LDD 4.1 Released

[Whiteagle]

...Could those of us who can't even get the program to boot up get some help?

[Superkalle]

...Could those of us who can't even get the program to boot up get some help?

Sure, let's try to help you out.

First, have you tried everything in this topic: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=48663

[Whiteagle]

Well apparently there was a driver update, so let's see how that works!

[Solidbrick]

How do you mean 6x8 grid. You mean laying out 48 1x1 tiles in a 6x8 pattern and then trying to move them. If so, it works fine here. Odd issue though.

And you don't need to import into LDD Extended. All you have to do is open the files, and then goto View > New Themes > LDD Extended and it will switch over to Extended Mode.

I tried it a few times and it closed down for no reason. Tried it again just yet and it worked fine. No idea why.

Forgot you can switch themes. Cheers for reminding!

[Fuzzylegobricks]

I have a question about it. I downloaded it and unlocked the Extended mode, then I went to open LDD and the window does not appear and makes me shut down LDD. Can you please help? I have a Mac if it makes a difference.

[prateek]

Very nice. I like the new reflections

Can't wait to get all these bugs fixed though!

[Whiteagle]

...Could those of us who can't even get the program to boot up get some help?

Ok, I updated both DirectX and my Graphics card drivers, and it STILL isn't booting up!

[Fuzzylegobricks]

Ok, I updated both DirectX and my Graphics card drivers, and it STILL isn't booting up!

Same here!

[Whiteagle]

Same here!

I NEED MY VIRTUAL LEGO FIX MAN!!!

[Brickdoctor]

Calm down, guys. This update has been available to us for under a day; I'm sure there are still bugs to be worked out, but posting every few minutes complaining about it won't help.

Admittedly, my computer ran the program perfectly (Mac OSX 10.6.4, 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3 RAM), so I have no idea what plagues you. You tried deactivating the advanced graphics, updating drivers, and doing a clean install already, right?

[Whiteagle]

Calm down, guys. This update has been available to us for under a day; I'm sure there are still bugs to be worked out, but posting every few minutes complaining about it won't help.

Admittedly, my computer ran the program perfectly (Mac OSX 10.6.4, 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3 RAM), so I have no idea what plagues you. You tried deactivating the advanced graphics, updating drivers, and doing a clean install already, right?

I'm sorry, I'm just a bit on edge here.

The first thing I did was several attempts and downloading.

Then I uninstalled and reinstalled from the site.

Then I check the preferences thing and updated my drivers...

[airsoftg36c]

Does anyone know where I can find a list or pictures of the parts that you can use in LDD4?

[Fuzzylegobricks]

How do you de-activate the advanced graphics and drivers?

[Brickdoctor]

How do you de-activate the advanced graphics and drivers?

You click through the helpful link Superkalle provided a page back: Here

[Fuzzylegobricks]

You click through the helpful link Superkalle provided a page back: Here

I'm sorry I tried the ideas and it still didnt work.

[Man with a hat]

I put together a small quick guide to the most common metallic colors in LDD Extended Mode. Hope you like it.

This is very useful. I like it. It definitely removes some uncertainties about those difficult metallic colours.

Thanks a lot Superkalle!

[Bojan Pavsic]

I had some time yesterday to check the new version out.

I've seen some new elements (technic frames, differential), the rotation (hinges) is smoother then it was (probably has something to do with the new gfx engine), all in all nice to work with (because of the parts, better then 4.0).

But... (yea, there's a "but"). The magical dissapearance when switching themes is still there. The same thing that "plagued" 4.0 is still there, so i guess it wasn't a gfx engine thing, but simply a bug or hw/sw incompatibility with my (and some others) computers.

I did manage to switch themes when i open LDD and switch from DBM to NXT and then LU and LDD extended. If i directly switch from DBM to LDD extended or LU mode, LDD still *puff* vanishes. Similar thing was in LDD 4.0 and then after a couple of days even that didn't work anymore. We'll see how LDD 4.1 turns out end of the week.

