zweifuss

@Thedoctorwedwhistle Developer mode is what you need to view LXF file with collision issues, but it has way more cool features than that. You have to: Edit your 'preferences.ini' file found here: C:\Users\<YOUR_USER_NAME>\AppData\Roaming\LEGO Company\LEGO Digital Designer\preferences.ini Add a line DeveloperMode=1 Open Lego Digital Designer Go to the menu 'Developer', and select 'toggle physics test'. This will turn off the collisions Open @mr4543r's file by either dragging it in or double-clicking it. The file should open with no errors Here is a list of other keys you can use while in developer mode: Caps lock off 1 yellow shapes 2 violet shapes 3 cyan shapes Q remove all but holes R Random color coding pieces T post processing options O makes everything glow green P Black outlines G Hide all H color coding connected pieces J returns view to origin K hides studs C Shows green crosses on parts V Shows collision elements M hides everything but decals Shift or caps lock 1 yellow shapes 2 violet shapes 3 cyan shapes Q remove all but holes W wireframe R centers view A opens preferences and communications settings S shows statistics G hides grid ALT GR + T shows all the bricks in pallete

I've taken a break from UFO parts to wait for a new build of Brick Studio (sorry to the two of you waiting for them), and playing around with some other parts. I've added connectivity to the 18923 (Car Chassis 6x16x2) so that it fits together with its two wheel components (18924) and the 18926 part (Skip 8x12x5) I've added connectivity so that it can connect to the 4x4 roof (which it uses to hinge to other parts). I mostly did this because I was trying to construct my son's first ever Lego set, 10680 (Garbage Truck). Here are some pictures of what I mean, and the XML and LXF files. I didn't need to change the .G files, no geometry was changed. https://bricksafe.com/files/zweifuss/ldd-new-and-modified-parts/18923.xml https://bricksafe.com/files/zweifuss/ldd-new-and-modified-parts/18926.xml https://bricksafe.com/files/zweifuss/ldd-new-and-modified-parts/10680.lxf I've also been playing around with the 32187 file, again. And in real life, it seems to me the connection is more like this: , but I'm not sure how to write out the XML so that it works properly... still have to play around with it some more. It's really stumping me.

Looks beautiful, thanks for sharing! I'm a bit new to the MOC world, but is it common to lock wheels in place for structural stability sacrificing play-ability? Please excuse my ignorance!

Awesome news! Glad you could find the issue, I was stumped for a while there what I was doing wrong. As for the LDRAW import, are there any settings (in the blender plugin that is) that I should/should not be clicking on when I do the import? I try to do it by instruction-type, basic geometry, no bevels, etc, but maybe there's a setting on there that I shouldn't be playing with.

I'm still working on the UFO parts, adding in the decorations. Also collisions is taking a while. But I hope to have something by the end of the week. I know this isn't a full time job but it certainly is becoming a full-time hobby for me, it's a little sad I prefer digital Lego to the actual physical thing. Here is what Alien Avenger looks like now... have to work out the best way to bake the textures so that they look like they belong together. I'm also still having issues with getting those outlines to appear properly, you can see in the image the old 30320 parts from LDD look much nicer than the 30117 parts I imported from LDRAW.

The only issue with this is that you can't pop a pin in the top and a 1x1 brick on the bottom... is that ever a situation that will arise?

Thanks for the info... but I was able to make it work using these settings: <Axel type="2" length="0.6" grabbing="0" startCapped="0" endCapped="0" angle="90" ax="0" ay="-1" az="0" tx="0" ty="0.1" tz="0" /> The problem with the 4.8 axle connection is that it 'clicks' in only one particular way... you can't slide the pin around in a hole. So this is what it will look like:

I'm trying to figure this one out... I know that in the case of the Watchpoint Gibraltar set, it connects in this fashion: but what about from the other side? How far does it stick out? I guess I could go find a real part in my collection...

I think 4.3.11 had more parts in it, then they took them out in 4.3.12... See this post by @Kuramapika1

Just wanted to share my progress on the 30116 part (I know only 2 sets ever used this piece, but it's just so dang neat of a part) I'm still only about half-way done this piece, there are a lot of connections to do...I'm trying to use the smaller dome as a base.

