find suitable software to help me design it?
No."
Which begs the question why you even read the article, let alone post a useless and spiteful comment, just like @R1_Drift.
If you're not interested, fine, but that's no reason to belittle the effort!
One of the very first apps I remember downloading when iPhone came out was an app that did this. But that app was left behind with OS updates long ago and it seemed no one was interested in picking up the torch. Glad someone finally did. This looks really cool, all the features I'd want aside from actually ordering the parts for you. It's nice to be able to limit the pallet and can also make for some interesting effects.
Looks very interesting and an improvement on some of the other free mosaic programs out there. (I know I've had the same problem trying to find one I like, so I'm still using a much earlier version.) Although the idea of tweaking a mosaic design on a mobile device gives me a lot of anxiety! :O Will have to test this out next time I want to make a mosaic!
Been waiting for something like this. Maybe now I can make a custom 31203 of the US
I really wanted this to work but after several hours of trying the app I've found it to be very glitchy and slow. Haven't been able to complete the process without a few issues each time. I shall persevere...
This app needs the ability to make color adjustments, adjust sharpness and reduce the number of colors. Or even insert a list of tiles/plates you have and it will generate the image using them. It's possible to do something similar with photoshop and exporting the image as a gif reducing the number of colors
Another idea is to generate mosaics with different tiles, like triangles and circles.
Looks excellent Boris! Thanks especially for making it for free!
Just one idea for an update: can you allow for custom sizes? I’m sure that 96x96 is big enough, but we can dream right? Also, is there a way to colour grade large sections of the mosaic?
Other than that, fantastic work. I did a series of LEGO Mosaics for my HSC Body of Work last year, and I wish I could have had this then!
@kyrodes said:
"This app needs the ability to make color adjustments, adjust sharpness and reduce the number of colors. Or even insert a list of tiles/plates you have and it will generate the image using them. It's possible to do something similar with photoshop and exporting the image as a gif reducing the number of colors
Another idea is to generate mosaics with different tiles, like triangles and circles."
In my opinion an app like this doesn’t need that. Just keep it light and easy to use. Just use any photo editor first to edit your image in anyway you like, and then load in in the app. The idea for different tiles is a nice addition though.
@CathyVT said:
"A really nice feature would be if you could tell it you have one of the art sets already, and you want it to do its best to reproduce your image only with the pieces in that set - basically create alt builds."
It does that if you tell it to. Quoting the article above: “From the main screen you can choose the Bricks/colours menus to specify which brick shapes and colours to include or exclude when generating the mosaic. If you want to only use 1x1 bricks for example, just unselect all other shapes in the Bricks screen. If you are missing some colours and want to exclude them, just unselect those colours in the colours screen.”
Great work, definitely deserving of an extra positive comment!
@AustinPowers said:
" @gunther_schnitzel said:
"Have I ever wanted to build a 2D LEGO mosaic of a picture but struggled to find suitable software to help me design it?
No."
Which begs the question why you even read the article, let alone post a useless and spiteful comment, just like @R1_Drift.
If you're not interested, fine, but that's no reason to belittle the effort! "
Indeed. The nice thing about LEGO is that one can build anything you want, be it cars, animals, castles, trains, houses, landscapes, mechs, great ball contraptions, mosaics or whatever.
Kudos for Boris!
Nice looking app, but it still has some problems:
- No way to export to a manual
- the app uses all of the colors lego has made. Some of these are not or impossible to find. You can change the color selection in the settings, but it takes some time to do that.
- a bit sluggish, and it doesn't work in dark mode !!!
- could use something to adjust the image colors in the app
Good begin for this app. but for now i keep using the Lego Art Remix site.
This sounds like a really neat idea! Thanks for giving something back to the community, and for free as well :)
After reading Brickset articles, I come here to the comments to gain perspective, insight, and inspiration from the community of Lego fans and artists. I do not come here to read troll comments. If this or any other article isn't for you, please don't add negativity and kindly move along.
So fantastic! I wanna try it!
Nice work
Hmmm. I tested the Android version. I can only use the photos that I make directly via the app to make them brickable, the option to use a photo that is stored in the phone is not working.
When I choose a photo from my gallery the app goes to the start screen. And that's it.
Anybody with the same problem?
Thank you for this!
It’s great to see a current mosaic app that is easy to use. Others I’ve used before have no longer been supported or updated.
@R1_Drift said:
"Thanks, i will proceed to never use this because I don't have any interest or enough parts for a mosaic."
Sound's like a you problem, lol
@CathyVT said:
"A really nice feature would be if you could tell it you have one of the art sets already, and you want it to do its best to reproduce your image only with the pieces in that set - basically create alt builds."
Thank you for the suggestion. I will add it to my to-do list, which is growing rapidly :)
@audaver said:
"Boris, if asked to compare against the mosaic generation in Studio how would you respond?
CathyVT asked about alt builds and while it would take a little bit of work I know Studio allows for custom palettes so a palette could be set to only the pieces from a certain build.
No matter what well done on creating the software and making it accessible."
Thanks! I need to do a more thorough comparison between BrickPix and Studio, however, BrickPix already allows you to only use the colors (and brick shapes) that you specify.
