[Software] LDCad - LDraw cad

[roland]

Here you go:

http://www.melkert.net/LDCad/docs/keys

The new 1.5 ones aren't included though, I'll update the list once 1.5 goes to beta.

[roland]

I've uploaded the Alpha 3 version.

It contains mostly tweaks and bugfixes, biggest new feature is single instance protection.

Any feedback is welcome.

http://www.melkert.net/LDCad/nextVer

[Jeroen Ottens]

I'm starting to use LDcad (vs1.4) and I have the following issue:

I try to use unofficial part 18651 (I added a directory Unofficial to the Ldraw directory with subdirectories /p and /parts. I added the 18651.dat to the /parts directory and confric4.dat to /p). I added the unofficial directory to the path as an unofficial directory.

Now the part does appear in the partbin under technic/connectors and pins, however only the axle part is visible, the connector part of the piece is not visible.

What have I done wrong?

[Jeroen Ottens]

And some other newbie questions:

What is the difference between nesting and submodels?

How can I make submodels appear in the main model?

[nickless]

To insert submodels into the main model, you need to use the part bin to navigate to "Model (content) overview/ information groups" -> "All models currently loaded". There you will see a list of all the submodels created within your current multipart-model as well as all additional models loaded from outside your multipart-model. From there you can insert the submodels like any normal part.

Nesting is a technique to edit submodels: You can activate nesting to edit submodels from the main model view. There is an option to set in which model or submodel new parts are placed, but I'm not quite sure how his works, I never use nested editing.

As for your problem with 18651.dat, I have no idea what might be causing this. I have the same /unofficial folders and for all the unooficial parts are working perfectly. Do you have any other unofficial parts in use?

[Jeroen Ottens]

Thanks, I suspected already that it was somewhere in the partbin, I just couldn't find it.

I don't have any other unofficial parts.

I uploaded all unofficial parts and now it works :)

BTW: It is a fantastic program. It's useability is close to LDD so far :thumbup:

Edited July 5, 2015 by Jeroen Ottens

[nickless]

Looking at the confric4.dat file, you also need to have "fric.dat" and "connect8.dat" in your unofficial/p folder. I would suggest downloading all the unofficial LDRAW parts to make sure you have all the submodels you need.

[roland]

Now the part does appear in the partbin under technic/connectors and pins, however only the axle part is visible, the connector part of the piece is not visible

I think nickless is right it is/was missing dependencies. It's indeed usually best to get the whole unofficial library.

As for the submodels, I've been working on documentation about that on and off for awhile now. It's not quite finished but I put it online anyway. I'll extend the text in the next couple of days/weeks.

http://www.melkert.net/LDCad/docs/advEdit

BTW: It is a fantastic program. It's useability is close to LDD so far :thumbup:

Thanks.

[legolijntje]

I just came across

. It's a simple tutorial created by Pley.com for their ongoing contest. It seems they're using LDCad in their tutorial.

It's actually a pretty nice tutorial for beginners (apart from the bit at the end about the contest).

[papacharly]

[Help] filter functionality

I 'm kind of struggling while searching fo parts. For me it seems that the filter functionality is only working for groups containing actual parts. Searching for a part on a higher level, e.g. searching for "clip" on the main group or the bricks group, gives no result.

Is this the way the filter function should work? Or is anything wrong with my way of searching?

I use 1.5 Alpha 3 win32

Thanks for helping!

papacharly

[Jeroen Ottens]

Hi,

Another newbie question:

It seems that LDcad remembers the orientation of the last part that is added. That is a very nice feature when you are building in weird angles (like I am now), however at some point I'd like to go back to the normal orthogonal grid for the newly added parts. Is there an easy way to do so?

[legolijntje]

Hi,

Another newbie question:

It seems that LDcad remembers the orientation of the last part that is added. That is a very nice feature when you are building in weird angles (like I am now), however at some point I'd like to go back to the normal orthogonal grid for the newly added parts. Is there an easy way to do so?

I don't know if there's a button/key for that, but what I always do is just select a piece that's already in a "normal" position.

Btw, if you're building a Technic model (which I suppose you're doing ), pressing "O" on your keyboard when you have a piece with a weird angle/position selected reveals an amazing feature that I love so, so much.

I don't know if you knew about it already, just a tip

[Jeroen Ottens]

I don't know if there's a button/key for that, but what I always do is just select a piece that's already in a "normal" position.