Excellent, that's perfect... the link doesn't work for me, but if I could get access I'd be happy to be a contributor. It still feels kind of funny updating a discontinued software like this, but the bottom line is that LDD takes less resources than Studio, and it's more user friendly than LDCAD and mecabricks, a very happy medium. It really has that play/toy philosophy that Lego is so well known for, so I continue to use it more than the others.

Yes it would. I know it's a lot of work, we appreciate you being the curator of all this craziness! I think it would also be helpful using something like Trello for showing tasks and letting people make requests for parts and updates. Then anyone could just glance at it and see if someone is working on a part or not. I know someone already offered to make a google sheets, that would work too. It would be unfortunate if multiple folks are working on the same part at once, now that more of us have the tools to do this stuff.

Hey, I think I found the solution to this. Using blender, I was able to select all materials that are the print, and separate them into a new mesh. Then, I was able to UV Unwrap and do a bake of the textures. It's not perfect yet, I have to play around with the lighting, but I think that's a way we can get textures from LDRAW files and turn them into PNG files. See here my setup and the resulting baked .PNG texture, as well as the part (BTW I'm working on these UFO parts someone asked for them a few pages back). Thanks to @jester for his youtube video on how to separate the meshes and apply textures so I can do the decorations, helped a lot! This was about a 10 minute procedure, very quick, as you can see it's not perfect, but I think this is on the right track.

Oh thanks for pointing that out, here are the corrected files. https://bricksafe.com/files/zweifuss/ldd-new-and-modified-parts/22969_v2.rar (XML and .G). It was actually a 30 degree turn, should be fixed now.

I've added a very tight collision array to the mesh, it should be good now. Here is Poe Dameron's X-Wing: and the LXF file too for you to try out: https://bricksafe.com/files/zweifuss/ldd/75273---poe-damerons-x-wing-fighter/75273.lxf And of course the new 65617 file is here: https://bricksafe.com/files/zweifuss/ldd-new-and-modified-parts/65617.rar

Thanks, I think I figured it out though... I had the wrong mapping for the fields @ 2:4, 4:2, and 4:4... they were designated as Type 7 (bottom tube), instead they should have been Type 22 (edges, perimeter). So I've fixed the part, it should work a lot nicer now. Here is the file, updated from yesterday: https://bricksafe.com/files/zweifuss/ldd-new-and-modified-parts/zweifuss_20200801.rar I've also changed the name to 1/4 ARCH BRICK 3X3, W/ CUTOUT, NO. 1, from Brickset, I like the sound of the name better... also, I don't know why I worried about decorations for this part, it seems like there are no decorated versions (yet). @PicnicBasketSam can you try the part out now and let me know if you still run into those issues?

Ah shoot, ok, back to the drawing board. Need to do more testing on these parts. The collisions blocks I made were very verbose. I'll try to have a fix by tomorrow. I also have to learn UV mappings, can anybody steer me in a direction for that? I suppose I could look through all 24 pages of this thread... EDIT: So after some investigation, it turns out my Custom2DField is the issue... but also with the parts that go 'inside' the arch. Basically the grid area that is defined by the part that should go inside is defined as an edge, when in fact it isn't. So I would have to modify the following parts too, to take away that value from the grid area: 87081 3943 99833 6222 60474 Could be others? But basically any 4x4 rounded piece that has that area of their Custom2DField defined as an edge, will automatically conflict with the 65617 piece. I'd hate to modify legacy LDD parts like this just to allow a new piece to fit into everything, but it might be the way to go, unless someone knows a value I can put into the part that will allow all those above-mentioned parts to fit. @polymaker may be able to help, I've looked at his https://github.com/Polymaker/ldd-modder/blob/develop/Documentation/Custom2DField info.md and there might be a value I'm not understanding.

