The Maple Mosaic

An in-office Lego wall where a pixel image is built by people over time using 16x16 baseplates and 2x2 bricks. The current wall exists as a 144x144-stud wall, separated into 81 16x16-stud sections. The wall uses 20 common Lego colors, but may expand in the future to add more colors. Since we're using 2x2 bricks, the wall supports a 72x72 pixel image.

The Scripts Behind It

The scripts in this repo are used to create the image and instructions for the Maple Mosaic.

1. Legoizer

First, a Ruby script is used to take any ol' image and turn it into its closest Lego colors, using the 20 colors we've defined.

One important step here is to use a pixel color counter - e.g. https://townsean.github.io/canvas-pixel-color-counter/ - to check how many bricks you'll need. We currently have 1200 bricks per color available.

2. Baseplates

Next, a Python script is used to take the Legoized image and split it into 16x16 baseplates. This script will generate a set of instructions for each baseplate, in the form of an image file.

Deprecated

Perviously, a JavaScript script wass used in Photoshop to parse the image into individual instruction sheets.

These sheets can then be printed out 4 per page and set up at the mosaic wall.

To print sheets, you can use a tool to combine images into a PDF. Some options include:

• Preview.app
  • Open all images in Preview
  • Select all in the sidebar
  • Print
  • Expand Layout options and select 4 or 6 per page
• The Multiple Images to PDF chrome extension. Left and Top Margins set to 0, Fit pdf page to image size, and then use Preview to print 4 or 6 to a page.

The Colors

Lego colors are generally a fool's errand as there are differences in their hues, naming, etc. We're using hex codes from https://rebrickable.com/colors/ here. Colors are defined in colors.yml, which is used by both scripts.

Our colors:

0  Black:               5,19,29         #05131D
1  Dark Bluish Gray:    108,110,104     #6C6E68 (Lego 'Dark Stone Grey')
2  Light Bluish Gray:   160,165,169     #A0A5A9 (Lego 'Medium Stone Grey')
3  White:               255,255,255     #FFFFFF
4  Red:                 201,26,9        #C91A09 (Lego 'Bright Red')
5  Yellow:              242,205,55      #F2CD37 (Lego 'Bright Yellow')
6  Green:               35,120,65       #237841 (Lego 'Dark Green')
7  Blue:                0,85,191        #0055BF (Lego 'Bright Blue')
8  Orange:              254,138,24      #FE8A18 (Lego 'Bright Orange')
9  Reddish Brown:       88,42,18        #582A12
10 Tan:                 228,205,158     #E4CD9E (Lego 'Brick Yellow')
11 Bright Pink:         228,173,200     #E4ADC8
12 Dark Blue:           10,52,99        #0A3463
13 Dark Pink:           200,112,160     #C870A0 (Lego 'Bright Purple')
14 Dark Purple:         63,54,145       #3F3691 (Lego 'Medium Lilac')
15 Dark Tan:            149,138,115     #958A73 (Lego 'Sand Yellow')
16 Lime:                187,233,11      #BBE90B (Lego 'Bright Yellowish Green')
17 Medium Azure:        54,174,191      #36AEBF
18 Medium Blue:         90,147,219      #5A93DB
19 Medium Nougat:       170,125,85      #AA7D55