Export

[retrotecchie]

Silly question. LDD allows me to get the price of a creation from the LEGO shop, so the data for a creation (how many of which element) is clearly submitted to LEGO, priced up, and returned to the user.

But.....you pay a service charge for them to box it up and print off a picture and send it to you. Just take a single 4x2 brick, place it In LDD and get a price. Compare that price against buying the single element from PAB!

I recently build a replica 7710 passenger carriage in LDD, minus things like doors and windows which I already had, and the price was over 20 Euro (GPB 18). I then went to PAB at the LEGO shop and got what I needed for less than half. I can print my own picture and I really don't need the box.

So....I design it in LDD, then work out the elements I need, get them from PAB at a fraction of the cost and I'm happy. This is a bit of a work-up, and if it's a really complicated model, takes ages to produce my on-line order.

Is there, or has anyone found a way of exporting the parts list from an LDD model (.lxf file?) into a simple table or text file? I'd still have to enter the list manually on line, but could at least just bang it in off a printout of the exported data.

I notice now that new LEGO instructions have a breakdown of all elements and quantities in a set...is there some utility or 'bolt on' for LDD or lxf files that allows export of a parts list?

[Vincent Kessels]

Have a look at LDD Manager (see the Index Thread of this forum).

I haven't tried it myself because it is Windows only.

What I do is export from LDD as ldraw, and them import the result in BrickStore.

[Piratedave84]

This was discussed in length here

hope it helps!

Pirate

Edited January 26, 2011 by Piratedave84

[retrotecchie]

This was discussed in length here

hope it helps!

Pirate

had a look, thanks!

Actually, I noted in another thread that lxf files are actually a zip file that comprise a small png thumbnail image and an lxfml file that has the actual data stored.

By looking at the lxfml extracted from a single brick added to LDD, then two identical bricks, then two identical bricks in two different colours, I think I cracked the system!

A simple import of the lxfml file into a small app I'm writing in Visual Studio, extracting the element data and then tabulating elements by element design and colour code should end up producing what I want, hopefully. If it works half reasonably, I'll make it available to anyone else who may be interested