Greeble

Greebles, also called greeblies (singular: greebly)^[1] or nurnies, are small relief details used to give visual complexity to a model. The act of decorating a model with greebles is known as greebling. While greebling originated as a technique in filmmaking, it is commonly used in model-making, toy design, and kitbashing.^[2]^[3]

The term "greeblies" was coined by George Lucas in the 1970s to describe details on model ships used in the production of Star Wars.^[1] Ron Thornton is credited with coining the term "nurnies" to refer to CGI technical detail that his company Foundation Imaging produced for the Babylon 5 series,^[2] while the model-making team of 2001: A Space Odyssey referred to them as "wiggets".^[4]

In science-fiction model design, greebles are used to imply mechanical function without necessarily having any real purpose. They may also serve to create an illusion of scale.^[5] In the production of Star Wars, many ship models began as simple shapes that were given visual complexity by attaching greebles taken from commercial model kits.^[3] Greebling is a common aspect of Lego model design.^[6]^[7]

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 "Revell V-8 Engine Model". https://www.partsofsw.com/v8parts.htm.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Fronczek, Steve (January 20, 2008). "Interview: Charles Adams" (in en). Future-past.com. http://future-past.com/interview/charlesadams.php.
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 "Interstellar Illusions: "Greebles" Lend Large Sci-Fi Structures a Sense of Scale" (in en-US). 2021-02-19. https://99percentinvisible.org/article/interstellar-illusions-greebles-lend-large-sci-fi-structures-a-sense-of-scale/.
↑ "What are Nurnies". LEde Designs. https://www.lededesigns.com/what-are-nurnies/.
↑ Norling, Staffan. "Comments about greebling". http://battletech-movie.com/html/tutorials/comments_about_greebling.php.
↑ Spencer, Theo (2025-04-14). "LEGO builders join forces for some greebley goodness" (in en-US). https://www.brothers-brick.com/2025/04/14/lego-builders-join-forces-for-some-greebley-goodness/.
↑ "Skulls could use more greebling in general" (in en-US). 2019-09-19. https://www.brothers-brick.com/2019/09/18/skulls-could-use-more-greebling-in-general/.

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Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeble. Read more

[:0-1] 1.0 ^1.1 "Revell V-8 Engine Model". https://www.partsofsw.com/v8parts.htm.

[FuturePast-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Fronczek, Steve (January 20, 2008). "Interview: Charles Adams" (in en). Future-past.com. http://future-past.com/interview/charlesadams.php.

[:1-3] 3.0 ^3.1 "Interstellar Illusions: "Greebles" Lend Large Sci-Fi Structures a Sense of Scale" (in en-US). 2021-02-19. https://99percentinvisible.org/article/interstellar-illusions-greebles-lend-large-sci-fi-structures-a-sense-of-scale/.

[4] "What are Nurnies". LEde Designs. https://www.lededesigns.com/what-are-nurnies/.

[5] Norling, Staffan. "Comments about greebling". http://battletech-movie.com/html/tutorials/comments_about_greebling.php.

[6] Spencer, Theo (2025-04-14). "LEGO builders join forces for some greebley goodness" (in en-US). https://www.brothers-brick.com/2025/04/14/lego-builders-join-forces-for-some-greebley-goodness/.

[7] "Skulls could use more greebling in general" (in en-US). 2019-09-19. https://www.brothers-brick.com/2019/09/18/skulls-could-use-more-greebling-in-general/.

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Greeble

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References