OK so after many months of playing around, and hopefully trying to do things right, I've finally been able to make a contribution. Here are 10 files I've either added from LDRAW or modified. Modified - 44350 / 44351 - RIGHT/LEFT 3D PANEL 12M - The problem with these panels is you couldn't butt them together as in the case of the Williams F1 Racer 8461, so I tweaked the collisions to be tighter and now they can be pressed up against each other with the pin holes Modified - 23799 - TYRE LOW WIDE DIA 81.6x44 - LDD's model was a bit rough, lines were showing, I replaced it with the LDRAW model New 65617 - BRICK, ROUND CORNER, 3 x 3 x 1 WITHOUT STUDS - Tried to add collision in there too, but it's not perfect. Also, I'm not familiar with how to do textures/decorations yet, so someone else will have to add that later (No sprinkly donuts :-( New 46334 - Motorcycle Rim 75 x 15.8 - Taken from LDRAW unofficial library, author credited New 46335 - Motorcycle Tyre 94.3 x 38 - Taken from LDRAW unofficial library, author credited. This one has the treads not completed yet, but the outer dimensions seem to check out. You can put two of the above part inside it (snapping), so you can make the Fat Boy New 67140 - Motorcycle Tyre 94.2 x 22 - Taken from LDRAW unofficial library, author credited New 22969 - RIM 62 x 46 - Taken from LDRAW unofficial library, author credited New 32296 - Tyre low wide 81.8 x 59 - Taken from LDRAW unofficial library, author credited. I had to modify this mesh a bit so the flat side of the tire didn't have the lines on it, but in the end it's still the author's model. New 32298 - Tyre 61/41 x 54 Off Road - Taken from LDRAW unofficial library, author credited Here are the links: New parts in a LXF file: https://bricksafe.com/files/zweifuss/ldd-new-and-modified-parts/New-Modified-Parts-Tires-Rims.lxf New parts (.G/.XML files): https://bricksafe.com/files/zweifuss/ldd-new-and-modified-parts/zweifuss_20200801.rar Any issues let me know! Rims should snap into the appropriate tires. Collision boxes are there for all the parts but they could use some tweaking, so please if you can improve the parts I'm up for it. And as I said before I still need to learn how to make decoration surfaces, which will definitely enhance these parts. Thanks

You need to provide the .G and .XML files for these to work...

Ok that's cool, just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong. Yes, the 32235 is the 19M rod that you did yourself in your repository, and that is the one I was working from. But even when I open 32235 ('Create from Brick...) and simply generate LDD files from it, all the <FLEX>/<BONE> tags are removed from the XML file, so I guess it's not ready yet...

@polymaker is the flexible parts feature still preliminary? I'm trying to create the 14M and 16M flex rods but I don't think there's a way to import a mesh with bones in it, am I correct there? I took the 19M one and removed some bones, imported a model of the 14M, and tried to generate LDD files but I got the 'SURFACE_NO_FLEXIBLE_MODEL' error. I even tried to edit the mesh of the 19M one in blender and import that, and I even tried to add bones (and combine with the model) in blender as well, to no avail.

Thanks for this info, this worked beautifully! 160 and 161 it is... Now if only we all had a spreadsheet or something where we could keep track of all the parts and connection types we're creating here, so that nobody is overlapping another's work. This is kinda of a wild west situation here, if I decide it's 160 and 161, but then someone else chooses those two numbers for something else... what will happen?

Hey guys, I think I'm pretty happy now with my models for the 32296 (Tire 81.8 x 50 Technic Straight Tread) and the 22969 (Wheel 62mm D. x 46mm Technic Racing Large) outlines working nicely now after modifying the meshes a bit. I just have to add correct connectivity information. I do have a question for @polymaker though... these parts are not found in 'connector usage.txt'. So what connection parameters would I give these two items? Do I just choose similar ones and run with it? Because I imagine these hard-coded numbers are part of LDD itself, so LDD would have to be modified to include a new connector usage number.

Love this.... imagine an 'Official LEGO Sets made in LDD' topic with little embeded 3D views of every set. So cool. Thanks for this, will be eagerly watching the progress.

@Stephan I was always curious how you chose to do this. Why do you have all these different packs? I don't understand why you don't just overwrite the existing pack every time... isn't every new one always an improvement on the next? I don't see why anyone would want to go back to an old one. Also, Github automatically keeps older versions (history) anyway, so if someone wanted an older pack, they could just pick one from the history. It think it'd be a cleaner approach if it's always just one pack to download. Think about this one year from now... what if someone discovers this thread then? It's confusing to open the zip file and have all these folders in there. The dozens of us that are lucky enough to follow this thread since the beginning have an easier time to update than the new people that just discovered this. Perhaps it's time to think of another approach... perhaps an app that compares your current folder to something online, and then only downloads the updated files... or something? I don't know maybe I'm a rambling old man, but that's a way I see it. I appreciate your cataloging efforts, don't get me wrong, I just don't think the method is quite right. Maybe someone like @polymaker might have a better idea of how to download new parts in a cleaner fashion.