roland

The 'trick' in LDraw modelling is to keep an eye on wondering coordinates from the get go. While building with normal bricks this is done by keeping the coordinates rounded to multitudes of (x/y/z/) 8/10/8. You can fix models later on (using shortcuts like: home, ctrl+home, shift+home etc) but it will be very time consuming. This all is the main reason the little coordinate panel is visible by default.

Somehow I was thinking about a normal wire split not an actual brick :) I'll add templates for them in 1.6

1: Like legolijntje wrote you can place one window inside another to split it. To mimic the original layout place the color bin at the top of a docked part bin this forces the part bin to use the 'left over' space when the whole window resizes. 2: Currently there is no template for this because ti would need a wire split feature in the path generator. The alternative is to make two templates, one for the connection brick upto the split and one for the single light and its wire. To make those would need an (official) subpart for the split section. This is currently not available though.

Hi all I've been working on some new features for LDCad 1.6 which might interest some of the builders here. I've added things like: ROTSTEP and buffer exchange support. I've released a test version of 1.6 and would be very interested in some feedback on these new features. So if you're not afraid of trying an Alpha version (use it separate from any existing LDCad version and be sure to make backups of your ldraw files) Feel free to try it: http://www.melkert.net/LDCad/nextVer

Sorry wrong thread, admins feel free to delete this post.

If you want fully automatic mechanics there isn't much to work with (only the discontinued SR3DBuillder has that far I know) If you are not shy about doing some manual scripting you could try my LDCad. In it you can animate stuff using LUA.

Don't know if it's a good way but you could use a textured part and place it somewhere way in the back combined with the 2D views this should somewhat act like you describe. You can (mis)use my sticker generator for this :) http://www.melkert.net/test/stickerGen.html You will have to do some calculating to get the correct scale though (20LDU == 8mm)

Did some looking around and I'm fairly sure it's a resource limitation on the amount of open files. Don't know for sure what the limit is (some say 256 others ~10000) ether way you can change the limit using "ulimit". It seems LPub is not closing files after loading them causing this problem, so a bug report might be in order also. As LDraw easilly uses up more the 256 files during loading of a model using many different bricks. Second thought: does that model load in LDView because a circular reference might also cause this kind of a problem (infinite number of open files :) )

Not sure (I don't work much with macs) it might be an os (resource) thing or maybe simply because /lpub/tmp is not writable / full.

I don't think it's about open models. It might be a lpub4 bug concerning generic file handling.

370226 is a statically colored part, so be sure 'color parts' is checked in the include panel. Also are you sure you are using a bin group that actually contains that part as colored parts are not included in the normal sorted and by category groups. Or use the generic search group to search the entire library.

Are you referencing to an MPD from any of the ldr's ? Many LDraw tools don't like that. It might help if you name the first model inside that mpd the same as the mpd it self.

For a simple flat sticker you could try this:http://www.melkert.net/test/stickerGen.html

Don't know if LDD plays nice with WINE, but you will also need the full OpenGL (not ES) driver on the Raspberry which has been added (experimentally) to the pi 2.

I released all LDCad (packaged) things with the 'non commercial use' limitation. But this does not mean you can't add your own information under a different license, unless you want to donate it to me so I can include it in the next release. The whole point of the human readable format is so people can extend it how ever they want (Like LDraw itself) without having to recompile the program.Hope this sheds some light on it. If not feel free to contact me through pm or start a loose thread on it (as this is very offtopic).

Also all those transparent parts might be a big factor. This because In general transparent things are more 'expensive' to render. It shouldn't influence the filesave though.

I'm not sure what you mean here but the angle/distance information in the same menu is intended to help placement of diagonal things (e.g. crossbeams etc)And in the upcoming 1.6 version you could write your own scripts to help auto place weird stuff automatically.

