Confusion and problems with Bricksmith and LDraw.org

[The Indecisive Clutch]

I was looking to make digital instructions for my models. (I would make them and then hopefully download them as PDFs.)

I downloaded Bricksmith and it worked really well, but then when I tried to make another thing, the dimensions weren't right; the parts wouldn't go onto what they should. They fit together in a manner physically impossible, shown in my photo.

Does anyone know any reasons for this? I rotated the bricks around a lot, but didn't do anything else.

I'm aware that the person behind it no longer has any time for the program.

I tried posting in LDraw.org's forums, but it wouldn't let me create an account; the site just buffers after I fill everything in and click the button.

Thanks for reading.

[NathanR]

Try changing the grid spacing.  By default, the middle grid size moves the bricks up and down by one plate's height, and left/right/forwards/backwards by half a brick. But once you rotate the brick, up and down becomes left and right, so the distance the brick moves with each press of the arrow key becomes a little messed up.  Using the smaller grid size, the arrow keys move each brick by 1LDU in each axis, so you can nudge it exactly where you need it to be.

For ultra precision (needed when the bricks are rotated by angles that are not 90 degrees), open the inspector window and you can set the x, y, z coordinates of the brick manually.

Edited August 15, 2019 by NathanR

[Orion P]

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[The Indecisive Clutch]

On 8/15/2019 at 3:29 AM, NathanR said:

Try changing the grid spacing.  By default, the middle grid size moves the bricks up and down by one plate's height, and left/right/forwards/backwards by half a brick. But once you rotate the brick, up and down becomes left and right, so the distance the brick moves with each press of the arrow key becomes a little messed up.  Using the smaller grid size, the arrow keys move each brick by 1LDU in each axis, so you can nudge it exactly where you need it to be.

For ultra precision (needed when the bricks are rotated by angles that are not 90 degrees), open the inspector window and you can set the x, y, z coordinates of the brick manually.

Thanks.