17 replies to this topic

[morson1]

Hi

Is there any way to retract the LA in Lego Digital Designer? Or is it only useable fully extended?

Thanks in advance

[laserman]

Hi,
unfortunately it ist not possible yet.
May be in future...

[NeuroMimetis]

Up ... to see if anyone has a trick to retract LAs

Thanks in advance.
Neuro

[Superkalle]

NeuroMimetis, on 02 June 2011 - 10:41 AM, said:

Up ... to see if anyone has a trick to retract LAs

Good question. I don't think there is such a trick, but maybe someone else knows.

[DLuders]

You could possibly substitute a mini Linear Actuator (mLA) made by Zblj:



Alternatively, you could possibly re-engineer (mix and match) Zblj's pneumatic LDD parts (pictured below) to create a full-size Linear Actuator part that can be adjusted within LDD.  A Lego Technic Axle sliding up and down the center of 2x2 Round Bricks looks like a LA, if you color it Light Bluish Gray and attach the appropriate connections on the top and bottom....  

       

[hrontos]

Superkalle, on 02 June 2011 - 11:28 AM, said:

Good question. I don't think there is such a trick, but maybe someone else knows.

I have just created LXF file containing rectracted LAs.

 LAs.lxf   10.32K   184 downloads

There are 21 of them, each with different length (with step of 0.25 stud).

There are 4 groups:
1. length 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
2. length 0.25, 1.25, 2.25, 3.25, 4.25
3. length 0.5, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5
4. length 0.75, 1.75, 2.75, 3.75, 4.75

(remove the extra axles and other parts, they are there just to prove propper alignment).

[Superkalle]

hrontos, on 05 August 2011 - 08:57 AM, said:

I have just created LXF file containing rectracted LAs.

There are 21 of them, each with different length (with step of 0.25 stud).

There are 4 groups:
1. length 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
2. length 0.25, 1.25, 2.25, 3.25, 4.25
3. length 0.5, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5
4. length 0.75, 1.75, 2.75, 3.75, 4.75

(remove the extra axles and other parts, they are there just to prove propper alignment).

Great work hrontos! These will come in very handy indeed!!

[hrontos]

Superkalle, on 05 August 2011 - 10:27 AM, said:

Great work hrontos! These will come in very handy indeed!!

The similar thing done with shock absorbers.

So compressed shock absorbers:

 ShockAbsorbers.lxf   18.26K   95 downloads

(Only one of the has length that can be aligned with a beam holes).

Edit: I updated the file during edit to include all more types of shock absorbers.

Edited by hrontos, 05 August 2011 - 11:19 AM.

[Superkalle]

hrontos, on 05 August 2011 - 10:49 AM, said:

The similar thing done with shock absorbers.

So compressed shock absorbers:

(Only one of the has length that can be aligned with a beam holes).

Once again, super work I'm surprised no one have thought about this clever solution before. I mean, it solves a lot of problems in a very elegant way.

[hrontos]

Superkalle, on 05 August 2011 - 10:56 AM, said:

Once again, super work I'm surprised no one have thought about this clever solution before. I mean, it solves a lot of problems in a very elegant way.

Thank you, I am sorry, I updated the file in the mean time, to include more shock absorber types (I am not sure about the colors, but anybody can color it).

[Superkalle]

hrontos, on 05 August 2011 - 11:21 AM, said:

Thank you, I am sorry, I updated the file in the mean time, to include more shock absorber types

Yeah, I notied. I removed the links in my quotes  

[Calabar]

Good work!
I recommend to add your works in this key topic, if you didn't it already.

[NeuroMimetis]

hrontos, on 05 August 2011 - 08:57 AM, said:

I have just created LXF file containing rectracted LAs.

LAs.lxf

There are 21 of them, each with different length (with step of 0.25 stud).

There are 4 groups:
1. length 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
2. length 0.25, 1.25, 2.25, 3.25, 4.25
3. length 0.5, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5
4. length 0.75, 1.75, 2.75, 3.75, 4.75

(remove the extra axles and other parts, they are there just to prove propper alignment).

Great, Great Work !

Thanks a lot for having shared  

Neuro

[PerryMakes]

I'm sorry if I'm missing the obvious, but may I ask - how was is that the LA's were modified to different extension lengths?

Cheers ~ Perry

[hrontos]

PerryMakes, on 15 August 2011 - 03:32 AM, said:

I'm sorry if I'm missing the obvious, but may I ask - how was is that the LA's were modified to different extension lengths?

Cheers ~ Perry

Luckily, the absence of retracted LAs was not a problem of how LAs are modelled in LDD, it was only problem of missing functionality in LDD user interface (there is nothing similar like hinge button that could be used to retract LAs or compress shock absorbers). So I modified the LXF file and changed position of LA "piston" to make it look retracted. May be TLG will add function to do such operations directly in LDD without editing the LXF file.

[PerryMakes]

hrontos, on 15 August 2011 - 08:31 PM, said:

Luckily, the absence of retracted LAs was not a problem of how LAs are modelled in LDD, it was only problem of missing functionality in LDD user interface (there is nothing similar like hinge button that could be used to retract LAs or compress shock absorbers). So I modified the LXF file and changed position of LA "piston" to make it look retracted. May be TLG will add function to do such operations directly in LDD without editing the LXF file.

For a second there I imagined that you were Neo - and what appear to us mere mortals as linear actuators show up for you as green characters falling down the screen - and you just will the matrix transformations to happen with only your thoughts ... how cool would that be???  

Edited by PerryMakes, 16 August 2011 - 04:36 AM.

[hrontos]

PerryMakes, on 16 August 2011 - 04:26 AM, said:

For a second there I imagined that you were Neo - and what appear to us mere mortals as linear actuators show up for you as green characters falling down the screen - and you just will the matrix transformations to happen with only your thoughts ... how cool would that be???  

I am happy to see things in "True color". But sometimes, it would be nice to move things just by power of thought.

[896gerard]

hrontos, on 05 August 2011 - 08:57 AM, said:

I have just created LXF file containing rectracted LAs.

LAs.lxf

There are 21 of them, each with different length (with step of 0.25 stud).

There are 4 groups:
1. length 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
2. length 0.25, 1.25, 2.25, 3.25, 4.25
3. length 0.5, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5
4. length 0.75, 1.75, 2.75, 3.75, 4.75

(remove the extra axles and other parts, they are there just to prove propper alignment).

Thank you, very handy!