Using the snap points as rotation centers is something I'm thinking about of adding, just not sure how and when. You can resnap any part by grabbing it directly with the mouse instead of the editing pin. While its loose in that state you can rotate it again using the arrow keys like while adding new parts. You can also use ctrl+arrow keys to rotate in steps of 45 degrees in order to help it find a snapping target. Although in practice is it best to make sure a currently correctly orientated part has been selected last or an appropiate relative grid is active so you can use the home key (reset floating part orientation to grid) while re snapping parts. This because the snapping feature only takes one connection into account while snapping. Hope this is somewhat clear :) If you put the hinge center point at the 0,0,0 position inside the submodel the editing pin will 'stick out' the submodel ready to rotate (optionally with a relative grid active) the hinged parts . You can shift any selection to 0,0,0 (using its first selected part) by pressing shift+c

I'm considering adding buffer exchange to the up coming 1.6 version but as I'm not used to working it my self this might need a couple of alpha/beta version to find its way :) In practice it's almost always best to try to do as much as possible using submodels. Also note that groups in LDCad are different then MLCad groups. I had to implement my own grouping format as I wanted it to support recursive grouping (group of groups) and also have them work combined with the nested mode (groups made out of parts from different (sub)models). Also be sure to locate the hinge point at 0,0,0 inside the submodel.

