Dornbi

Eurobricks Vassals
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Everything posted by Dornbi

  1. Dornbi
    @Giacinto: based on the error message it runs out of memory. Note that Java memory is by default less than your system memory. See the posts from SylvainLS above on how to fix this (-Xmx2048m, 64-bit Java, -d64).
  2. Dornbi
    Hi Tyke - correct, this is more or less what I did. Increasing the DPI has some effect on the generated PNG (and PDF) file sizes, so you may get away with 200 or so, but basically I followed the same steps as you described.
  3. Dornbi
    Indeed - secondary click was disabled for me in System Preferences, had to enable it first. But it works, thanks!
  4. Dornbi
    @msx80 Just wanted to check in and say that I have started using Blueprint to create instructions for my models (see Flickr album). Just wanted to say that I find Blueprint quite intuitive and easy to use and in general a great tool. It creates quite high quality instructions with relatively little effort. Thanks for creating it. @Malou Thanks for creating the Mac installer! Am I right to assume that Blueprint is not actively maintained any more? Which would be a pity - but luckily the latest state is quite usable. Just for completeness, one thing that I observed: I use the Mac / Malou version linked from the opening post. I could not find a way to access some menus in the step editor with the touchpad only, without a real mouse. Most notably, the context menu (which hosts add / remove steps and many other functions) only comes up with the left mouse click, not with the touchpad. Other than that great tool. Especially impressive how it imports all the geometry from LDD. Thanks!
  5. Dornbi
    I retake what I said. The 4.3.9 update fixed the problem! For it to take effect, I had to: 1. Quit LDD 2. Remove the old preferences, e.g. from a Terminal: rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/LEGO\ Company/LEGO\ Digital\ Designer 3. Start LDD 4. Then "Outlines on bricks" and "Advanced shading" become available. 5. I had to restart LDD for the changes to take effect. But now it works! YAY! My computer: MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) El Capitan 10.11.3 This forces the app to reinstall bricks, palettes, etc.
  6. Dornbi
    Great news, there is some hope after all. A quick test shows that it did _not_ fix my favorite bug: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=115313 However, the fact that there is an update is still quite positive. And thanks Superkalle for the LXF file, it is super useful!
  7. Dornbi
    Lego has released a new version of LDD today (4.3.9). However, it did not fix the issue mentioned in this thread. Regardless, the fact there was an update gives me some hope that this issue may get fixed eventually.
  8. Dornbi
    Wow, quite a traffic on this thread. And it is getting some media attention, e.g. http://brickset.com/...e/18789/rip-ldd http://www.brothers-brick.com/2016/01/21/lego-digital-designer-officially-defunded-and-unsupported-news/ Which is actually quite good. I don't think this whole story came across as TLG intended, so at least it will get some attention within the company again. It is clear that having a nicely usable open source alternative would be the best thing. (Sorry, not intended to downplay the existing alternatives, it must have been quite an effort to build them). LDraw provides a nice foundation. I did not have a chance to try LDCad but based on the videos it seems to be closest. I do not think it is worth starting a new one from scratch, making one of them better is the way to go.
  9. Dornbi
    teabox, thanks a ton for the update. Do you have a chance to ask about software issues? This is my biggest pain point right now, see this thread. I realize that there are probably not that many Mac users, but this glitch on El Capitan really makes it barely usable and my guess is that it would not be hard to fix for someone who has access to the source. @Others, thanks for mentioning LDCad, I did not know about it. Judging from the videos I found on youtube it may be just what I need (and supports part snap, yay!). Now I only wish it would have a Mac version (yeah I know, I should buy Windows or Linux...). The other thing I find somewhat strange is why all these SW not open source (MLCad, LDCad, for example). Look at SR 3D builder for example: it is a great piece of software but now that the author has sadly passed away I have no idea how it is going to be maintained.
  10. Dornbi
    @papacharly: I agree. I do like LDD and use it a lot but there are things I could not have pulled off without LDraw.
  11. Dornbi
    @teabox: Thanks for posting the response, at least it makes the situation clear. Btw. I think TLG would have created less confusion and better tune expectations if they would have announced this publicly at the time when the decision was made rather than forcing users have to go through special channels to get information well after the deal is done. But at least it is kept available for the time being. Afaict the impact is: - no part updates - no support (see LDD on OS X El Capitan thread). Yeah, I do not think a petition would change much. TLG already knows how many users the tool has. And also I do not think the number is that convincing by itself. I think the best chance is to somehow show the impact of LDD on the community. Just to throw in random ideas: - Poll creators of well-recognized publications (e.g. HispaBrick, BrickJournal). - Do the same for some exhibitions: say X% of the exhibitors at BrickCon / wherever say they could not have done it without LDD. It is also a good question what to push for: - Ideally, keep LDD alive how it was before. - I doubt TLG will make the part geometries public. They went to great lengths to prevent this with Ldd2PovRay for example. My guess is their biggest concern is to make the geometry available to competitors - TLG probably spent quite a lot of effort optimizing that the parts are safe, they last, etc. By releasing the geometry it would be pretty easy for others to copy them. - I would be actually pretty happy if there would be a way to just fix that damn LDD El Capitan thing .
