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The problem is that if the microgame has “native” parts while we use custom/LDraw ones, then their origins and orientations are different….

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@M2m Thanks. No, they aren't available for now.

I think I got attributes right, strings can be tied very tight around antena for example. I have updated 3 lengths (11, 30 and 40).

el7wdNVl.png

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1 hour ago, SylvainLS said:

The problem is that if the microgame has “native” parts while we use custom/LDraw ones, then their origins and orientations are different….

Ah yes, I understand. If we update the 3D model, we have to make sure that the origin is equal to the "original"  one.

1 hour ago, Equilibrium said:

I think I got attributes right, strings can be tied very tight around antena for example. I have updated 3 lengths (11, 30 and 40).

Cool! Are your Technic parts already ready enough for sharing? It would be awesome to include them in the next parts pack.

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I did a quick web search:

New panel 3x7: 71709

New curved panel w/ axle holes 71682

Beam 15L with alternating holes: 71710

Mudguard 13x2x5: 69911

Mudguard extension: 71689

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@Stephan Mhm, ok. I actually didn't make 15L beam yet, I'll do it tomorrow, but I have small class tire ready instead :P. But I don't see its ID and what about that new lift arm 2x3?

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8 hours ago, SylvainLS said:

Is there/Will there be a priority to use the parts from the microgame?  Will the parts made from LDraw be replaced with the ones in the microgame?

Because, according to the ldraw.xml included in the microgame, there’s already overlap… and, of course, the conversions aren’t the same.

Personally I do not see a need to replace existing parts (wherever these are from - either LDraw or existing LDD) with the ones from the Unity Microgame and I totally understand the issue SylvainLS is raising. I am focusing on adding new parts to LDD and I am converting from the Microgame for mostly 2 reasons:

  • these come with xml files including connections and collision data (most of the time), making the conversion process relatively straight forward
  • one can consider these parts as official from LEGO and for most existing LDD parts, the geometry (and origin for ex.) from the Microgame parts is exactly the same.

I may once in a while create a 'new' part which already exists in LDD, but his happens mostly on accident or mistake on my side. Usually this happens for me when the same part has different part numbers in LDD compared to the number used in the Microgame (examples: Halloween Pumpkin head, T-Rex Legs, Hazmat Helm...) and surely there will be other examples in the future.

I would very rarely actively replace an existing part with the one from the Micrograme and only in case I consider the one from the Microgame better (i.e. having better geometry, being able to multi-color, better collisions, connections, ....).

Also in quite some case i found the Microgame parts to be actually worse then either existing LDD parts or way below to what I would consider LEGOs own standard. For example the "Chicken" 95342 from the Microgame comes without the bottom inverted stud and tube geometry :imperialguard_commander1: . Or the T-Rex legs: they miss half of the geometry.

So in any case if you found I re-did a part just send me a note and lets see (most likely I would drop the part I created).

 

Edited by M2m

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On 12/27/2020 at 11:06 PM, M2m said:

If you have partnumbers / designIDs for those items (hub, battery, angular motor, sensor...), they might be part of the 'Unity pack' and could theoretically be converted into LDD bricks. I saw a couple of 'battery housings' and other 'electronic parts' but so far didn't bother to convert them.

I added a list of parts which are inside the Unity pack but not in LDD according to my analysis here.

Maybe you can check if you find parts you want to have in LDD and then if I have some time I might convert them to LDDs format.

Cheers

M2m, you referred to a "Unity pack". And elsewhere I have noticed posters mentioning Blender. My son is into designing computer games, and tells me that those two are both design engines on computers, that help a computer-game designer do his thing. Is that what you were referring to? Can the Unity and Blender game-design engines help to design Lego parts models for LDD, possibly for "new" parts such as the Robot Inventor hub, motors, etc.?

