LEOCAD(1)

📦
version 26.09 · 5 versions
, in alpine 3.24, arch rolling

💖 LEOCAD 💖 — the CAD program for LEGO models (yes, that's the whole vibe)

okay so bestie, gather round, because leocad is about to become your new main character ✨ This is the manual page for it, from the General Commands Manual — and we're gonna go through everything, no skipping, no cap 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

leocad [OPTIONS] [INFILE]

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

LeoCAD is a CAD program for creating virtual LEGO models 🧱✨ It has an easy to use interface and includes thousands of different parts in its library. Like... thousands. The way that it just has every part you could ever want? Obsessed 🫶

✨ OPTIONS ✨

Below is a summary of all of the options that LeoCAD accepts, fr fr. Many options have two equivalent names — one is a single letter preceded by -, and the other is a long name preceded by -- (iykyk, it's giving classic Unix). Brackets ([ and ]) indicate that an option takes an optional parameter 🙈

  • infile — Loads the project file infile 💖
  • -l path, --libpath path — Set the parts library location. Lowkey essential if your parts live somewhere spicy 🌈
  • -i [outfile.ext], --image [outfile.ext] — Saves a picture to outfile.ext in the image format specified by ext and exits 😭 like it renders and dips. If outfile is not given then the program will use a name based on infile. The file format is selected by ext and can be gif, bmp, png or jpg (if ext is not present then the default preferences format will be used). Slay, but read the ext carefully bestie 👑
  • -w width, --width width — Sets the width of the picture to width 📏
  • -h height, --height height — Sets the height of the picture to height 📐
  • -f time, --from time — Start saving pictures at the step time. Steps start at 1 ⭐ (not zero!! not zero!!)
  • -t time, --to time — Save pictures until the step time 🏁
  • -s submodel, --submodel submodel — Sets the active submodel to submodel 🦋
  • -c camera, --camera camera — Sets the active camera to camera 📸
  • -ss id, --stud-style id — Set the stud style. Valid values are: 0=Plain, 1=Thin Lines Logo, 2=Outline Logo, 3=Sharp Top Logo, 4=Rounded Top Logo, 5=Flattened Logo, 6=High Contrast, 7=High Contrast with Logo 💅 (yes there are eight whole stud aesthetics, we stan a detail-oriented icon)
  • --viewpoint front | back | left | right | top | bottom | home — Sets the viewpoint to one of the predefined view angles 👀
  • --camera-angles latitude longitude — Set the camera angles in degrees around the model 🌍
  • --camera-position x y z tx ty tz ux uy uz — Set the camera position, target and up vector using the LeoCAD coordinate system 🎯
  • --camera-position-ldraw x y z tx ty tz ux uy uz — Same energy, but Set the camera position, target and up vector using the LDraw coordinate system 🧚 (different coordinates, same drama)
  • --orthographic — Use an orthographic projection 📦
  • --fov degrees — Set the vertical field of view used to render images 🔭
  • --zplanes near far — Set the near and far clipping planes used to render images (1 <= near < far) ⚠️ like it literally says 1 <= near < far, respect the math bestie
  • --fade-steps — Render parts from prior steps faded 🌫️
  • --no-fade-steps — Do not render parts from prior steps faded 🚫
  • --fade-steps-color color — Color to use for rendering faded parts. (#AARRGGBB where AA, RR, GG, and BB are hexadecimal values for alpha, red, green, and blue respectively.) 🎨
  • --highlight — Highlight parts in the steps they appear ✨
  • --no-highlight — Do not highlight parts in the steps they appear 🙅
  • --highlight-color color — Color to use to highlight parts, (#AARRGGBB where AA, RR, GG, and BB are hexadecimal values for alpha, red, green, and blue respectively.) 💛
  • --shading wireframe | flat | default | full — Select shading mode for rendering 🌈
  • --line-width width — Set the width of the edge lines ✏️
  • --aa-samples count — AntiAliasing sample size (1, 2, 4, or 8) 🔍 (those four numbers, nothing else!)
  • -scc #AARRGGBB, --stud-cylinder-color #AARRGGBB — High contrast stud cylinder color 🎀
  • -ec #AARRGGBB, --edge-color #AARRGGBB — High contrast edge color 🖍️
  • -bec #AARRGGBB, --black-edge-color #AARRGGBB — High contrast edge color for black parts 🖤
  • -dec #AARRGGBB, --dark-edge-color #AARRGGBB — High contrast edge color for dark color parts 🌑
  • -aec, --automate-edge-color — Enable automatically adjusted edge colors 🤖
  • -cc float, --color-contrast float — Set the near and far clipping planes used to render images (1 <= near < far) 😭 okay so this is literally what the original says, bestie — yes it's the clipping-planes description on an option named color-contrast. Not me questioning the docs 💀 I'm just the messenger, copying it exactly.
  • -ldv float, --light-dark-value float — Set the value to indicate a light or dark color 💡
  • -obj [outfile.obj] — Exports the model to wavefront format 📤
  • -3ds [outfile.3ds] — Exports the model to 3DS format 📤
  • -dae [outfile.dae] — Exports the model to COLLADA DAE format 📤
  • -html [path] — Creates an HTML page for the model 🌐 (web icon behavior, honestly)
  • -v, --version — Output version information and exit 🏷️
  • -?, --help — Display a brief usage synopsis and exit 🆘

🦋 ENVIRONMENT 🦋

LEOCAD_LIB may be set to the path of the parts library 🧚 (basically the environment-variable twin of --libpath, iykyk)

🌟 EXAMPLES 🌟

$ leocad car.lcd -i car.png -w 640 -h 480

This will start LeoCAD, load the file car.lcd, create a png called car.png with a resolution of 640x480 and exit when done 🔥 one command, whole render, and it dips. Iconic.

💜 FILES 💜

  • ~/.config/LeoCAD Software/LeoCAD.conf — User preferences file 🗂️ (yes the folder has a space in it, don't come for me)

💀 BUGS 💀

If you find any bugs please report them at https://github.com/leozide/leocad/issues 🐛 no gatekeeping, tell the devs

👑 AUTHOR 👑

LeoCAD is written by Leonardo Zide <leozide@gmail.com>. You can visit the LeoCAD homepage at https://www.leocad.org/ 🫶

This manual page was originally written by Patrick Mahoney <pat7@gmx.net>, for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others). It has since been edited by others ✨ (credit where credit's due, always)

and that's the whole page, bestie 🌈💖 this version of the manpage comes from 18 September 2026 💅 go build something gorgeous with it — mwah 🎀

📦 where this page comes from