So... my verdict... It's nice, looks great, but i'm still gonna have to use 3.1 for design and 4.1 for rendering.

[Aanchir]

I put together a small quick guide to the most common metallic colors in LDD Extended Mode. Hope you like it.

A few minor corrections:

• First, 306 is not the color used in the Atlantis armor pictured in your PDF. That Atlantis helmet is actually just 26 Black with a special treatment that to my knowledge does not yet have a materialID of its own. Color 306 "Defused Copper" is actually more clearly a copper or bronze color in real life than a gold one. Like color 304, it was used almost exclusively in 2006 Knights' Kingdom sets. It corresponds to Bricklink's "Speckle Black-Copper".
  
• Additionally, I don't think 304 is the color used for the axe blade you have pictured-- I think that axe blade is in fact 132. 304 is more specifically the color used in 2006 Knights' Kingdom for some of the good guys' armor, and is more of a grayish color than a blackish one. It corresponds to Bricklink's "Speckle DBGray-Silver".
  
• You mislabel 179 Silver Flip/Flop as well, and in fact there's no reason it should be included in a list of common metallic colors. Silver Flip-Flop's name refers not to its material but to its opacity, and the only thing I know of for which it is used is a certain mask pack in the BIONICLE theme. When backlit, it appears translucent, but otherwise it is metallic-colored with a slightly glittery appearance. It corresponds to 176 Red Flip/Flop and 178 Yellow Flip/Flop, a copper color and a gold color respectively, both also used for 2001-2002 BIONICLE masks.
  
• The weapon you display for Silver Flip/Flop is in fact probably in 131 Silver (the pearl color used almost all years besides 2006 up until summer of 2010 when its replacement 315 Silver Metallic first appeared). In all honesty, I don't know why Silver Flip/Flop is included among the "vintage colors" in Extended mode-- I can't find any obvious applications of it outside the BIONICLE theme, even though Peeron seems to treat it as equivalent to the Bricklink color Flat Silver (in some cases this could possibly be a correct equivalent, but in most cases it's not likely).
  
• Chances are you should also list 296 Cool Silver on your chart. It's an extremely short-lived color but a widely-used one during its lifespan. It essentially "replaced" 131 Silver for 2006 and 2006 only. The change was noticed very much in the BIONICLE community-- Cool Silver is somewhat lighter and often appears washed-out compared to earlier and later silver parts.
  
• Since the helmet you list for 316 Titanium Metallic was from an April 2010 set, it probably uses color 148 Dark Grey Metallic rather than the newer 316 Titanium Metallic, which made its debut in the summer, most notably in Kingdoms sets. Editions of this set produced later may have used Titanium Metallic-- I know that such is the case for certain sets including the BIONICLE Stars sets-- but the picture is probably from an early production run.

Someday perhaps I will put together a collection of parts in various metallic colors so I can create my own guide that properly shows off the differences in the colors. Online resources of the colors are extremely confusing, and the fact that many of the lacquered/matte colors and other colors that involve special treatments rarely show up on the color palettes released by LEGO makes things even more complicated.

My main knowledge of obscure colors like the Flip/Flop colors comes mainly from matching my experience with those colors in BIONICLE masks with the 2x2 "color swatches" on Isodomos.com (where the glittery and semitransparent nature of those colors is fairly visible). And those are about the limit of my knowledge of obscure colors-- colors from Duplo or from primarily girls' themes tend to have escaped my notice while they were in production, even though many of the Clikits transparent colors can be identified just by their placement in LEGO's color timeline and by a side-by-side comparison between those and "regular" transparent colors.

[Superkalle]

A few minor corrections:

I knew it - I should have checked with the color guru before posting that chart

Some comments below:

• [*]First, 306 is not the color used in the Atlantis armor pictured in your PDF. That Atlantis helmet is actually just 26 Black with a special treatment that to my knowledge does not yet have a materialID of its own.

[*]Additionally, I don't think 304 is the color used for the axe blade you have pictured

You might well be right about this. I wasn't sure myself, hence the question mark. I'm actually removing these two colors from the chart to avoid confusion. Thanks for pointing it out.

