As a followup to this post
http://forums.ldraw.org/showthread.php?t...250#pid250
, I'd like to recommend a thing which proves quite valuable for me during parts (and even model) authoring:
using a source code revision control software (SCM tool) for the LDRAW folder.

Such tools are for example:
* Perforce
* git
* hg
* svn
* cvs
(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_Code_Management for more information)

I personally use and like Perforce;
note that for private use you are allowed to install a local server and client for yourself.

I put my LDRAW folder into that system the following way:

- install initial set of parts
- checkin into SCM
- install 1st update
- checkin into SCM
- install 2nd update
- checkin into SCM
...
- install update 2011-01
- checkin into SCM

Doing it this way gives you a full history of parts: For each and every file,
you can easily see by which update it has been touched, and which changes happened in it.

As I am also keeping all unofficial stuff in the MODELS folder (because the "real" contents of that folder
is not important for me), I'm also checking in that MODELS folder into the SCM tool.
(I'm using the MODELS folder and not UNOFFICIAL or similar, because older tools like L3P only work that way).

This allows me to go forward and backward with the changes which I do in the files.

So I this way got rid of having to keep manual backup files etc.:
the SCM tool does everything for me.

I'm just dropping this idea here in case somebody else also needs or likes it.

Play well -
Steffen

I didn't know where to write this note, so I've decide to do it here.

I´ve found that I can´t enter the wiki of Ldraw:

www.ldraw.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Do anybody know what's the problem?

Thank you.

Hi All,

Sometimes I find it hard to keep track of all the little programs for part authoring: things like 'inliner' and Philo's myriad of tricky tools. Could we keep a master list of them in this thread?

It also allows me (and others) to share scripts that we wouldn't upload to the master software list. As I will do in a few seconds.

Tim

As a follow-up to this thread, I decided to create a list of parts I think are important and would like to see released officially. I intend to update this over time, removing parts that are released and adding new parts as need/want arises. I'd like to encourage others to add their own lists as well, as I'm bound to miss/forget parts and it's always good to add other perspectives to the discussion.

As a side note to the question, "Why don't you build/perfect/review them yourself?" I lack the tools and technical know-how to do this myself. I know, given enough time, I could probably figure it out, but, for me, time is always an issue. In the time it would take me to become proficient enough to be of any real use, these parts could probably have been developed, from scratch, 10 times over. It's not that I wouldn't like to contribute to the community, it's just I don't think I'll be doing it in the area of parts development.

Is there a documented official standard location or search strategy for the ldconfig.ldr file? I just skimmed the specs and couldn't find this written down anywhere. There's plenty of documentation on the contents of the file though.

I'm asking because I just updated ldglite to look for it in the ldraw directory, which is not normally in the search path for part files, so I want to be absolutely sure this is correct before I build any release executables.

Thanks,

Don

I'm currently trying to model a huge patterned part (2552 serie) using automatic vectorization to avoid a long and boring time working with quad2dat or other patterning programs.

In order to complete that I would like to know if there is any program that can check if triangles have been duplicated, or if some surfaces are overlapping, partially covering each other. Usually, this can be done using the random colorization of LDview, and by carefully searching for the blinking areas while rotating the part ; but in my particular case, this method is not really achievable 'cause of the number of triangles involved.

If no program exists, does someone has an idea on how this can be checked?

parent topic for set postings

Hi there!

I've recently decided to use the ldraw\unofficial folders to put all the unofficial parts I'm using (instead of copying everyting in the standard ldraw\parts folder).

The problem I have is the following: when using L3Padd-On to export the model into Pov-Ray, it simply ignores the unofficial parts. It's like it is only using the ldraw\parts folder.

Does someone know how I can tell L3P or L3PAdd-On to use also the ldraw\unofficial path? I'm using lastest version of L3P and L3PAdd-On.

Hi,

I think many contributor would love to see all the official models inside the official LDraw library.
Currently the library contains a folder named "MODELS" which contains a car and a pyramid (nothing official here).
I think these two models are a legacy from the original author of LDraw, but now I would like to see this folder being used and being populated by official models.

I think the official models could follow the same process has the new parts, meaning, models contributors should agree and sign the part author agreement, and the models could be uploaded to the part tracker in the "MODELS" folder (sub folder could be created according to the will of the steering comitee) for pair review.

Then the reviewers could review the models by checking that:
1) The number of steps are respected according to the official Building Instruction
2) The same exact parts are added at each steps according to the official BI
3) The correct sub-models are created according to the BI
4) The correct rotation steps are inserted
5) The set number could follow the bricklink/peeron naming convention

I think a lot of models contributor are ready to sign the part author agreement, and could already upload their models right now! IMHO, nothing need to be changed in the LDraw website to welcome the models.

Thanks for sharing your opinion.

Hi folks,

before the OMR starts to grow I'd like to discuss this comment by Orion:

http://forums.ldraw.org/showthread.php?t...d=78#pid78

reading through the specs and I also think they need to rewritten. Especially the "Filenames for the Official Model Repository files are restricted to the MS-DOS compatible 8.3 name length" is ridiculous.

Thoughts?

w.