Exchanging parts

[Roo boy]

Is it possible to easily exchange parts?

Example. I have used the 3673 Connector Peg, but according to the LDD Manager and BrickLink, it's not available in the colour I've selected (black), only light grey or light bluish grey.

I want to use part 2780 now instead.

The problem is, I have used it 266 times and don't want to individually delete each piece and replace it with the 2780 piece.

Selecting all of the same part is ok, but can't see a way to do what I want.

[Nachapon Bricks]

You can do it on the fly(without restart LDD).

1. Export you model (Ctrl+E) to "Save as type" *.lxfml

2. Edeit it by text editor with repalce function (ie: wordpad).

3. Replace all (Ctrl+H) string:

designID="3673" materials="194"

with

designID="2780" materials="26"

(peg w/o to with friction / midium stone gray to black).

4. Save file.

5. Open or import your *.lxfml

Edited November 10, 2013 by bbqqq

[Superkalle]

There is a function is LDD Manager that let's you do this called "Batch delete or replace parts". The benefit of the function compared to a text search & replace like showed by bbqqq is that it takes into consideration that only a certain combination of DesignID's and colors should be changed - for example, in this case you only want to replace color of the 3673/2780 and not on any other parts. (This could be done also without LDD Manager if you first replace the DesignID with the text-editor method and then the color inside LDD but it's more practiable with LDD Manager since you explained you already use it anyway).

Note however that the feature is "dumb" in the sense that in only replaces the DesignID (part number). So if the two parts (3673 and 2780) have different zero points, then it won't work. Easiest was to find out is just to try a batch replace and open the file afterwards. If none of the "new" parts are removed by LDD, it worked

[Calabar]

Note however that the feature is "dumb" in the sense that in only replaces the DesignID (part number). So if the two parts (3673 and 2780) have different zero points, then it won't work.

In some cases this problem could be avoided in this way:

• Select all the parts you want to replace using the proper selection tool (usually the shape selection tool)
  
• Move these parts apart from the model so that they results unconnected, but maintaining the relative positions.
  
• Replace these parts with the new desired parts
  
• Place again the new parts in the model

In this way, as the parts are identical, even a different zero point from the replaced part should not be a problem.

NOTE: with the bbqqq method there is no need to do that because the new parts will be imported, so they are already disconnected and with the relative positions.

Edited November 10, 2013 by Calabar

[Roo boy]

You can do it on the fly(without restart LDD).

1. Export you model (Ctrl+E) to "Save as type" *.lxfml

2. Edeit it by text editor with repalce function (ie: wordpad).

3. Replace all (Ctrl+H) string:

designID="3673" materials="194"

with

designID="2780" materials="26"

(peg w/o to with friction / midium stone gray to black).

4. Save file.

5. Open or import your *.lxfml

This worked a treat.

A couple of things.

1. I had to export it as the LXFML4-Files (*.lxfml) type. The one without the 4 caused some problems when bringing it back in.

2. The string I had to search for was - designID="3673" materialID="194" - I think the file type changed this as your "materials=" did work in the other file format.

3. Always remember to do it on a test model first!!

Many thanks for your help.

From the build i'm working on, I think it's very important to continually refer to BrickLink for parts that are actually available in the real world rather than just choosing random colours. Most of the ones I had to change were luckily only a couple of the same item.

[Calabar]

Note that Superkalle's LDD Manager can examine the lxf file and check if you are using existing bricks or not.

[Superkalle]

In some cases this problem could be avoided in this way:

• Select all the parts you want to replace using the proper selection tool (usually the shape selection tool)
  
• Move these parts apart from the model so that they results unconnected, but maintaining the relative positions.
  
• Replace these parts with the new desired parts
  
• Place again the new parts in the model
  

In this way, as the parts are identical, even a different zero point from the replaced part should not be a problem.

That is really smart - never thought about it

You can do it on the fly(without restart LDD).

1. Export you model (Ctrl+E) to "Save as type" *.lxfml

2. Edeit it by text editor with repalce function (ie: wordpad).

3. Replace all (Ctrl+H) string:

designID="3673" materials="194"

with

designID="2780" materials="26"

Aaah, now I see what you mean bbqqq - you use the entire textstring with both DesignID and materials as one total string. Yes that is possible, as long as one keeps in mind that some bricks have multiple materials values, and in some cases also decorations, such as this example:

<Part refID="127" designID="3815" materials="21,0,0" decoration="0,0">

[Nachapon Bricks]

In some cases this problem could be avoided in this way:

• Select all the parts you want to replace using the proper selection tool (usually the shape selection tool)
  
• Move these parts apart from the model so that they results unconnected, but maintaining the relative positions.
  
• Replace these parts with the new desired parts
  
• Place again the new parts in the model

In this way, as the parts are identical, even a different zero point from the replaced part should not be a problem.

NOTE: with the bbqqq method there is no need to do that because the new parts will be imported, so they are already disconnected and with the relative positions.

Good trick if not too many bricks to be exchange. I think all methods works for bricks with similar geometry only.

[/size]

That is really smart - never thought about it

[/size]

Aaah, now I see what you mean bbqqq - you use the entire textstring with both DesignID and materials as one total string. Yes that is possible, as long as one keeps in mind that some bricks have multiple materials values, and in some cases also decorations, such as this example:

<Part refID="127" designID="3815" materials="21,0,0" decoration="0,0">

Maybe just replace all designID only, because we can replace color with LDD shape selection + paint tools afterward. Then no need to find color code.

Edited November 11, 2013 by bbqqq