  12. Dornbi
    @Superkalle: thanks for merging. The first question: am I paranoid? I do not remember LEGO saying that they are not going to support LDD - it's just it seems to be in rather abandoned state (lack of updates). @Zblj, garethjellis: I think it is hard to measure the impact of LDD by the number of people who use it - that number itself is likely not that impressive. For example my local LUG is organizing an event in a museum where AFOLs and kids can build part of a Roman legion camp (link in German). The entire camp is ~100000 bricks and my guess that it is visited by thousands of people over the whole exhibition. This is likely a few LDD users only, but not having LDD would have made the whole project a lot harder, so impacting all visitors. A few ideas on how to measure this better: - Start with people who we know have an impact (certified professionals? LUGs? some magazine contributors, like HispaBrick)? - Ask participants to estimate the number of people (views, visitors, etc.) who would be impacted by the lack of LDD? Although I am not sure how this could be made more trustworthy than just tossing numbers around.
  13. Dornbi
    There are some indications that LDD as we know it may not be a supported product in the future. What made me thinking: - The LDD El Capitan issue mentioned in this topic. Some users got the response from LEGO that "we do not really support this app any more". - LDD did not receive any updates for a while. The version I use is 4.3.8 and that was released about 2 years ago. This was also noticed in the LDD update topic. It is hard to assess what the actual situations is. There are also some responses from LEGO along the line of "our engineers are aware and working on it". However, the El Capitan problem is known since at least October and nothing visible has happened so far. I personally use LDD almost daily to design my new models, so to me it would be a big blow if I could not use it any more. I know there are other tools like Mecabricks, Bricksmith and so forth, but so far I found LDD the most versatile and easiest to use for my needs. I also think LEGO may underestimate the affect of LDD on the community and the popularity of the product, but I admit I do not really have any data to support this claim. So my question is: am I alone seeing support gone as a big risk? Should we try to do something about it? - Try to collect some data about the effect it would have on the LEGO community? - Try to contact LEGO as a group of builders rather than individuals?
  14. Dornbi
    I still have the same problem: the options "Outlines of bricks" and "Advanced shading" are unselectable. I am running on El Capitan 10.11.2 LDD version 4.3.8 MBP Late 2013 In my Info.plist file I have this: <key>LSMinimumSystemVersion</key> <string>10.6.0</string> Even if I delete this it does not make any difference.
  15. Dornbi
    @msx80: Thanks for creating this tool, it already looks very good and has lots of potential. To me the biggest value is to have a tool that "just works" even for not so tech-savvy users, and I think Bluerender comes quite close to that already, which is great! The things I like: - Image looks pretty good with the default settings. - The rendering time is much more predictable than with POV-Ray. - Does not need any setup, extra downloads. Cool! - Unlike Ldd2PovRay, it works on my Mac :) Btw. I use Oracle java and works fine (java version "1.8.0_60" Java SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_60-b27), Java HotSpot 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.60-b23, mixed mode)) There are really only two things that I would like to have fixed: 1. Transparent parts should be brighter. This was mentioned on the thread and it sounds like there is already a fix, just not included in the latest release. 2. The default config should have some seams between the bricks. I think this would make it a lot more realistic. I am looking forward to the animation features too. Btw. does anyone know how to render an explosion effect like on this video? Ah, I realized there is also version 0005 now by guessing the URL. The link in the very first in this thread still points to 0004, this is what confused me :) The darkness issue is much better. I would say the trans clear bricks look pretty good. However the trans orange ones (turn indicator) are still a tad too dark, I am not sure why. I still think adding seams by default would make it look better.
  16. Dornbi
    Hi Fellow Eurobrickers, I would like to use the opportunity to advertise my MOC a bit. I normally build planes and to some extent cars (see my Photostream on Flickr), but this time I decided to build something different: the heroes of Penguins of Madagascar. If you like them, you can support them on http://ideas.lego.com/projects/92191. The goal was to build it at a small scale and yet try to make each one of them reflect the character as much as possible. Each one has some unique features. Rico can tilt his legs, wings and also open his mouth to come up with a new item to solve the puzzle. Skipper can also turn his head around. Because he is taller, Kowalski has more ways to use his wings. Last but not least, Private has his always innocent look. They all have a special item to help them through the adventures:
  17. Dornbi