Btw, if you're building a Technic model (which I suppose you're doing ), pressing "O" on your keyboard when you have a piece with a weird angle/position selected reveals an amazing feature that I love so, so much.

I don't know if you knew about it already, just a tip

Yeah that o is really, really useful. Found that one already :)

Selecting a piece is indeed the trick to get the orientation 'right' again, thx.

And yes I am working on a technic model , so far the learning curve is not too steep, which is a big compliment for Roland

[roland]

I 'm kind of struggling while searching fo parts. For me it seems that the filter functionality is only working for groups containing actual parts. Searching for a part on a higher level, e.g. searching for "clip" on the main group or the bricks group, gives no result.

Is this the way the filter function should work? Or is anything wrong with my way of searching?

The filter will indeed always filter the content of the current group only. If you want to search a part inside the entiry library you need to use the special search group. It's the 'minifig with magnifying glass' one from the root group.

It seems that LDcad remembers the orientation of the last part that is added. That is a very nice feature when you are building in weird angles (like I am now), however at some point I'd like to go back to the normal orthogonal grid for the newly added parts. Is there an easy way to do so?

Selecting something in the right orientation like Legolijntje wrote is usally the way to go, especially as it also helps when placing parts without snap information. You can also use the 'home' key while adding the part to reset its orientation to the current (relative) grid. In practice it is recomended to build as much at rectangluar angles as possible and leave angled stuff to submodels. This will prevent rounding error problems on large models like someone was having using LDD on this board a couple of days ago.

[juraj3579]

[Help] Flexible parts (Templates)

With pneumatic hose and flex hose, you can insert control points between the both ends of the hose (as seen in the video tutorial), which is pretty cool. However, it's not possible with tech. ribbed hose, tech. flex axle, rope etc, where the control points are added to the last point, so it's not possible to insert point between. Question is, it's a bug, or it's a feature Overall, it's not big deal, you just have to plan the positions of your hose from begin.

I'm getting really comfortable with the LDCad. After struggling at the beginning, it's really fun to work with it. So, the move from SR3D is accomplished .

Edited July 9, 2015 by juraj3579

[legolijntje]

It is possible to add points in between the start and the end with the parts you mentioned.

A while ago, I was thinking the same as you did, but I figured that it depends on the fact if you have the start or the end selected while pressing "insert".

LDCad will always insert a new point after the currently selected point. So if you have the end selected (with the red "ball"/"lever") it will insert a new point after that one, which makes the part "longer". If you select the start (with the green ball/lever), it will insert a new point after the start, which is in between the start and the end. Phew, that's a vague sentence. I hope you understand me

[juraj3579]

It is possible to add points in between the start and the end with the parts you mentioned.

A while ago, I was thinking the same as you did, but I figured that it depends on the fact if you have the start or the end selected while pressing "insert".

LDCad will always insert a new point after the currently selected point. So if you have the end selected (with the red "ball"/"lever") it will insert a new point after that one, which makes the part "longer". If you select the start (with the green ball/lever), it will insert a new point after the start, which is in between the start and the end. Phew, that's a vague sentence. I hope you understand me

I understand what you mean, i tried it now, but it's not working. Pneuhose is ok, but ribbed hose not, doesn't matter which point (green,red) I select before insert, it always appends a hose part after the very end of the hose (red ball) .

[roland]

However, it's not possible with tech. ribbed hose, tech. flex axle, rope etc, where the control points are added to the last point, so it's not possible to insert point between. Question is, it's a bug, or it's a feature

This is 1.5 Alfa 3 I take it?

If so it is indeed a bug. I tried to improve the insertion of points somewhat in alpha 2 but ended up breaking things, I thought it was fixed again in alfa 3 but it isn't :).

It will be fixed in the next alfa/beta in the meantime you can use a simple workaround. In the bendable part's submodel add any normal brick (e.g. a 1x1 plate) and press enter to edit it's properties. Using that dialog set the group to 'end' this will trigger the 'pneumatic' hose behavior just remove the 1x1 (cap) when done. Alternative is to use the 1.4b version for flex parts.

Thanks for finding / reporting this bug.

[juraj3579]

This is 1.5 Alfa 3 I take it?

If so it is indeed a bug. I tried to improve the insertion of points somewhat in alpha 2 but ended up breaking things, I thought it was fixed again in alfa 3 but it isn't :).

