A couple of Stud.io questions... Can you modify the BoM list in Stud.io?

[krimimimi]

Hey, I'm fairly new to stud.io (coming from mecabricks), modding an official set, and by and large I've managed to make things work satisfactorily, but for a couple of exceptions:

I know how to generate the parts list / Bill of Materials, insert it in the instructions and change its format as needed, but is it possible to remove the parts that were included in the set I'm modding? I used the custom parts palette from the set and had to get some additional parts from the Main parts list. Is it possible to list only the parts that weren't on the custom palette / only the ones from the Main palette? The only other idea I had was exporting to bricklink, having it remove the parts I have from a wish list, and I believe there were posts here as to how to re-import that list to Stud.io... (Although if there isn't a better solution and you happen to know where a good explanation for doing that is, I'd love a link. It didn't sound straightforward.)

In the instructions that were generated for the submodels, for some steps it would be helpful to see where they are placed on the previous builds for reference, so they aren't just floating in the aether in the meantime. Is there a way to toggle that view off and on? I wouldn't want to include the builds in the same step and have the visual clutter of having it visible the whole time, but it would help to be able to be able to see it at the start for reference. (The only workaround I came up with was saving the model under a different name, removing the submodels in question in that version, screenshotting the results and including the pictures on inserted blank pages in the original file, but that sounded pretty kludgey, and almost definitely like something that should most likely be a couple clicks and a proper setting away, and not silly amounts of work instead.)

Also I was looking for templates to design my own tile stickers. Google foo has yielded that in spades for minifigs, but not the different tile sizes, which is what I was after. If anyone happens to have a link at hand or can point me to resources, it would help. (And if anyone can recommend a good printer's in Europe that mails the results, that would also be lovely. I haven't even begun that search yet.) 

Cheers. 

[SylvainLS]

Hi,

1. Changing the BOM: Nope, no can do.  What you can do is make another ‘model’ (not built, just the parts laying around) with only the necessary parts and generate the instructions just for the BOM and then either export as PNG to import in the main model as images or use a PDF editor.

1’. Import a Wanted List: https://studiohelp.bricklink.com/hc/en-us/articles/6483161921303-Importing-a-Wanted-List 
Contrarily to Official sets, you can only import them as a palette.  So you have to use the parts in a ‘model’ if you want them in the BOM.  (Beware: you can use more parts than what is in a ‘counted’ palette, by copying them / changing their colours in the build….  So be careful while ‘building’.)

1”. Make a diff of Wanted List: not possible on BL itself.  You need other tools, like Rebrickable.com or BrickStore (I’d go for BrickStore because it’s linked to the BL catalogue while Rebrickable has its own catalogue and there’s therefore a double conversion that may change some parts).

 

2. Mixing two models: nope.  The instructions tell how to build the current model.  Or maybe I didn’t understand what you’re wanting.

 

3. Stickers: PartDesigner allows you to put any image on (almost) any part, including tiles.  As for the dimensions, PD used to scale up the images to 320 pixels per stud (1016 ppi), that’s more than necessary.
I also made this small application that generates a custom part ‘sticker’ (= a thin rectangle with an image that you can place anywhere) for Studio: https://gitlab.com/sylvainls/png2studio_dat.html

3’. Printer: I don’t know.

[krimimimi]

@SylvainLS Brilliant, thank you so much!

1. Yeah, that was the best I could come up with as well, I just couldn't believe, having the ability to import a palette (so nice), they wouldn't also allow us to manipulate the BoM contents accordingly. Thank you for the warnings, I had gathered re-importing a wishlist wasn't quite as straightforward as I'd hope.

2. Occasionally I need more context than the submodel provides, but for the most part it's extraneous information that will distract from what I'm trying to convey in the instructions. 

My workaround is similar to the previous one, and similarly inelegant which is why I was again hoping there was a better approach. They had so many bits and bobs you could toggle to adjust appearance, I thought there was a good chance I'd overlooked one. (Make previous submodel visible / not.) I'll just insert a screenshot from a second version of the build and call it a day. Sometimes kludges are the answer.  

3. Thanks! I'm looking at the page now. Does the input png have to be the proper size or resolution, or does it shrink the image to fit?

I had just stumbled across some helpful info on MB and was working my way through it; it'll help with generating the stickers in the first place, but I'll still need to sort uploading them to Stud.io. 

Printer > Yeah, it was worth a shot to ask. 😉

Thank you very much for responding so helpfully. It'll definitely save me some time. 😊

Edited October 25, 2022 by krimimimi

[SylvainLS]

14 hours ago, krimimimi said:

Does the input png have to be the proper size or resolution, or does it shrink the image to fit?

The application is extremely simple and does not modify the PNG at all.  It always writes the same file, just changing the size of the rectangle on which the texture (= the PNG) is applied.  The only job it does on the PNG is encode it in base64 to include it as a Studio/LDraw .dat file is all text.

So if you give it a 100x10 image and ask for a 10x100 sticker, it’ll be all distorted