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How a brick model gets designed here
Every model on this site is generated from a 3D shape, then packed with real bricks in a strict order. Nothing is drawn by hand and nothing is decorative: if a brick is in the picture it is in the parts list too.
1. The subject becomes a shape, not a picture
A description like "a dark green T-rex" is turned into a body plan — a set of geometric primitives: a barrel for the chest, tapered capsules for the legs, an ellipsoid for the skull. Those primitives are voxelised at one stud per cell, so the model has a real 3D occupancy grid before a single brick exists. This is the part most tools skip, and it is why a generated image usually cannot be built: an image knows nothing about how thick a leg is.
2. The shape is packed with real bricks
Each horizontal layer is tiled with genuine LEGO elements — 1×2 up to 2×8 bricks, using their real design numbers. The packer follows two rules. First, every brick must sit on at least one stud of the layer below; anything that would float is deleted rather than faked. Second, a brick is preferred when it does not align exactly with the brick beneath it, because staggered joints are what stop a wall falling apart. Neighbouring bricks of the same colour are then merged into the largest legal element, which is why the parts list looks like something a person would build rather than a pile of 1×1s.
3. The instructions are the model, not a description of it
Steps are produced from the same data: one step per brick layer, bottom to top, with everything already placed shown in grey and the bricks for the current step in colour. Because the drawings are generated from the brick list, the piece count in the picture, in the parts table and in the PDF cannot drift apart — they are the same array of bricks rendered three ways.
4. Why the parts list is exact
The list groups bricks by element number and colour, and the totals are computed, not estimated. You will see a CSV and a table that agree because both are read from the packed model. If you already own a pile of bricks, that list is the honest answer to "what do I need".
5. What the paid manual is
The page shows the first three steps free so you can check the build makes sense before paying anything. The complete manual is a printable PDF: every layer, a drawing per step, and the full inventory. It costs $4.99 and it is the only thing sold here — bricks are not sold on this site, and there is nothing to ship.
What it cannot do
At one stud per brick, a brick model is chunky by definition. Fine detail — fingers, facial features, thin wings — reads as a suggestion rather than a likeness, and a model with more than roughly a thousand pieces would need detailing the packer does not attempt. The hand-tuned subjects exist for exactly this reason: a designed brachiosaurus will always beat a generated one.