chorlton

Hey Kids! Why not combine your two favourite hobbies, Lego and Smoking, with your own cigarette stuffing machine!

That does look stunning.

Thank you all. Tracked down the problems to a couple of issues: The linux port of LDView has a bug (possibly Qt library related?) where the xml path field only allows the selection of a directory path, not a full filename. I was able to work around this by editing the LDView.conf file directly to add the LGEO.xml filename. My povray.ini file was missing the LGEO paths under Library_path settings. This was partly due to me having multiple povray.ini files from multiple installs, and partly thinking that paths were search recursively so I only had to define a parent directory. Added ldraw/lgeo, ldraw/lgeo/ar and ldraw/lgeo/lg to fix. Result: Still a few niggles but I'm happy.

That's amazing! Thanks for the effort C3POwen! POVRay can't find the LGEO inc files File '32077.pov' line 146: Possible Parse Error: Cannot find file 'lg_defs.inc', even after trying to append file type extension. File '32077.pov' line 146: Parse Error: Cannot open include file lg_defs.inc. and a quick compare of yours and my pov files shows that mine has no "lg_" declares in it at all. This suggests that both ldView isn't using LGEO because there's no lg_ declares in my pov file povray isn't aware of LGEO because it can't find the .inc files LGEO.xml is in what I think is the default ldView location for linux (/usr/local/share/ldview) but I'll specify it explicitly, and I have added my ldraw directory to povray.ini and the lgeo files are under there but it's certainly something to trace down. Thanks for the help, very valuable.

Quick update - I think my LGEO install was in the wrong location as I had it installed in parallel with my ldraw directory, not inside it. I've now moved LGEO inside the ldraw directory. This wheel still looked black in LDView but after some faffing about and finally testing in povray, I have this It's obviously shinier than pure black but it's still very dark. Does anyone know if ldraw metallic silver is the correct colour to use for wheel part 32077 from set 8428? If it is, are there any tips for brightening this up to make it more obviously lighter than the tyre?

Good pointers thanks. C3POwen's new LGEO.xml file does indeed include a colour entry for "80" and maps it to lg_metallic_silver. There's an entry for this colour in my lg/lg_color.inc file in my LGEO directory. Unfortunately, I've copied this to /usr/local/share/ldview which is the ldview config directory for Linux and it's made no difference. My ldraw and lgeo installations were all downloaded and unpacked manually - there's no all-in-one installer for linux - I suspect that LDView might not be finding the LGEO directory at all as it is in a custom location. Where would I configure where ldview finds the LGEO installation?

Hi, I'm having a problem where "special" colours used in ldCad are not displaying correctly in ldView and povray. As it's going wrong in ldView, I suspect something wrong with my LGEO setup in ldView but can't quite follow how the mapping is all set up. Perhaps someone here (Philo?) can help. I'm using ldCad 1.1b, ldView 4.1 and povray 3.7 running on Linux Mint 13. I'm using the wheels (part 32077) from set 8428 which peeron describes as "Metallic Silver" and so have selected this in ldCad. This is described as (80,M) in the ldCad colour selection. My MPD file contains the following lines for the part in the model. 0 FILE wheel-and-tyre.ldr 0 NAME wheel-and-tyre 0 AUTHOR chorlton 1 80 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 32077.dat I open my MPD file in ldView and Export to povray. The resulting povray file contains #declare LDX_wheel_dash_and_dash_tyre_dot_ldr = union { // NAME wheel-and-tyre // AUTHOR chorlton object { LDX_32077_dot_dat LDXSeamMatrix(149.999939, 149.999969, 71.093002, 0, 0.000015, 0.046499) matrix <1,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,1,0,0,0> #if (version >= 3.1) material #else texture #end { LDXColor80 } } and #ifndef (LDXColor80) // Black #declare LDXColor80 = LDXOpaqueColor(0.2,0.2,0.2) #end So, it appears that ldCad thinks colour 80 is metallic silver, but ldView thinks it is black, or at least very dark grey. When I set things up, the instructions for ldView and the LGEO part library spoke about colours but I think I've followed all the steps correctly. Does anyone with experience know where I might have gone wrong? I didn't want to include all my config so please ask for anything relevant. Thanks chorlton edit: There are other colour mismatches, for example the smoked glass of the PF receiver, but the silver wheels give a good example. Hopefully one setup fix will correct everything.

