LDD problem: I can't place plates on top of each other

[ramsesisthebest]

This might be a really stupid question, but I am having an extremely difficult time placing plates on top of each other. Whenever I go to place one on top of another, it simply goes underneath it instead. I'm new to LDD, so chances are there's a really simple explanation to this and I just don't know it, but I haven't been able to find anyone who has the same problem. The project I'm working on wouldn't take all that long if it weren't for the fact that it's taking so long just to get each piece placed correctly. I'm really sick of being unable to get any work done on it because of this stupid problem, does anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

[Superkalle]

First of all, since it's your first post, Welcome to Eurobricks!

About your problem - there are a couple of situations where this issue might happen, depending on which plates it is. Can you show a screenshot and/or tell which plates it is and how you attempt to place them (viewing angle etc).

(PS, please note that this is a forum of your peers, i.e. we are just normal users like you, so it doesn't really help to write that you are sick of the stupid problem. I also helped you clarify the title of your topics by adding "LDD", since we discuss several digital tools here.)

[Xon67]

LDD seems to have a heirarchy for determining how to connect pieces based on viewing angle and number of stud connections, among other parameters. There are ways to influence that process.

The easiest thing to do is to change the viewing angle. If you absolutely want one piece to go on top of a second piece, assuming studs-on-top construction, the closer the view is to a top-down view (directly over the second piece), the more likely you are to place a brick on top rather than underneath.

I don't know whether LDD takes this into account, but it also seems to help if I right click the second piece to center on it as well as to zoom in closely on it.

Something else to consider is whether or not there are any bricks hidden with the hide tool. If a hidden brick already exists on that second brick, LDD can't let you place another one there. Been there, done that... Unhide all bricks if needed.

When all else fails, I force connections by eliminating any connections that I don't want to happen. For example, put one or more flat plates on top of the piece you are placing. That way, LDD can only place that piece on top because there are no possible connections underneath. I usually use this method when I'm trying to connect a large number of bricks to another large number of bricks.

Happy building!

Edited January 29, 2016 by Xon67

[SylvainLS]

You can also hide the bricks you don’t want to connect to: LDD doesn’t allow you to connect to hidden bricks (but it shows their edges if the new brick is to connect to them).

[___]

This might be a really stupid question, but I am having an extremely difficult time placing plates on top of each other. Whenever I go to place one on top of another, it simply goes underneath it instead. I'm new to LDD, so chances are there's a really simple explanation to this and I just don't know it, but I haven't been able to find anyone who has the same problem. The project I'm working on wouldn't take all that long if it weren't for the fact that it's taking so long just to get each piece placed correctly. I'm really sick of being unable to get any work done on it because of this stupid problem, does anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

The that no one menstioned here is also that the actual angle you are looking at your model (ehm, your plates) has big impact on LDD decision when it guess if you want to add that plate below or abow the actual one - try to rotate your model differently and try it several times (I know this can be real drag but that is the way LDD operates).

Also another way would be - in case you rmodel is not too huge and diffficult - temporarily placing some reversed tiles underneath the plate you are adding your new plate onto, thus LDD will know that the only place where this new plate can be added is abow not below - hope you understand me.