LDD 4.3.5 Custom Decorations

[kangmingjie]

I know I'm resurrecting a topic that has been beaten to death, but I have searched and searched for a way to create my own decorations for LDD 4.3.5 minifig torsos, heads, shields, flags, etc., but have not found anything useful.

My question is: How can I take a .ldr file and convert it to a .lxf file?

My plan is to create a new decoration in LEGO Sticker Generator, convert it to a .dat file for LDraw and the convert the .ldr file to a .lxf.

I play a LDD RPG over on the Brikwars forums and wanted to make the game more interesting. Any help since LDD has changed quite a bit since last year? I'm thinking my best bet is to learn LDD Manager, but I don't have MS Access.

Thanks in advance for the help or bad news.

Edited October 24, 2012 by kangmingjie

[JopieK]

That would be a very neat idea, I'm currently very busy with my master thesis, but would not mind to check some things for you... better not use MS Access but XML files like LDD does or SQLLite or so.

[hrontos]

Both LDD LXF format and LDRAW LDR format contain only part IDs and positions. They are not like real 3D formats with complete 3D data. 3D data are stored in separate database. In case of LDD it is the db.lif file and in case of LDRAW it is the directory with the DAT files. This means, that you can convert LDR to LXF, but your changes in the custom DAT file will not be reflected at all since DAT file will not be merged into db.lif file. And it is not possible to add DAT file to db.lif and so no custom decorations in LDD are possible.

Or may be I missed what you wanted to do?

[kangmingjie]

That would be a very neat idea, I'm currently very busy with my master thesis, but would not mind to check some things for you... better not use MS Access but XML files like LDD does or SQLLite or so.

Congrats on getting to the thesis. I'm not quite there yet as I'm still an undergrad. At least my generals are out of the way. Thanks for the help.

Both LDD LXF format and LDRAW LDR format contain only part IDs and positions. They are not like real 3D formats with complete 3D data. 3D data are stored in separate database. In case of LDD it is the db.lif file and in case of LDRAW it is the directory with the DAT files. This means, that you can convert LDR to LXF, but your changes in the custom DAT file will not be reflected at all since DAT file will not be merged into db.lif file. And it is not possible to add DAT file to db.lif and so no custom decorations in LDD are possible.

Or may be I missed what you wanted to do?

Pretty close to what I was thinking. I want to start with the .dat file and put it into LDraw so it becomes a .ldr. From there, I was thinking that I could somehow convert it to a .lxf and use it in LDD as I wanted.

It would be so much easier if TLG allowed user made .png's to be placed on the minifig head and torso pieces. I'm a cinematography/business major, so this delving into the world of computer programming is pretty new to me. Still, I appreciate the help and look forward to conquering this problem with everyone.

[Calabar]

@kangmingjie

I've a bad and (perhaps) a good news for you.

The bad news is that it is not possible to add custom decorations in LDD if not hacking the software.

We debated for a long period about that, and as you can read in the Section Rules has been decided to don't provide support for this kind of operations that violate LDD EULA.

As hrontos told you, all brick definitions and decorations are internal resources of LDD, and then, to add a new decoration, you need to modify the internal database.

The good news is that it is possible to create hight quality images based on .lxf files, and in these images you can replace LDD decorations with custom decorations.

You can do that using LDD2PovRay software.

[kangmingjie]

@kangmingjie

I've a bad and (perhaps) a good news for you.

The bad news is that it is not possible to add custom decorations in LDD if not hacking the software.

We debated for a long period about that, and as you can read in the Section Rules has been decided to don't provide support for this kind of operations that violate LDD EULA.

As hrontos told you, all brick definitions and decorations are internal resources of LDD, and then, to add a new decoration, you need to modify the internal database.

The good news is that it is possible to create hight quality images based on .lxf files, and in these images you can replace LDD decorations with custom decorations.

You can do that using LDD2PovRay software.

No worries. I thought I'd at least try. Thanks for the help everyone. TLG should at least add more medieval and pirate themed torsos and heads for LDD. Again, thanks for the help everyone!