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The magnets is an interesting idea. You might get better performance if you could arrange them in a cylinder shape, maybe around the inside of the plastic casing? Apologies if I'm stating the obvious, but applying a current through the wires means they want to move perpendicular to the magnetic field, so you will get a stronger, more efficient effect at the top and bottom of the motor. At the sides (90degrees), the wire is moving parallel to the magnetic field and so there will be no effect, with various, decreasing effect between the two points. Maybe some of those smaller neodymium magnets (http://www.amazon.co...m magnets cubes or http://www.amazon.co...odymium magnets could be placed around the inside of the casing to give a more regular, smoother magnetic field for the wires to move through? You'd want to ensure that your added magnets' field was aligned with the existing magnets inside the motor (no point in having N-N cancel out) so some trial and error would be required. p.s. I heard a rumour that small neo magnets might be being withdrawn from sale in the US after some were eaten by a child so grab 'em quick of you're in the US.

Oh. My. Lord! It's massive! Very impressive. I liked the use of the flex axles to make the auger on the top.

Store now appears to be closed!

Arguably, a better qualification! I think jorgeopesi is simply asking if you find any other skills or interest help you when building Lego?

Almost the same. I have a Mechanical Engineering degree and the thought of possibly working for TLG after graduating was certainly a factor in my choice. I've ended up becoming a software engineer so I'm still building, kind of. Having a target, breaking it down into reusable blocks of functionality and making sure they all then work together is the same kind of problem. I actually used to work in 3D solid-modelling about 15 years ago so the amount of functionality in LDD, LDraw and similar nowadays is amazing.

Genuine question, but where do you keep large panels and long beams for example. The screw-drawers don't look big enough? I ask because when I start a new build I find myself running out of space due to those all being in separate, possibly too-large, boxes. It's actually inhibiting a smooth workflow because I have to think about getting a box out, then putting it away, then possibly taking it out again. P.I.T.A.

GF bought 8421 for me five or so years ago. it's all her fault!

Apologies for the weird ghosting but I took several photos and stitched them together into a panorama. That was as of 2011. Add 9395, 9396, 9397, 9398, 42007, um... some eBay miscellania, a couple of 8428s. The studded sets are now all taken apart and stored in the attic with their boxes. Anything post-dark-ages is broken down and sorted in Really Useful plastic boxes. I almost have too much Lego.

855 was an awesome set at the time! I got a LOT of playability from it in the '80s, probably second only to 8860.

42007 just arrived yesterday. I wouldn't consider myself as "into" bikes usually, but it was a fun build and looks great. I may leave it up for display for a while. At £25 it was an impulse buy added onto an order for 9395.

It's a small touch, but I like the realism of the 2:1 passenger:driver seats.

Great looks for something so compact.

That is awesome! Small, fun and instantly recognisable.

Agreed. It's particularly pronounced close to the ground or flat take-off surface (like your table) where the helicopter will try to move sideways across the surface. I understand you need a human pair of hands to hold the model at the moment but maybe get someone else to hold it - higher and at a distance - while you adjust the power?

42006 is in the latest January UK Lego Magazine. £49.99 seems very reasonable. Available from January 1st in the UK.

Sorry to hear it's cancelled but your open explanations is much appreciated (and encouraging for us amateurs).

I studied Mechanical Engineering at University (20 years ago) largely on the basis that I wanted to work for Lego. The Lego dream never happened but a colleague did go for an interview with them around '96/'97. He came back very excited - "They are working on something SO cool, but I can't tell you about it because I signed a non-disclosure agreement!" I suspect it was the first Mindstorms kits.