LEGO Design/Software

During the last couple of years, the LEGO company and community have developed several software packages to improve the builders' experience with LEGO. Some of these software packages are required to program certain LEGO robotics kits (Mindstorms etc).

Lego Digital Designer (LDD)
Lego Digital Designer is a freeware download available at Lego.com. LDD is mainly used to virtually construct and animate your own home-made models and create a set of printable instructions for your model. After your model is completed, you can check the price of your model if you wish to buy the pieces required to construct it, as well as uploading it onto LEGO gallery for other Lego fans to see.

Lego Building Instructions
Lego Building Instructions is an official mobile app available for in Google Play Store and App Store for viewing instructions of lego sets in a 3d environment where you can zoom, rotate and track your progress.

Lego Mindstorms EV3
Lego Mindstorms EV3 is a software package that comes with the Lego Mindstorms kit. It can also be bought from the Lego store. You can use this software to program your Mindstorms creation with an easy drag and drop, no programming skills needed interface.

Lego Boost
Lego Boost is a mobile app to program your Boost robot with a simple drag and drop environment just like its predecessors.

Other Software
There are many other unofficial software packages available for download on the internet. Some of this software allows the user to program the EV3 beyond using the official software package by using ev3dev (a Debian Linux-based operating system).

LeoCAD
Leocad is a free and open source Lego CAD software available at leocad.org. Just like LDD, its used to create Lego models with the rich up-to-date LDraw library. The models can be converted to parts lists, instructions, obj files and rendered with built-in POV-ray.

Stud.io
Stud.io is another freeware CAD software developed by Bricklink that allows purchasing the build you made in the software from Bricklink store.

Mecablocks
Mecablocks is a web-based online Lego CAD software with an extensive parts list and Blender-based online rendering that gives professional results. While its free to use, the site requires inserting credits for faster and better rendering results.

ev3dev
Ev3dev is a Debian Linux-based operating system for your EV3 brick to fully use its capabilities in a unix-like programming environment. Its mostly used by programmers to extensively use the Mindstorms environment.