[Converter+Viewer] Web viewer and LDraw to OBJ, STL, GLTF via MakerBrane

[quacrobat]

Hi, wanted to share this little gem we put together: https://beta.makerbrane.com/tools/ldraw-viewer/

It opens .ldr, .mpd, .dat into an online 3D viewer, you can then change the background color and angle and export snapshots. 

 

It also converts the file into MakerBrane format, and opens it in another viewer with a different rendering style.

 

It can also open in the 3D MakerSpace which is like LDD or mecabricks but more of a Universal Digital Builder because it has parts from other systems as well - but it you can't edit everything because not all the LEGO parts have been fully referenced yet for auto-snapping yet.

Promising though, right?

If you try it, post a screenshot here and let me know if there are any features we should add.

 

 

Edited July 14, 2019 by quacrobat

[quacrobat]

Wanted to add this how-to video, hope it helps: 

 

[Calabar]

Hi!

The viewer looks very interesting.

As it is not a native LDRAW viewer but converts the files in another format, is there any issue converting? I mean, when you convert complex models, are there unconverted bricks, misplaced bricks or something of this kind?
Could you explain, maybe editing the first post, what are the advantage of the MakerBrane format and why did you choose it?

Has the software a name?

You could prepare a well-formatted page in the first post of this topic, so I can add the software to the Section Index.

[Scrubs]

I did some work a few years ago for this company. Apparently the business model has significantly shifted.

I can still find some very old Mecabricks code in the Builder 

Edited July 19, 2019 by Scrubs

[quacrobat]

11 hours ago, Calabar said:

As it is not a native LDRAW viewer but converts the files in another format, is there any issue converting? I mean, when you convert complex models, are there unconverted bricks, misplaced bricks or something of this kind?

Could you explain, maybe editing the first post, what are the advantage of the MakerBrane format and why did you choose it?

Has the software a name?

You could prepare a well-formatted page in the first post of this topic, so I can add the software to the Section Index.

Thanks @Calabar I will definitely prepare a proper post :)

The viewer actually reads LDraw files, but any software has to parse them into its own internal display format. In this case, our viewer uses webGL, based on a library called Three.js.

With the tests we did (mostly using .LDR and .MPD files of official builds found online, namely here on eurobricks) I would say 95% of all parts are opening nicely and correctly placed, the only parts missing would be non-official parts we haven't added yet, but all it just ignores those. So please feel free to test more models. The largest model we tried is the Millenium Falcon (10179). 

The viewer also converts into a format that can open in our main product, the 3D MakerSpace. Think of it as a "Universal Digital Designer", it isn't LEGO specific, and wasn't meant to to have all the LEGO parts, just a subset compatible with our own physical product called Branes. But then our Branes themselves changed and became compatible with more LEGO parts, and the MakerSpace started to be used by all kinds of users including pure LEGO fans. So we figured why not add as many parts as possible since the LDraw library is there.

But in the case of the builder, it was easier to convert them to a non-LDraw format for coherence with the non-Lego parts we already had on the platform, and we're making them gradually available in the 3D MakerSpace.

 

9 hours ago, Scrubs said:

I did some work a few years ago for this company. Apparently the business model has significantly shifted.

I can still find some very old Mecabricks code in the Builder 

You didn't sign an NDA? ;)

The 3D MakerSpace is a very different building style and interface than Mecabrick's manual+grid snap. 

It's exponentially more difficult to solve for multiple systems and parts on non-standard grids and do drag and drop (continuous rendering) and autosnapping, especially that in the browser you have much less access to raw power like a native app (eg. LDD or stud.io) do. But we made it work! While we tweak the performance, it's in Beta at http://makerbrane.com/makerspace.

Edited July 19, 2019 by quacrobat

[Scrubs]

1 hour ago, quacrobat said:

You didn't sign an NDA? ;)

No we didn't as a matter of fact. But obviously I do not intend to disclose our initial talks.

It was just a little bit surprising to see your app popping up a little while ago presented now as a direct competitor to my activity. There is no denying that it has significantly evolve though.

It is all good as long as everything remains within the boundaries of our agreement. Good luck.

[quacrobat]

31 minutes ago, Scrubs said:

No we didn't as a matter of fact. But obviously I do not intend to disclose our initial talks.

It was just a little bit surprising to see your app popping up a little while ago presented now as a direct competitor to my activity. There is no denying that it has significantly evolve though.

It is all good as long as everything remains within the boundaries of our agreement. Good luck.

I'm not sure I understand your tone, if you have any issues feel free to PM or email me.

We developed 4 very different versions of the builder since you were contracted to help with the MVP years ago. Your code has long been discarded and our current code has nothing to do with you. You deserve full credit for your work, no need to worry about other people's effort.

Mecabricks is a great product focusing on building and rendering LEGO, MakerBrane is a great product focusing on prototyping and playing with everything (including our own building system, LEGO, and thousands of other parts, furniture and even electronics). Other than they're both browser-based, where's the competition? 

[Scrubs]

I for sure acknowledge that you put lots of work into it and that it has evolved a lot however:

51 minutes ago, quacrobat said:

Your code has long been discarded

Wrong - or you did not clean up legacy code which means that your are still bound by our agreement.

I have your main javascript file from your builder page open in front of me and it still includes big chunk of the original code.

 

1 hour ago, quacrobat said:

you were contracted to help with the MVP years ago.

No, it was licensing.

Anyway. I do not wish to continue this discussion and I wish you good luck with your platform.

[quacrobat]

Sincerely, please feel free to PM me the chunk of obfuscated code you feel is yours, I would be happy to make sure it's cleaned to avoid any eventual misunderstandings. 

Thanks, good luck to you too.

Edited July 20, 2019 by quacrobat

[Scrubs]

No problem. Your code is not really obfuscated as beautifier tools like https://beautifier.io/ does a perfect job at reconstructing the source. So it is not just a feel, it is a fact. I will go through it and let you know by PM the sections but pretty much every single class and functions I provided are included even if it may not be used.

 

Edited July 20, 2019 by Scrubs