@Jeroen Ottens legolijntje is correct you need to remove the part it self from the file. This can be done from the "file content" part bin group combined with 'delete this subfile'. The filesize is the result of the generated geometry for the flexible parts, which for most templates defaults to the 'deform' method. If you want to keep the flexible parts but with a reduce filesize you need to use the LQ template variants or reconfigure the exiting parts by editing their 'SKIN'. This is not 'easy' but if you want I could explain it to you. Which template did you use for those parts? 1.6 will offer an easier way to switch general quality / flex generator configurations. edit: I see you used the technic flex axles, missed that before. Those don't have a LQ version at the moment but you could drasticly reduce the filesize by using the below section for all generated parts (use .e.g. notepad to replace the blocks. 0 !LDCAD PATH_SKIN [donCol=16] [donOri=1 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 -1] [donPart=ldcFlexAxleEndA.dat] [donYSize=100%] [donCen=absCen] [donCenYOfs=0] [donFinScale=fitDon2Seg] [donPlace=refsDyn] [donYAlign=0] [donInline=true] [segSize=100%] [segSizeTol=5%] [segsCnt=1] [segsGrp=0] [segsMaxMerge=1] [segsMrgAng=0] [segsMrgRollAng=0] [segsEdgeDelKind=keepFirstLeft] 0 !LDCAD PATH_SKIN [donCol=16] [donOri=1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1] [donPart=ldcFlexAxleEndB.dat] [donYSize=100%] [donCen=absCen] [donCenYOfs=0] [donFinScale=fitDon2Seg] [donPlace=refsDyn] [donYAlign=0] [donInline=true] [segSize=100%] [segSizeTol=5%] [segsCnt=4] [segsGrp=0] [segsMaxMerge=4] [segsMrgAng=0] [segsMrgRollAng=0] [segsEdgeDelKind=keepFirstLeft] 0 !LDCAD PATH_SKIN [donCol=16] [donOri=1 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 -1] [donPart=ldcFlexAxleEndC.dat] [donYSize=100%] [donCen=absCen] [donCenYOfs=0] [donFinScale=fitDon2Seg] [donPlace=refsDyn] [donYAlign=0] [donInline=true] [segSize=100%] [segSizeTol=5%] [segsCnt=1] [segsGrp=0] [segsMaxMerge=1] [segsMrgAng=0] [segsMrgRollAng=0] [segsEdgeDelKind=keepAll] 0 !LDCAD PATH_SKIN [donCol=16] [donOri=1 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 -1] [donPart=ldcFlexAxleEndD.dat] [donYSize=100%] [donCen=absCen] [donCenYOfs=0] [donFinScale=fitDon2Seg] [donPlace=refsDyn] [donYAlign=0] [donInline=true] [segSize=100%] [segSizeTol=5%] [segsCnt=1] [segsGrp=0] [segsMaxMerge=1] [segsMrgAng=0] [segsMrgRollAng=0] [segsEdgeDelKind=keepFirstLeft] 0 !LDCAD PATH_SKIN [donCol=16] [donOri=1 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 -1] [donPart=ldcFlexAxleEndE.dat] [donYSize=100%] [donCen=absCen] [donCenYOfs=0] [donFinScale=fitDon2Seg] [donPlace=refsDyn] [donYAlign=0] [donInline=true] [segSize=100%] [segSizeTol=5%] [segsCnt=1] [segsGrp=0] [segsMaxMerge=1] [segsMrgAng=0] [segsMrgRollAng=0] [segsEdgeDelKind=keepFirstLeft] 0 !LDCAD PATH_SKIN [donCol=16] [donOri=1 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 -1] [donPart=ldcFlexAxleEndF.dat] [donYSize=100%] [donCen=absCen] [donCenYOfs=0] [donFinScale=fitDon2Seg] [donPlace=refsDyn] [donYAlign=0] [donInline=true] [segSize=100%] [segSizeTol=5%] [segsCnt=1] [segsGrp=0] [segsMaxMerge=1] [segsMrgAng=0] [segsMrgRollAng=0] [segsEdgeDelKind=keepFirstLeft] 0 !LDCAD PATH_SKIN [donCol=16] [donOri=1 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 -1] [donPart=ldcFlexAxleEndG.dat] [donYSize=100%] [donCen=absCen] [donCenYOfs=0] [donFinScale=fitDon2Seg] [donPlace=refsDyn] [donYAlign=0] [donInline=true] [segSize=100%] [segSizeTol=5%] [segsCnt=1] [segsGrp=0] [segsMaxMerge=1] [segsMrgAng=0] [segsMrgRollAng=0] [segsEdgeDelKind=keepFirstLeft] 0 !LDCAD PATH_SKIN [donCol=16] [donOri=1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1] [donPart=ldcFlexAxleMid.dat] [donYSize=400%] [donCen=absCen] [donCenYOfs=0] [donFinScale=segMerge] [donPlace=refsDyn] [donYAlign=0] [donInline=true] [segSize=80%] [segSizeTol=5%] [segsCnt=0] [segsGrp=0] [segsMaxMerge=0] [segsMrgAng=0] [segsMrgRollAng=0] [segsEdgeDelKind=keepFirstLeft] 0 !LDCAD PATH_SKIN [donCol=16] [donOri=1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1] [donPart=ldcFlexAxleEndG.dat] [donYSize=100%] [donCen=absCen] [donCenYOfs=0] [donFinScale=fitDon2Seg] [donPlace=refsDyn] [donYAlign=0] [donInline=true] [segSize=100%] [segSizeTol=5%] [segsCnt=1] [segsGrp=0] [segsMaxMerge=1] [segsMrgAng=0] [segsMrgRollAng=0] [segsEdgeDelKind=keepFirstLeft] 0 !LDCAD PATH_SKIN [donCol=16] [donOri=1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1] [donPart=ldcFlexAxleEndF.dat] [donYSize=100%] [donCen=absCen] [donCenYOfs=0] [donFinScale=fitDon2Seg] [donPlace=refsDyn] [donYAlign=0] [donInline=true] [segSize=100%] [segSizeTol=5%] [segsCnt=1] [segsGrp=0] [segsMaxMerge=1] [segsMrgAng=0] [segsMrgRollAng=0] [segsEdgeDelKind=keepFirstLeft] 0 !LDCAD PATH_SKIN [donCol=16] [donOri=1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1] [donPart=ldcFlexAxleEndE.dat] [donYSize=100%] [donCen=absCen] [donCenYOfs=0] [donFinScale=fitDon2Seg] [donPlace=refsDyn] [donYAlign=0] [donInline=true] [segSize=100%] [segSizeTol=5%] [segsCnt=1] [segsGrp=0] [segsMaxMerge=1] [segsMrgAng=0] [segsMrgRollAng=0] [segsEdgeDelKind=keepFirstLeft] 0 !LDCAD PATH_SKIN [donCol=16] [donOri=1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1] [donPart=ldcFlexAxleEndD.dat] [donYSize=100%] [donCen=absCen] [donCenYOfs=0] [donFinScale=fitDon2Seg] [donPlace=refsDyn] [donYAlign=0] [donInline=true] [segSize=100%] [segSizeTol=5%] [segsCnt=1] [segsGrp=0] [segsMaxMerge=1] [segsMrgAng=0] [segsMrgRollAng=0] [segsEdgeDelKind=keepFirstLeft] 0 !LDCAD PATH_SKIN [donCol=16] [donOri=1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1] [donPart=ldcFlexAxleEndC.dat] [donYSize=100%] [donCen=absCen] [donCenYOfs=0] [donFinScale=fitDon2Seg] [donPlace=refsDyn] [donYAlign=0] [donInline=true] [segSize=100%] [segSizeTol=5%] [segsCnt=1] [segsGrp=0] [segsMaxMerge=1] [segsMrgAng=0] [segsMrgRollAng=0] [segsEdgeDelKind=keepFirstLeft] 0 !LDCAD PATH_SKIN [donCol=16] [donOri=1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1] [donPart=ldcFlexAxleEndB.dat] [donYSize=100%] [donCen=absCen] [donCenYOfs=0] [donFinScale=fitDon2Seg] [donPlace=refsDyn] [donYAlign=0] [donInline=true] [segSize=100%] [segSizeTol=5%] [segsCnt=4] [segsGrp=0] [segsMaxMerge=4] [segsMrgAng=0] [segsMrgRollAng=0] [segsEdgeDelKind=keepFirstLeft] 0 !LDCAD PATH_SKIN [donCol=16] [donOri=1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1] [donPart=ldcFlexAxleEndA.dat] [donYSize=100%] [donCen=absCen] [donCenYOfs=0] [donFinScale=fitDon2Seg] [donPlace=refsDyn] [donYAlign=0] [donInline=true] [segSize=100%] [segSizeTol=5%] [segsCnt=1] [segsGrp=0] [segsMaxMerge=1] [segsMrgAng=0] [segsMrgRollAng=0] [segsEdgeDelKind=keepFirstLeft] edit2: once you reload the model you need to do a 'CTRL+SHIFT+F05' to regenerate all flexible parts in the model and then save it to disk, it should be much smaller after that. Hope this is somewhat clear :) You were probably using the 'all models' bin group it lists all loaded models no matter which mpd/ldr they are stored in. The 'File content' one lists everything in the current model's mpd. You can also use the menu which opens by clicking on the filename in the right top to navigate loaded model/parts.

