Question for the MLCAD Gurus

[dhc6twinotter]

Hey all,

I'm trying to learn how to use MLCAD. So far, it seems pretty easy, but I've run into an issue, and I can't figure out how to fix my problem.

I inserted a gear at an odd angle on purpose. Now, every subsequent part I try to insert comes in at the same odd angle. How do I go back to inserting parts without the odd angles?

I'm sure there's an easy fix, but I haven't figured it out. Thanks!

[Lasse D]

In the list with parts you should highlight a part which is normally placed, then drag something new in and it will copy the color and placement of what you have highlighted.

[dhc6twinotter]

Ah, ok! Good tip! That solved my problem. Thanks!

Also, another question: The vertical spacing seems to be off when building Technic mocs. Is there any way to fix this?

Also, is there any way to get gears to mesh together properly, or do I just rotate the gears until they fit together correctly?

Thanks again!

[Lasse D]

Ah, ok! Good tip! That solved my problem. Thanks!

Also, another question: The vertical spacing seems to be off when building Technic mocs. Is there any way to fix this?

Also, is there any way to get gears to mesh together properly, or do I just rotate the gears until they fit together correctly?

Thanks again!

Yes. You must set up the precision:

Settings > General > Change > Step/Grid/Snap.

Here you can set the 3 grid precisions. I have the following:

Default coarse:

10 8 10 90

Medium:

8 10 8 45 (allows me to build "normally" when placing stuff sideways)

Fine:

1 1 1 1 (for precision placement)

I propose the following for people building primarily with liftarms:

Coarse:

10 10 10 90

Medium: 5 5 5 45

Fine:

1 1 1 1

[Blakbird]

Ah, ok! Good tip! That solved my problem. Thanks!

Also, another question: The vertical spacing seems to be off when building Technic mocs. Is there any way to fix this?

Also, is there any way to get gears to mesh together properly, or do I just rotate the gears until they fit together correctly?

MLCAD uses the placement of the last part as a baseline for placement of the next part. So if you have one at an odd angle, just drag it slightly further up the list of parts so that a "normally" placed part is at the bottom.

The grid used by MLCAD by default has a different value in the Y-direction that for the lateral direction. This works for bricks but is useless for Technic. You can change the grid. Since I do virtually all Technic in MLCAD, I just make all 3 directions the same value. 10 for coarse, 5 for medium, 1 for fine. You can adjust the angles as well. I use 0.1 degrees for fine so I can get things to align precisely.

There is no auto alignment in MLCAD. You will have to rotate each part or gear into place to make them align. This is why it makes sense to use submodels for things which move together. Then you can, for instance, rotate a gear and its axle at the same time and always keep them in phase.

SR3D takes care of most of this for you.

[dhc6twinotter]

Awesome, thanks for all the help!

Eric, I need to work on my SR3D skills a bit. It doesn't seem very intuitive, and I still haven't figured out how to unselect a part. It also seems a bit trickier to align parts. I do like the animated features that is has, so I'll have to work a bit more with it.

Edited August 27, 2012 by dhc6twinotter

[legolijntje]

Awesome, thanks for all the help!

Eric, I need to work on my SR3D skills a bit. It doesn't seem very intuitive, and I still haven't figured out how to unselect a part. It also seems a bit trickier to align parts. I do like the animated features that is has, so I'll have to work a bit more with it.

To unselect, I always just press "ENTER" then "DELETE" (keyboard buttons).

And alligning parts is very easy in sr3d builder, so I think I don't know what you mean exactly...

BTW, doesn't this need to be in the digital tools subforum instead of here?

[dhc6twinotter]

To unselect, I always just press "ENTER" then "DELETE" (keyboard buttons).

And alligning parts is very easy in sr3d builder, so I think I don't know what you mean exactly...

BTW, doesn't this need to be in the digital tools subforum instead of here?

Yeah, I've done the "enter" and "delete" method, but that seems backwards to me. It seems like there should be an easier way to unselect, like clicking outside the part. Pressing "enter" just copies the part, and pressing "delete" removes the copied part. If that's the only way to unselect, then so be it, but seem goofy to me.

I guess I don't know how to align parts on sr3d. I'll have to work on it a bit more.

99% of my posts are in the Technic forum. I didn't even know there was a subforum for digital tool.

[Philo]

If that's the only way to unselect, then so be it, but seem goofy to me.

Just press "Esc" key to unselect!

[legolijntje]

Just press "Esc" key to unselect!

Ooh, learned something new again, but I think the enter-del is so into my system now, it will be difficult to use esc

@dhc6twinotter;

Do you also know about moving a part around while using the ctrl button, then it will move with steps of 0.5 studs