Edited by Roboteer

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14 minutes ago, Roboteer said:

M2m, you referred to a "Unity pack". And elsewhere I have noticed posters mentioning Blender. My son is into designing computer games, and tell me that those two are both design engines on computers, that help a designer do his thing. Is that what you were referring to? Can the Unity and Blender game-design engines help to design Lego parts models for LDD, possibly for "new" parts such as the Robot Inventor hub, motors, etc.?

Ok in the Eurobricks forum referring to the "Unity Pack" would mostly mean the Unity Based Microgame the LEGO Group released together with Unity (thats the name of the company and the game engine - similar to BMW may refer to the name of the company and the car :sweet: ). Details of the "Unity Pack" here - it also contains a list of part numbers which are part of the pack but not in LDD so far:

Now as your son correctly told you Unity is a game engine, that helps people to make games easier (but still not easy). And the above mentioned "Unity Pack" from LEGO comes with a lot of LEGO parts, some of them are old and already within LDD and others are new (meaning they are not in LDD so far). The caveat is that these parts from the Unity Pack come in a 3D format which LDD does not understand. So to use these in LDD, they need to be converted.

This conversion can be done with the help of a program called "Blender" (www.blender.org). Blender is an open-source and free 3D design software. That's why it has some popularity also among users in this forum. Blender can load the LEGO parts files from the Unity Pack and support the conversion into another format. Also as Blender is a full-fledged 3D design software it could also be used to create completely new parts from scratch - even so converting existing parts is much, much easier then doing this from scratch. 

I hope this is somehow clarifying. 

Cheers.

Edited by M2m

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On 12/30/2020 at 4:48 AM, Stephan said:

The small CLAAS tire is 70695. And the L-shaped beam is 71708.

Hey Stephan, have you solved the problem with import *.dat subfiles in Blender ?

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1 hour ago, MrLuWillBeLive said:

Hey Stephan, have you solved the problem with import *.dat subfiles in Blender ?

Hi, no, unfortunately not. I can import the files separately, but I have to manually position the subfiles. Also sometimes only half of the mesh is in a subfile. I still need some guidance on that.

 

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11 minutes ago, Stephan said:

Hi, no, unfortunately not. I can import the files separately, but I have to manually position the subfiles. Also sometimes only half of the mesh is in a subfile. I still need some guidance on that.

 

This is the LDraw File Format Specification:https://www.ldraw.org/article/218.html

In the "Line Types" part,Line Type 1 part says:

Sub-files can be located in the LDRAW\PARTS sub-directory, the LDRAW\P sub-directory, the LDRAW\MODELS sub-directory, the current file's directory, a path relative to one of these directories, or a full path may be specified. Sub-parts are typically stored in the LDRAW\PARTS\S sub-directory and so are referenced as s\subpart.dat, while hi-res primitives are stored in the LDRAW\P\48 sub-directory and so referenced as 48\hires.dat

So, if u want to import a part with subfile into blender,be careful your subfile exists in the \ldraw\parts\s folder.

image.png.d5d6197d908629b4658bc0de7173d88d.png

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46 minutes ago, MrLuWillBeLive said:

So, if u want to import a part with subfile into blender,be careful your subfile exists in the \ldraw\parts\s folder.

Aah, I will try that! I have a folder with WIP parts on my desktop, which just included the *.dat files and subfiles. But I just have to create a folder named \s and put the subfiles in them... I will try it!!

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On 12/29/2020 at 10:04 PM, Equilibrium said:

Ok, here it is. Let me know if there are any bugs.

Download Links:

To anyone who downloaded it - do it again. I have made some small fixes and added 15L alternating beam.

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1 hour ago, Stephan said:

Aah, I will try that! I have a folder with WIP parts on my desktop, which just included the *.dat files and subfiles. But I just have to create a folder named \s and put the subfiles in them... I will try it!!

In my experience,They need to be placed in the LDRAW library folder.

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On 12/28/2020 at 2:06 AM, M2m said:

@polymaker Is there an 'easy' way to only generate outlines for only certain meshes ? I used the workaround to first import those meshes for which I like outlines, then use the 'Generate Outlines' function and after that import other meshes (in that case the mesh which carries the eye texture) and then export everything to LDD without triggering the 'Generate Outlines' function again. It works, but I just wonder if a) this is 'legal' and b) if there is a simpler way to do that.

