Danish toymaker sold 62 billion Lego elements last year, amounting to 102 Lego bricks for every person in the world Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, Lego CEO: ‘Our ability to innovate and reinvent the Lego play experience every year is vital for our success.’ A successful foray into cinema has helped Lego post a rise in annual sales and profits. Buoyed by interest linked to the Warner Brothers film The Lego Movie, the Danish toymaker saw profits lift 15% to 7bn Danish krone (£686m) last year. Sales rose by 13% to 28.6bn Danish krone (£2.8bn). The privately owned firm, which overtook Barbie doll-maker Mattel to become the world’s bestselling toy firm last year, added that sales were boosted by strong demand for its Lego City, Star Wars and Technic lines. It said it sold 62 billion Lego elements last year, amounting to 102 Lego bricks for every person in the world. Amid double-digit sales growth in the UK, France, Russia, China as well as its largest market, the US, the company estimates that more than 85 million children across the world played with Lego during 2014.
The group, which employs over 14,700 staff, added that it had no product recalls for the fifth year running. Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, the chief executive, said: “Our ability to innovate and reinvent the Lego play experience every year is vital for our success.” It added its operating margin was 34% last year. Independent analyst Louise Cooper said: “That is an extraordinarily high profit margin for a business that essentially extrudes commoditised coloured plastic into different shaped bricks. A brilliant company to make such a high profit margin from making basic plastic shapes.” The firm said its three best selling Lego sets last year were Police Station, Mindstorm and Heartlake Shopping Mall. The group said it expects continued sales growth in 2015. The Lego business was founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Cristiansen. The company passed from father to son and is now owned by Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, a grandchild of the founder. The name is an abbreviation of the two Danish words “leg godt”, meaning “play well”.
The brick in its present form was launched in 1958. - 21 days 4 hours ago Players can unlock new sets of pants and change into them at changing stations (Dispantsers!) in the hub worlds. There are 20 pants in total and besides looking stylish, each grants the wearer a different perk. EditNote Pants can only be worn by characters that are already wearing pants by default. For example, Vitruvius and Old West Wyldstyle do not wear pants and therefore cannot change into ones that have been unlocked. Pants Found Perk Standard Default None Disco Level 1 They sparkle and when you start fighting, the music gets funky! Agility Level 2 Male characters can jump as high as females and use the pink and blue agility areas. Finally, equality among the sexes! Stinky Level 3 Creates a stink cloud around the character and makes farting noises! Also allows characters to jump as high as the ladies through the power of flatulence. Pneumatic Level 4 Your steps are like a jackhammer, which halts non-flying enemies as they struggle with their footing, as well as damaging any object when you walk over them.
Great way to quickly bust up bricks! Speedy Level 5 These pants will make you run nearly as fast as the Flash! Thunder Level 6 Lightning occasionally strikes your enemies (and friends) as you fight! Rainbow Level 7 Your footsteps sparkle and you make a rainbow when you jump! Also gives the ability to break rainbow bricks. Golden Level 8 They're shiny! Cold Level 9 Your movement is slow and slippery! Exploding Level 10 Your pants are engulfed in continuous mini explosions! Power Level 11 Your punches pack a wallop! Most LEGO objects will bust apart in one punch! Faster Build Level 12 They make you build LEGO objects super fast! (There's also a Red Brick for that.) Wet Level 13 Your pants leave little LEGO water droplets behind them! Super Level 14 Pants that grant the gift of flight! Tight Level 15 They show off your butt! Well, no more than any other but they'll make male characters jump as high as the females! Construction Code Gives the character perfect Construction Build ability, skipping the minigame entirely.
Also has the same effects as the Pnuematic Pants! Astro Code Now you can hack computer terminals just like Benny! Super Secret Code They're invisible! No, there's no LEGO nudity; characters simply appear with tranparent legs. Musical Code Music stings play when you jump and fight! Tornado DLC Your character spins around when moving, breaking any object instantly! Jack Rabbit DLC Gives your character the ability to jump as high as the girls, but also causes their normal movement to be constant jumping! Prospector DLC Causes more gold and blue studs to be dropped by smashed objects, even when in vehicles! It also applies to enemies when the Character Studs cheat is turned on! Hot DLC Pants are constantly on fire, and allow the character wearing them to start their own! Cheats and Secrets | Sign up or log in to customize your list. So I've just seen The LEGO Movie and I was amazed at the intricate details of all the minifigures and sets. I was wondering if anyone knows what software was used to create the film.
The CG was done by a company called Animal Logic. They used LEGO Digital Designer, a free computer program which allows users to build models using virtual LEGO bricks, in a computer-aided design (CAD) like manner. This allowed them to get high precision models and also the required bricks per model. The created LEGO Digital Designer (LDD) files were then converted into a single mesh ('shell') to remove hidden geometry, unlike the original LDD models which consisted of unique bricks. These meshes where used to build the scenes. The bricks themselves were separately modeled in Maya, with asset and layout builds achieved in Maya and XSI. They observed real used Lego to make the meshes and bricks look used/worn out (they even modeled bite marks on some bricks). To get a more photo realistic look they again observed real Lego and used this information to place light sources tactically throughout the scene, enhancing the tear and wear look of the Lego. Furthermore, to mimic to stop motion they used virtual steadicams;
the camera movement was then done using key framing. As conclusion they used the following software: The Lego Digital Designer I doubt anyone on this forum knows exactly what was used, but typically it is a host of products that combine to produce the finished movie. I found this article which describes the software used in Avatar. Autodesk Maya (most shots) Pixar Renderman for Maya Luxology Modo (model design, e.g. the Scorpion) Lightwave (low-res realtime environments) Houdini (Hell’s Gate scenes, interiors) Autodesk 3d design max (space shots, control room screens and HUD renderings) Autodesk MotionBuilder (for real-time 3d visualisations) Eyeon Fusion (image compositing) The Foundry Nuke Compositor (previz image compositing) Autodesk Smoke (color correction) Adobe After Effects (compositing, real-ime visualizations) PF Track (motion tracking, background replacement) Adobe Illustrator (HUD and screens layout)