2 WAYS TO ACHIEVE BLOCKING

There are two ways to convert smooth drawings to blocks, both of which involve putting a square grid over the drawing. What you do is take a point of origin on the drawing that coincides with a point on the grid we will call the "grid origin." Now move along the curve and do one of the following:

1) Following inside the curve [where you will be placing bricks], connect the dots which are closest to the inside of the curve.

2) Following the curve, connect the dots at each point to the point on the grid which is closest to the curve. Some dots may occur outside of the curve, and some may occur inside, but this is the most accurate way to approximate a curve, and therefore it is the way you should probably "round the square" unless accuracy is not needed.

"Rounding the square" refers to processes like those above intended to approximate a continuous line with a zig-zag.

Method #2 can be described mathematically by plotting the points in an approximate set of equations, x^2 + y^2 < (r+0.5)^2, and x^2 + y^2 > (r-0.5)^2. Connect the solution in a zig-zag following the natural curve closely.

BLOCKING

The meaning of the word "blocking" in this title refers to the process of taking a smoothly contoured map or drawing and imposing it over a series of blocks or grids as you would find on, for example, graph paper. The idea is to convert a smooth drawing to one made of "blocks."

SCALE

The LEGO brick system is configured to be useful for converting to a 1:32 scale, because one foot in real life equals 32 dots [see DOTS post] in real life bricks. So one "dot" equals one foot works quite well.

DOTS

In LEGO lingo, I personally call the horizontal width and horizontal length of each individual 1-brick a "dot." 2-brick means two 1-bricks placed end-to-end, and is abbreviated "two dots." So "dot" is a measure of length when building models.