I think you can do that by using LPUB meta commands or do you want to have this in the editor itself during viewing?

This is a known limitation of the program resulting from the fact the program splits things in models and parts. Once something is deemed a part (MLCad arrow snippet) it is processed differently (rendering preparations etc). A fututre version might offer to move MLCad generated things to a new submodel.

You need to use unique frame / start function names and register multiple animation objects in the register function, like so: function register() local ani=ldc.animation('Animation 1') ani:setLength(20) ani:setEvent('frame', 'onAni1Frame') ani:register('Animation 2') ani:setLength(15) ani:setEvent('frame', 'onAni2Frame') end function onAni1Frame() local ani=ldc.animation.getCurrent() --animation 1 frame stuff end function onAni2Frame() local ani=ldc.animation.getCurrent() --animation 2 frame stuff end register()

Sorry this seems indeed broken, I'll fix it in the next version. In the meantime you can remove (while the program is closed) the unwanted item from the "%appdata%\LDCad\config\partBin.fav" file manually if you really need it gone. Fun stuff.You can also drag and drop the script file into the program to assign it to the model. But there is a known bug which will need you to reload (F05) the model before using a different script, so it might be easier to put all the animations in a single script.

Sorry about the dead link, the latest LDraw parts are here: http://www.ldraw.org...test-parts.html You usually want to get the 'complete.zip' one. It contains about 13000 files (~8000 parts). Place it somewhere central e.g. you 'my documents' folder, LDCad can use it without unpacking (will be slightly faster) but most LDraw tools will need it in its unpacked state.