LPub Cuts Off Assembly Images at the Top

[Doctor Octoroc]

Hey guys,

New member, just signed up to ask a question about LPub but I'm planning to be around a lot as I'm putting together a lot of instructions for a project I'm working on.

My issue is this:

I've had this happen before while making instructions (it seems the taller the model the more that gets cut off) and I've worked around it by just shrinking the scale of the display image in the step but it's gotten to the point where so much of the model gets cut off that I'd need to shrink it to 50% to make it small enough so that the none of the top gets cut off like in the above image. Does anyone know the source of this? Bear in mind, I've added absolutely no LPub formatting at this point, this is directly after creating the steps in MLCad. I initially thought it was a margins issue but all the margins are set to the default .05" for all pages, assemblies, etc in the configuration menu. This one is really baffling me!

[legolijntje]

That's indeed kinda werid

If you aren't using LPub's successor LPub3D yet, you can give that one a try.

Also, I would recommend to use LDview as a renderer (maybe you're already using LDview, but it's just a tip )

[Doctor Octoroc]

That's indeed kinda werid

If you aren't using LPub's successor LPub3D yet, you can give that one a try.

Also, I would recommend to use LDview as a renderer (maybe you're already using LDview, but it's just a tip )

Thanks, I'll look into it!

I'm currently using LDGLite for display - I do see the advantages of using LDView but while working on my Architecture themed series I'm constantly jumping back and forth between LDView and Photoshop to use screen grabs for the cover art (until I actually build the models and can take photos to use) so the render display changes based on my ever-changing preferences in LDView. Because of this, LPub is often showing edge lines only since I switch back and forth between that and solid render for the back covers of my instructions which fade the solid model to the edge lines. Unless there's a way to change the preferences so they don't affect the source file LPub calls out then it'll only be a hassle to change back every time I'm exporting the instructions.

[legolijntje]

Thanks, I'll look into it!

I'm currently using LDGLite for display - I do see the advantages of using LDView but while working on my Architecture themed series I'm constantly jumping back and forth between LDView and Photoshop to use screen grabs for the cover art (until I actually build the models and can take photos to use) so the render display changes based on my ever-changing preferences in LDView. Because of this, LPub is often showing edge lines only since I switch back and forth between that and solid render for the back covers of my instructions which fade the solid model to the edge lines. Unless there's a way to change the preferences so they don't affect the source file LPub calls out then it'll only be a hassle to change back every time I'm exporting the instructions.

Well, you can save preference sets in preferences > preference sets. So, you could create one called "Instructions - High quality" and one called "Lines only" for example.

As far as I know you can't give LPub a specifc preference set to use (it just uses the currently selected settings in LDview), but manually switching preference sets isn't as much work as manually switcing all settings

There might be a little 'hack' to give LPub it's own preference sets, by installing 2 different versions of LDview. Keep in mind that I've never tried this and I have no idea if works or if it leads to unstable things.

You can install a 64bit version and a 32bit version of 4.2beta (or 4.2beta and 4.1) and choose one as the default for opening an LDraw file and choose the other in LPub's settings to use as a renderer.

[Doctor Octoroc]

Well, you can save preference sets in preferences > preference sets. So, you could create one called "Instructions - High quality" and one called "Lines only" for example.

As far as I know you can't give LPub a specifc preference set to use (it just uses the currently selected settings in LDview), but manually switching preference sets isn't as much work as manually switcing all settings

There might be a little 'hack' to give LPub it's own preference sets, by installing 2 different versions of LDview. Keep in mind that I've never tried this and I have no idea if works or if it leads to unstable things.

You can install a 64bit version and a 32bit version of 4.2beta (or 4.2beta and 4.1) and choose one as the default for opening an LDraw file and choose the other in LPub's settings to use as a renderer.

All good ideas! I'll definitely add some preference sets, didn't realize I could do that (I mean, it's only a few settings I change so it's not a huge deal) but rather than downloading multiple programs I'll probably just opt to create the instructions and images in groups respectively so I only have to change between settings between groups of models instead of between every other one.

On a side note, I downloaded LPub3D and used it to create a simple set of instructions just to get the feel for it. Then when I opened up the other file I was originally having a problem with, the default page size was 27"! I had to scale the model down to 20% just to fit the base plate on my page (I'm using a 5.25" x 7.875" page size to match the Architecture booklet for the new Burj Khalifa). So another set of problems - probably an issue on the MLCad end of things, if I had to guess though its odd that a raw MLCad file would alter the default page settings in LPub, no?

Edited January 20, 2016 by Doctor Octoroc

[legolijntje]

Maybe you can PM (private message) me your file so I can take a look at it? If you want of course.

EDIT: you have less then 10 posts, so you can't PM

[Doctor Octoroc]

Maybe you can PM (private message) me your file so I can take a look at it? If you want of course.

EDIT: you have less then 10 posts, so you can't PM

I'll get posting haha. I'll take a stab at it myself. I have some minor programming background so I should be able to find any irregularities in the code itself if that's where they are. Thanks for the offer - I may take you up on that once I've surpassed the newbie status around here :-)

Aaannndddd, found it! The preferences had the measurement units set to to cm - probably because it was a UK download haha. Didn't realize this since the previous instructions I opened was already set to inches. This should solve the issue, I'll pop back on if it looks like the original issue is still happening.

[Doctor Octoroc]

That's the way i work (Ldview and Ldview64 at the same time on the same system, Ldview64 being used mainly for Lpub). Up to now, things don't get more instable.

That's good to know. I have a number of workflows for other programs that depend on me memorizing certain settings since I'm always switching back and forth so I may end up doing this in the future if my builds get more intensive than 200 pcs or less models.