"From the main screen you can choose the Bricks/colours menus to specify which brick shapes and colours to include or exclude when generating the mosaic. If you want to only use 1x1 bricks for example, just unselect all other shapes in the Bricks screen. If you are missing some colours and want to exclude them, just unselect those colours in the colours screen."
@garf07 said:
"The app needs some functions:
Optimization of contrast/brightness/color for the lego colors.
Export of partlist
"
Thank you! Already on my to-do list of improvements
@quentin00776 said:
"That's a great idea ! it can be so useful !
That's funny cause i was wondering a few days ago how could i make a mosaïc from a picture.
And it's free ! Thanks a lot !
Great job Boris !"
Thanks!
@kyrodes said:
"This app needs the ability to make color adjustments, adjust sharpness and reduce the number of colors. Or even insert a list of tiles/plates you have and it will generate the image using them. It's possible to do something similar with photoshop and exporting the image as a gif reducing the number of colors
Another idea is to generate mosaics with different tiles, like triangles and circles."
Thank you for the suggestion, will add to my to-do list
@RaiderOfTheLostBrick said:
"Looks excellent Boris! Thanks especially for making it for free!
Just one idea for an update: can you allow for custom sizes? I’m sure that 96x96 is big enough, but we can dream right? Also, is there a way to colour grade large sections of the mosaic?
Other than that, fantastic work. I did a series of LEGO Mosaics for my HSC Body of Work last year, and I wish I could have had this then!"
Thanks! Will add more size options
@Videofronta said:
"Hmmm. I tested the Android version. I can only use the photos that I make directly via the app to make them brickable, the option to use a photo that is stored in the phone is not working.
When I choose a photo from my gallery the app goes to the start screen. And that's it.
Anybody with the same problem?"
Hi, Android requires that you grant the app access to your photos before you can do that. The app should have automatically asked you the first time you chose that option. Did it?
@HoodedOne said:
"Nice looking app, but it still has some problems:
- No way to export to a manual
- the app uses all of the colors lego has made. Some of these are not or impossible to find. You can change the color selection in the settings, but it takes some time to do that.
- a bit sluggish, and it doesn't work in dark mode !!!
- could use something to adjust the image colors in the app
Good begin for this app. but for now i keep using the Lego Art Remix site."
Thanks! Your suggestions are already on my to-do list :)
As for using all the colors, BrickPix already lets you limit/specify which colors are to be used in the mosaic.
"From the main screen you can choose the Bricks/colours menus to specify which brick shapes and colours to include or exclude when generating the mosaic. If you want to only use 1x1 bricks for example, just unselect all other shapes in the Bricks screen. If you are missing some colours and want to exclude them, just unselect those colours in the colours screen."
@bestulin
This is not for me, but I really appreciate the amount of effort that goes into making something like this, and then sharing it with the world. Kudos to you!
I don't know if it's a feature, but I find myself sometimes calculating the price per stud when convering areas, as not all tile/plate size/colour combination follow the same price p progression .
But that will probably require a LOT of code to automate
@riccibadger said:
" @R1_Drift said:
"Thanks, i will proceed to never use this because I don't have any interest or enough parts for a mosaic."
Sound's like a you problem, lol"
yes
Awesome! I was about to make a generator myself. Lol
Is it possible to do larger/custom dimensions? I'm trying to make a large photo out of ~4 Arts sets, probably something like 144x64 or 144x48
@bestulin said:
" @audaver said:
"Boris, if asked to compare against the mosaic generation in Studio how would you respond?
CathyVT asked about alt builds and while it would take a little bit of work I know Studio allows for custom palettes so a palette could be set to only the pieces from a certain build.
No matter what well done on creating the software and making it accessible."
Thanks! I need to do a more thorough comparison between BrickPix and Studio, however, BrickPix already allows you to only use the colors (and brick shapes) that you specify.
"From the main screen you can choose the Bricks/colours menus to specify which brick shapes and colours to include or exclude when generating the mosaic. If you want to only use 1x1 bricks for example, just unselect all other shapes in the Bricks screen. If you are missing some colours and want to exclude them, just unselect those colours in the colours screen.""
I missed that when reading the article (doh) so thank you for taking the time to reply :-)
@bestulin said:
" @Videofronta said:
"Hmmm. I tested the Android version. I can only use the photos that I make directly via the app to make them brickable, the option to use a photo that is stored in the phone is not working.
When I choose a photo from my gallery the app goes to the start screen. And that's it.
Anybody with the same problem?"
Hi, Android requires that you grant the app access to your photos before you can do that. The app should have automatically asked you the first time you chose that option. Did it?"
just works fine for me on Android, also picking photo from Galary
very minor issue you may want to fix , PREVIEW on the part list page (in the app), is incorrectly written, as PREVEIW (see the pic in this article, too)
very nice app, I tried to "unselect all colors", so that I could select just the few colors that I wanted to use, this did not work on my Android... would be nice if that worked ...
I love it! this is exactly what I need to start designing with my boys!
@bestulin said:
" @HoodedOne said:
"Nice looking app, but it still has some problems:
- No way to export to a manual
- the app uses all of the colors lego has made. Some of these are not or impossible to find. You can change the color selection in the settings, but it takes some time to do that.
