Build with Chrome

Skip the techniques this week, this little website is too cool to pass up.  Google Chrome and The LEGO Group have teamed up to create an online build experience similar to the old Google Earth Building Maker.  Sort of like LEGO Digital Designer but with less pieces (for now) and a real world geographical aspect.  The experience is riddled with The LEGO Movie characters (Vitruvius starts you through the tutorial) and may very well be part of their whole marketing campaign.

***Warning, the Build Academy takes you through lots of LEGO Movie builds.  As of this writing I haven't been able to see the film yet so I don't know if it contains spoilers.***

I'm having a tough time getting it to work well in Firefox.  Of course it works very well in the Chrome browser.  The whole system takes a little getting used to as well.  If you're good with SketchUp or LDD, you'll probably make quick work of this.  One tip I can give is to start building from the back and come forward.  You can always rotate your baseplate to change what's the back.

There are many shortcomings such as a minimal offering of pieces, inability to save in progress, inability to delete builds and many other missing features that you would expect to see.  While I can't outright find any information to the fact, I believe that this is a beta (as most Google products start out with the public) and more features will be added in the future.  For now though, you can build your house, on your actual property!

Having a Google+ account is helpful but not necessary.

Visit www.buildwithchrome.com and build something AWESOME!