lego digital designer

[Thomaslje]

Hi I download lego digital designer because I want to make an engine that I used in the olden days but can not get it to work when I set a gear and will put an other gear side by so they can turn becomes the gear transparent and I can not place it so cane any make me a guide how to place it

and whay did they make a funktin so you cane move the screen side ways and not just arround

[davee123]

Hi I download lego digital designer because I want to make an engine that I used in the olden days but can not get it to work when I set a gear and will put an other gear side by so they can turn becomes the gear transparent and I can not place it so cane any make me a guide how to place it

and whay did they make a funktin so you cane move the screen side ways and not just arround

First of all, please type more coherently. Punctuation and spelling-- they're your friends! That will encourage people to respond to you.

As to your question, I don't think LEGO Digital Designer supports the functionality that you're looking for. It's designed for kids, and is not designed for more advanced users. Creating a physics engine with LEGO has been something people have been interested in making for many years, although I'm not aware of any programs that currently support it.

DaveE

[AndyC]

1) To position gears next to each other you just need to use the rotate function on one of the gears so that it's teeth aren't colliding with the other. It takes a little trial and error but is usually possible.

2) To pan the camera rather than just rotate it, hold down SHIFT whilst dragging with the right mouse button.

[Brickdoctor]

...aaand to add to that, the gears won't 'attach' to each other. You need to attach them to Technic axles that are the proper distance apart. If you want to be able to turn the gears and see the effects after they're placed, LDD doesn't offer that feature, but Sergio's excellent SR 3D program does. (it, however, is not an official LEGO product and can't access DbM or PaB to give you a price estimate or let you buy bricks; and it's Windows-only, and virtual machines on a Mac can't run it properly)

[Thomaslje]

sorry for the bad english

i will try the sr 3d builder

and im not trying to make and lego engine like the ones one youtube just a spinning gears

and if you are make a gear with a motor cane you then turn the motor on

Edited February 11, 2011 by Thomaslje

[Brickdoctor]

and if you are make a gear with a motor cane you then turn the motor on

No, unfortunately.

[Thomaslje]

No, unfortunately.

ok that sad what to do the want to make a gearing down and dount wnat to buy the lego

[Superkalle]

ok that sad what to do the want to make a gearing down and dount wnat to buy the lego

Thomaslje, I recommend you start using proper punctuation and capitalize sentences. This is a forum for AFOLs (Adult Fans of Lego), and we do expect at least that you can do that. Being bad at english is one thing, not being able to write in a mature way is another. OK?

[legolijntje]

ok that sad what to do the want to make a gearing down and dount wnat to buy the lego

If you want to use "moving gears" on your pc, I recomended SR3d builder.

It's a mix between mlcad and ldd. Here you can see some movies about it: HERE

Edited February 11, 2011 by legolijntje

[laserman]

Hi,

to align the gears you can do the following:

If you have for example a Z20 gear.

That means it has 20 tooths.

It has also 20 blanks.

If the tooths of the second gear matches with the tooths of the first gear, you have to rotate it to the blank:

One complete rotation means 360 degrees.

20 teeths means, the gear has got a teeth every 360/20 = 18 degrees.

The blank is in the middle: 18/2 = 9 degrees.

So if you rotate one gear by 9 degrees, it should match to the other gear.

It could happen, that you have to try slightly other values, if the tooth don't match exactly.

I hope it could be understood...

Edited February 12, 2011 by laserman

[xSergio74]

Hi,

to align the gears you can do the following:

If you have for example a Z20 gear.

That means it has 20 tooths.

It has also 20 blanks.

If the tooths of the second gear matches with the tooths of the first gear, you have to rotate it to the blank:

One complete rotation means 360 degrees.

20 teeths means, the gear has got a teeth every 360/20 = 18 degrees.

The blank is in the middle: 18/2 = 9 degrees.

So if you rotate one gear by 9 degrees, it should match to the other gear.

It could happen, that you have to try slightly other values, if the tooth don't match exactly.

I hope it could be understood...

... and someone in a previous post was saying that LDD has been designed for kids !!!!

Sergio

[Superkalle]

... and someone in a previous post was saying that LDD has been designed for kids !!!!

Sergio

That is actually a quite valid remark Sergio. LDD is defintely now with one foot in each camp - is it for advanced users or for kids? Like Shakespeare put it: To be, or not to be, that is the question

[xSergio74]

That is actually a quite valid remark Sergio. LDD is defintely now with one foot in each camp - is it for advanced users or for kids? Like Shakespeare put it: To be, or not to be, that is the question

What I'm going to say here don't want to be offensive in anyway: it is just my thought. If you (or anybody else here) retain it is inappropriate, then remove my consideration.

What I mean is that I really can't understand why so many people can continue using LDD due to its great limitation either in part availability or in part assemblies.

Every day i read about many tricks you have to use to connect parts that in real lego have no problem to connect. If this is a kiddy application than there should be not this problems or others, like to manually enter rotation angles !!!

On the other side, if this is going to be a AFOL application, then people could expect more from it: rendering quality is not enough!! At least some animation and/or building tools for technic builders are a MUST for it.

Also a mirror building feature, many, many times claimed from user is not so difficult to implement: it takes less than a month to be realized in my application and was alone to develop it.

after saying that, well, anyone is free to use the tools he wants:laugh:

byes and enjoy

Sergio

[AndyC]

That is actually a quite valid remark Sergio. LDD is defintely now with one foot in each camp - is it for advanced users or for kids? Like Shakespeare put it: To be, or not to be, that is the question

Well kids old enough to start playing with Technic pieces should be able to handle a little maths. Not that I wouldn't appreciate some way to make assembling geared models easier, though I suspect a proper physics implementation is necessary to make it really useable.

What I mean is that I really can't understand why so many people can continue using LDD due to its great limitation either in part availability or in part assemblies.

It may have limitations in places, but it's so much easier to work with than any other virtual Lego tool, including your own, at least in my opinion. Trying out all the LDraw based tools just left me frustrated with pieces not quite clipped together, or overlapping or worse. Trying to understand how to rotate a sub assembly in MLCad without it going all over the place drove me up the wall, for example. The occasional frustration with trying to replicate a single technique is far outweighed by the speed with which you can manage most types of ordinary building.

LDD might not be for everyone, but it's good enough for a lot of people, I guess.

[Superkalle]

No problem at all Sergio. My remark was not made with irony. I actually mean that you did make a good, and valid observation. LDD is becoming so advanced now, that one wonders if the intended audience (younger children) really can use all the cool features. That's what I meant by one foot in each camp. LDD started out as a simple tool for kids, and is slowly evolving into a very capable tool for advanded building (something all more pro-efficient LDD fans naturally love). But naturally LDD has some way to go before it reaches the advanced levels of MLCad and 3D Builder.