You have found a valid work-around, but I understand that this process is a bit cumbersome. I will definitely add more control over this in the future but it was not in my priorities.

But in the next release you will have a more easy solution though. I have revised my "custom" file format for Brick Studio and starting with the next version they will be plain XML (presently they are just a zip file with a custom extension containing an XML file and the meshes files).
So after that you "calculate the outlines", you could save your project, open the ".lpp" in notepad, find the element for your model and delete the "<Outlines></Outlines>" tag then reload the project.

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Just now, polymaker said:

You have found a valid work-around, but I understand that this process is a bit cumbersome. I will definitely add more control over this in the future but it was not in my priorities.

But in the next release you will have a more easy solution though. I have revised my "custom" file format for Brick Studio and starting with the next version they will be plain XML (presently they are just a zip file with a custom extension containing an XML file and the meshes files).
So after that you "calculate the outlines", you could save your project, open the ".lpp" in notepad, find the element for your model and delete the "<Outlines></Outlines>" tag then reload the project.

Wow that reads like a super cool and easy solution !

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On 12/29/2020 at 1:35 PM, Equilibrium said:

I think I got attributes right, strings can be tied very tight around antena for example. I have updated 3 lengths (11, 30 and 40).

Can you explain what you have found? I haven't had enough time to poke around to understand how it works.

When I made the part 47996 (boat mast) flexible, on my first try it was not bending correctly in LDD (wrong direction). To fix the issue I rotated each bone by 90 degree but I was wondering if I could only edit the flexAttributes.
Actually, I just re-tested the issue and it is only the Ball connections that needs to be rotated. Brick Studio generates the "flex" connections relatively to the bone orientation so that is why I needed to rotate the bones.

Q0d83p8.png

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So I'm looking to update LDD with custom parts for the first time, and when I try to use the LIFextractor, I can't find a resulting folder or tell if the program does anything. It pops up a Processing"filename" in command window when I drag the lif onto it, but then it disappears a few seconds later

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Those of us who looked into the details of LDD may have noticed that the Animals / Creature section of LDD 4.3.11 is kind of a mess. Some animals are created as Assemblies (for example "Polar bear" and "Bear Assembly") other are not (for example the Lion parts: head, front, back) or most if not all the "Angry birds" bodies, which come with out arms - and the arms parts also not shown as they are used in assemblies for the normal minifig bodies.

Of course the straight forward fix would be to create assemblies for where it is possible - in fact in my parts pack I did it for the Lion. But it could also be done for others (such as the Angry birds or what I assume to be a "Ghostbuster - Slimer" part). 

Now before doing so I would like to ask about peoples thoughts. Of course one ramification is that for all builds which have used these parts they would be removed (in a modified LDD), and also all builds which would use those fixed assemblies and loaded in non-modified LDD versions, these would also be removed. This all sounds less then ideal....

Input ? Thoughts ? 

Edited by M2m

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Guess there is a downside to both versions. I asume keeping armless Angrybirds,Angry Birds arms AND complete Angry Birds as assemblies is too much of a hassle, right?

Is there maybe a way to rework on how the parts in that category are placed and shown? Haven´t looked at it closely but i always have a feeling that the creature parts are kinda mixed and thrown in however the LDD developers pleased. Would be much better if all wings (feathered and dragon/bat wings) are sorted next to each other, then maybe legs,arms, dragon heads, other critter heads and so on.

 

BTW, i have a quick question as well. I finally got the new parts installation to work (honestly, the instructions are a bit missleading...) and i was so exited to finally use 1x1 brackets and all those newer parts (i was literally like "ohhhh" and "ahhhh" and so exited to use the new parts.

I usually use Stud.io for the sole purpose of adding recent parts in a digital MOC and then render it with Stud.io. Is there a rendering tool i can use that will read and render the new parts in an ldd MOC as well?

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