BrickLink Studio
BrickLink Studio is a freeware CAD software developed by BrickLink. It allows for the creation of virtual 3D models with Lego bricks, as well as instructions for them. It replaced Lego Digital Designer as the official LEGO design software.
History
It was released on BrickLink as an open beta on December 13, 2016. The next major update to the program, version 2.0, was released in open beta on July 18, 2018. Multiple features were added to the program, including a photorealistic rendering option, and BrickLink integration for ordering parts to recreate the model physically, as well as the Instruction Maker. Studio Early Access, a version where new features are released early, also exists.Initially, Studio for their own parts library silently used LDraw Parts Library, developed by LDraw.org Community under Creative Commons Attribution license. After LDraw.org
In 2021, it was revealed that the Eyesight, a render engine of the BrickLink Studio, is built from the Cycles render sources developed by Blender Foundation, but in same time BrickLink Studio proprietary binary included some GPL-licensed source from Blender too, at least parts of
bf_blenlib source files, that is visibe in Studio binary file via hex editor. Later, the source of Eyesight was released on BrickLink site, as well as the modified sources of POV-Ray, FFmpeg and other sotware libs used in Studio.In January 2022, The Lego Group announced that BrickLink Studio would replace Lego Digital Designer as the official Lego building software going forward. The Lego Group has specific dedicated BrickLink Studio builders.