[*]You mislabel 179 Silver Flip/Flop as well, and in fact there's no reason it should be included in a list of common metallic colors.

I included it so that people could know what colors it is and when to use it, because if you upload to BrickLink, you need to specify the color to get a match.

About 179 Silver Flip/Flop, I'm aware that it is the slight translucent color, and that the plastic itself is more soft (I'm wondering where the name flip/flop comes from - could it be that it's just that - soft and flip-floppy?).

[*]The weapon you display for Silver Flip/Flop is in fact probably in 131 Silver (the pearl color used almost all years besides 2006 up until summer of 2010 when its replacement 315 Silver Metallic first appeared). In all honesty, I don't know why Silver Flip/Flop is included among the "vintage colors" in Extended mode-- I can't find any obvious applications of it outside the BIONICLE theme, even though Peeron seems to treat it as equivalent to the Bricklink color Flat Silver (in some cases this could possibly be a correct equivalent, but in most cases it's not likely).

I had the weapon in hand, and also looked at BrickLink, and it should be Silver Flip/Flop. About the legacy section om the color palette, I think it is a way to show colors that are not in the new Universe Mode palette, i.e. instead of fiddling with a dynamic palette, the LDD programmers simply added "legacy colors" and put "the rest" there - hence the wild mix of colors in there.

Someday perhaps I will put together a collection of parts in various metallic colors so I can create my own guide that properly shows off the differences in the colors.

Yes, that would actually be great The purpose of my chart was not to be a complete, and 100% accurate representation, but rather to give myself (and others) a quick guide to the most important Metallic colors in LDD Extended Mode. Hopefully it will clear up at least some of the confusion around this.

[Esser-Z]

I can no longer launch the program now that I've installed the update. Attempting to do so start the process, as I can see in task manager, but no program window opens. I'm running Vista, and had no trouble before the patch.

Trying a driver update.

And it worked.

Edited April 5, 2011 by Esser-Z

[SNobleJr]

UnplaceableBricksDump.lxfml doesn't work for me for some reason - the whole model is uniformly yellow, nothing is marked in red, not even bricks that were connected to/conflicting with the one removed. Not sure if this is new, I haven't used the feature before.

Also, part #6089 (the AquaShark helmet) seems to be broken, it refuses to fit on a minifig.

Other than these, the new version seems to be working fine so far, though.

[hga09]

Still cannot attach to using side studs in LDD4.1.

And cannot attach or to the bottom of

Edited April 5, 2011 by hga09

[Esser-Z]

And still can't connect four prismatic binoculars to a 1x1 with four side studs like in the Striking Venom or Lunar Limo. :(

[Brickdoctor]

UnplaceableBricksDump.lxfml doesn't work for me for some reason - the whole model is uniformly yellow, nothing is marked in red, not even bricks that were connected to/conflicting with the one removed. Not sure if this is new, I haven't used the feature before.

Same here. The program removes the red bricks from the model the same way it would in the normal model.

[Superkalle]

UnplaceableBricksDump.lxfml doesn't work for me for some reason - the whole model is uniformly yellow, nothing is marked in red, not even bricks that were connected to/conflicting with the one removed. Not sure if this is new, I haven't used the feature before.

Also, part #6089 (the AquaShark helmet) seems to be broken, it refuses to fit on a minifig.

Other than these, the new version seems to be working fine so far, though.

The UnplaceableBricksDump.lxfml is a file created for developer debugging purposes, and is not really intended for us normal users. Developers can open this file in their special tools where they can disable collision warning, so when they open the lxfml file, they will see the problematic brick in red, compared to all the other in yellow. This means that the UnplaceableBricksDump.lxfml actually contains info about the unplaceable brick (since it is colored red) - info that we can extract. Simply open the lxfml file in a text editor and search for bricks with colorID for red (21) (use search string below), and you will find the DesignID for the unplaceable brick.

materials="21