It will be fixed in the next alfa/beta in the meantime you can use a simple workaround. In the bendable part's submodel add any normal brick (e.g. a 1x1 plate) and press enter to edit it's properties. Using that dialog set the group to 'end' this will trigger the 'pneumatic' hose behavior just remove the 1x1 (cap) when done. Alternative is to use the 1.4b version for flex parts.

Thanks for finding / reporting this bug.

Thank you for your answer. I'm using 1.5 Alfa 3. Your workaround works well (now I also understand the concept of pneuhose :-)).

As wrote before I was struggling getting used to LDCad, but now it's fun and it's really fine piece of software. So keep up the great job u are doing

[roland]

Thank you for your answer. I'm using 1.5 Alfa 3. Your workaround works well (now I also understand the concept of pneuhose :-)).

I forgot to mention before you remove the 1x1 cap again you need to ungroup it first otherwise it will also remove the last point.

As wrote before I was struggling getting used to LDCad, but now it's fun and it's really fine piece of software. So keep up the great job u are doing

Thanks

[papacharly]

Hello Roland,

I finished my first larger Lego set by using LDCad. All in all I can state that I get more and more excited about LDCad the more I use it. And I still haven’t discovered all the possibilities LDCad offers yet.

Regarding the rotation mode I personally prefer using TrackBallMode (TBL). For up/down rotation the rotation angle seems to be limited to +- 90°. For me this is a little bit uncomfortable. I would highly appreciate if TBL would also allow a full continuous rotation for all axes like SPN-mode.

I very often use of the clone button “INS”. I consider this command a key command. As I use my right hand for operating the mouse, I use my left hand to press “INS”. For me this is a little bit uncomfortable too. It would be much more convenient and faster to have the relevant key on the left side of the keyboard. Furthermore it would be perfect to use the spacebar for this feature.

Not 100% sure you consider these ideas as excellent and feasible !?

These are just my personal wishes. So there is no need to classify these points “high priority".

However, LDCad is not a toy. It’s a tool. In fact it’s an excellent tool. And it’s great fun working with it. Thanks for providing it!

regards

papacharly

[roland]

I finished my first larger Lego set by using LDCad. All in all I can state that I get more and more excited about LDCad the more I use it. And I still haven’t discovered all the possibilities LDCad offers yet.

Glad you liking it and more features are comming in 1.5 and 1.6 :)

Regarding the rotation mode I personally prefer using TrackBallMode (TBL). For up/down rotation the rotation angle seems to be limited to +- 90°. For me this is a little bit uncomfortable. I would highly appreciate if TBL would also allow a full continuous rotation for all axes like SPN-mode.

I think you got them switched name based (SPN is the limited one) as the displayed name is the one currently active. The 90deg limitation I copied from LDD as the spin mode is intended for people comfortable with the LDD camera control.

I very often use of the clone button “INS”. I consider this command a key command. As I use my right hand for operating the mouse, I use my left hand to press “INS”. For me this is a little bit uncomfortable too. It would be much more convenient and faster to have the relevant key on the left side of the keyboard. Furthermore it would be perfect to use the spacebar for this feature.

the ins key thing is probably the result of me being left handed so I never considered your issue. The spacebar is currently assigned to mul/single view (if splits are active) switch. I've got hotkey reassignment planned for 1.6 though as part of my macro/scripting extension plans.

Not 100% sure you consider these ideas as excellent and feasible !?

These are just my personal wishes. So there is no need to classify these points “high priority".

However, LDCad is not a toy. It’s a tool. In fact it’s an excellent tool. And it’s great fun working with it. Thanks for providing it!

Do'n worry about it, I welcome all ideas/suggestions depending on the feature it could take awhile to appear in a version though. Thanks.

[roland]

What is the difference between nesting and submodels?

I've added documentation on nested editing in the advanced editing page hope that clears things up for you.

[roland]

I've extend the advanced editing page with text about using rubber bands and (pneumatic) hoses. Please let me know if this iis somewhat understandable or needs more details etc.

[roland]

I've uploaded 1.5 Alpha 4 it introduces external file monitoring and a boatload of bugfixes.

I've also added a setup script to the Linux version, which tries to integrate the program with your desktop. This script is somewhat experimental so use it with care. Any suggestions / feedback on it from the Linux community will be highly appreciated

The new version is here:

http://www.melkert.net/LDCad/nextVer