- a bit sluggish, and it doesn't work in dark mode !!!
- could use something to adjust the image colors in the app
Good begin for this app. but for now i keep using the Lego Art Remix site."
Thanks! Your suggestions are already on my to-do list :)
As for using all the colors, BrickPix already lets you limit/specify which colors are to be used in the mosaic.
"From the main screen you can choose the Bricks/colours menus to specify which brick shapes and colours to include or exclude when generating the mosaic. If you want to only use 1x1 bricks for example, just unselect all other shapes in the Bricks screen. If you are missing some colours and want to exclude them, just unselect those colours in the colours screen.""
i’m looking forward to future updates.
Yes, you can select which colors you want to use
But, people who open the app for the first time, and convert their first image will get a misleading image. How many people do you think there are that: a: know what colors are in production now. B: know what parts are available in what colors.
I understand that it’s probably impossible to put all this info in the app (would be awesome though). But a more realistic color library, or selection of different libraries would be useful.
On a side note. I noticed you used the official lego names for the colors. but I think most people are more familiar with the bricklink names.
Keep up the good work.
@bestulin said:
" @Videofronta said:
"Hmmm. I tested the Android version. I can only use the photos that I make directly via the app to make them brickable, the option to use a photo that is stored in the phone is not working.
When I choose a photo from my gallery the app goes to the start screen. And that's it.
Anybody with the same problem?"
Hi, Android requires that you grant the app access to your photos before you can do that. The app should have automatically asked you the first time you chose that option. Did it?"
I did it. I can access the photos, choose a photo, but the app just goes back to the start screen without showing the chosen photo.
I’ve been fiddling with this for about an hour or so now and I’m very impressed! Especially the de-selecting of colors to use is such a useful feature. However, I’ve now come to a point where I genuinely don’t know what specific shade(s) of pink in the app are the ones in LEGO’s current color palette. Both BL’s and LEGO’s names don’t seem to fully match the names given in the app, does anyone know what color palette the app uses and where to see how that lines up with the BL one?
This is very similar to fabric and stitching picture-conversion apps that are widely available. The LEGO palette and piece sizes are the added dimensions. Looking forward to using this; thank you!
I tried it, and like it. I just would like to have a parts list, and lock it to in production colors...
Was the Vermeer image actually generated in this software or just the dog?
I gotta say, the painting looks great and the dog looks just terrible.
I'll have to give this a go sometime. I've wanted to do a mosaic but was always iffy on most programs. Also, the cost scares me a bit, so I'll have to look into it again.
Thank you Boris!
This makes every single official LEGO mosaic set completely redundant.
@KaiserCoaster said:
"Awesome! I was about to make a generator myself. Lol
Is it possible to do larger/custom dimensions? I'm trying to make a large photo out of ~4 Arts sets, probably something like 144x64 or 144x48"
Thanks! I will add more size options in the next update
@pieterbl said:
"very minor issue you may want to fix , PREVIEW on the part list page (in the app), is incorrectly written, as PREVEIW (see the pic in this article, too)"
Oops. Thank you will fix :)
@pieterbl said:
"very nice app, I tried to "unselect all colors", so that I could select just the few colors that I wanted to use, this did not work on my Android... would be nice if that worked ..."
Thanks! I am actually going to redesign that screen (where you select/unselect colors) to make it easier to use. Should be part of the next update.
@Jedijon said:
"Was the Vermeer image actually generated in this software or just the dog?
I gotta say, the painting looks great and the dog looks just terrible."
Both images were generated with BrickPix, however the image of the dog was using smaller dimensions and hence does not look as good
Are there any plans to add a feature to have vertically stacked mosaics? As in building upright with bricks/plates to create an image rather than one layer of plates/tiles/studs on a large baseplate? It’s something I’ve only seen one web app do before but it no longer works and I’ve desperately been looking for a replacement.
Hello!
Great job on this app! Would it be possible to change the baseplate size? Maybe I missed it or maybe it is not an option. Just a thought for rev2!
@huw
How do I save this article to my menu? I have one article saved to my menu, but I saved it years ago, and I cannot remember how to do this.
^nm. i just figured it out!
@TCSBGDADY said:
"Hello!
Great job on this app! Would it be possible to change the baseplate size? Maybe I missed it or maybe it is not an option. Just a thought for rev2!"
Thanks! Yes you can change the width / height once an image is selected before generating the mosaic.
Web version = epic fail.
Link provided leads to a "tutorial" page, which is completely static (dead).
Did anyone test this?
cc: @bestulin
Just downloaded the app! It’s really intuitive! I’ve already put a few pics in. Can’t wait to get building! Thank you Boris for creating this app, and thanks to Brickset for bringing attention to it!
@singlow said:
"Web version = epic fail.
Link provided leads to a "tutorial" page, which is completely static (dead).
Did anyone test this?
cc: @bestulin
"
Hi, not sure what you mean. When you visit brickpix.app (or download the app) for the 1st time a tutorial is shown. You can either swipe through the slides or use the arrows at the bottom of the screen to go through the slides.