    MOC: Penguins of Madagascar

    Dornbi replied to Dornbi's topic in Special LEGO Themes

    This is a totally relevant question, part of the next challenge, someday :)
  18. Dornbi

    MOC: Penguins of Madagascar

    Dornbi replied to Dornbi's topic in Special LEGO Themes

    Thank you all for the support! Part of the goal was to keep them small so that they can possibly be turned into a set, if there is enough interest on Ideas.
  19. Dornbi
    3: 3 9: 3 11: 2 13: 2 16: 2 35: 3 46: 3 52: 2
  20. Dornbi
    Inspiring competition! Question: are virtual / CAD builds allowed? I realize it's not ideal to demonstrate the functions, but would like to be clear.
  21. Dornbi
    Hi Guys, just wanted to say thanks to everyone who contributed and especially to C3POwen for putting together this excellent tutorial, and all the hard work with LEGO and the config files. I know one can spend a lot of time with this, and thanks for sharing all the knowledge with the community!
  22. Dornbi

    WINNERS: Architecture Building Contest

    Dornbi replied to Rufus's topic in Special LEGO Themes

    Congratulations to all the winners and especially to the organizers for putting together such a great competition! I am proud to have participated even though the Parliament of Budapest did not make it into the top 5.
  23. Dornbi

    Hi!

    Dornbi posted a topic in Hello! My name is...

    To properly introduce myself: I am Dornbi. 36, Hungarian by nationality, Swiss by residence. As I kid I was mostly into Technic. I still have the history of large Technic cars on my blog: http://www.bricksngears.com/ I like: - Cars and aircraft mocs My favorite builders are Mad Phyiscist, LegoMonster and Nathanael Kuipers. I even rebuilt one of Mad Physicist creations, the Mercury Lead Sled. - Virtual building. I do most of my building in Lego Digital Designer but for rendering I use POV-Ray. - The Architecture series. The thing I am most proud of: - The MiG-15 that I have built for the Lego Military Build Competition 2011: I am also an invited author on Hungary's most popular lego blog: http://kockagyar.blog.hu
  24. Dornbi

    Architecture Month: Building Contest

    Dornbi replied to Rufus's topic in Special LEGO Themes

    Minor correction: Dornbi's entry is the Parliament of Budapest, not Bucharest. Cheers!
  25. Dornbi
    One of the iconic buildings of Budapest, the Hungarian Parliament Building stands by the Danube giving visitors a perfect view from the Castle Hill on the other side of the river. After Budapest was united from three cities in 1873, an international competition was held to establish a new, representative Parliament Building. Imre Steindl emerged as the victor. Construction was started in 1885 and the building was inaugurated on the 1000th anniversary of the country in 1896, and completed in 1904. During the communist regime a red star perched on the top of the dome, but was removed in 1990. The Hungarian Republic was declared from the balcony facing Lajos Kossuth Square on 23d October in 1989. I chose the Parliament because it has a distinct shape that is easy to recognize. The original building has plenty of small details. To keep it all in LEGO I would have had to build in at a much larger scale. Instead I opted to keep it simple and manageable: I wanted to keep the distinct shape of the building but simplify many of the details so that it can be built at a reasonable scale. Even so it is larger than the typical buildings from the Landmark series: 36 studs wide, 19 studs deep and built from about 660 bricks. More photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/bricksngears/ParliamentOfHungary02 http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=500138 Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_Parliament_Building