...use the new "MeshReducer" tool, to simplify generated CSG meshes.
...use a more "aggressive" T-junction-finder (can destroy the mesh geometry under some circumstances!)
...use the "Move on Line" function, to move a vertex on a line between two vertices (its a beta tool! Soon I will explain how to use this.)
The program was tested intensively with "real world" files. Especially, "Undo" and "Redo" should work now fine.
Make sure that you choose the right architecture for your OS and Java Virtual Machine (JVM) (64bit or 32bit).
A short guide how to check if a 64bit JVM is installed on your system is located at the bottom of this message.
Download the zip-Archive
Extract the archive content to the location of your choice
On windows, double-click "run.bat" to start LPE.
On linux/mac, you have to excecute the shell script "run.sh" to start LPE.
Please note that this software is in the beta stage. Although, LPE 0.8.4 was carefully tested and developed, there are already known issues for this release. There is a potential risk of data loss.
Something can go wrong in about 100.000 lines of code.
You can search for updates if you do the following steps:
On windows, double-click "update.bat" to search for updates.
On linux/mac, you have to excecute the shell script "update.sh".
LPE is a 3D CAD application: The overall system requirements are higher. While I recommend to use a powerful 64-bit multicore system, it could be possible, to run LPE on older machines as well.
System Requirements:
Minimum System Requirements:
Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.7
OpenGL 2.1 compatible Graphics Card
Operating System (32/64bit): Windows [XP; Vista; 7 or newer], Mac OS X [>=10.6], Linux [e.g. Ubuntu Linux >=10.4]
CPU: Multicore-Processor e.g. Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon II (>2.0Ghz)
RAM: 2.5GB
Video-Memory: 512 MB
Free Disk Space: 100 MB
Recommended Requirements:
Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.8
Operating System (64bit): Windows 7, Mac OS X [>=10.6], Linux [e.g. Ubuntu Linux >=10.4]
CPU: Multicore-Processor with 4 cores (or more)
RAM: >4 GB
Video-Memory: >512 MB
Free Disk Space: 512 MB
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How to check your JVM version (32- or 64-bit):
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You can try on the command line:
Code:
java -d64 version
If it's not a 64-bit version, you'll get a message that looks like:
Code:
This Java instance does not support a 64-bit JVM. Please install the desired version.
In general, I recommend to install the 64-bit version of the JVM for Java 8.
Quote:To avoid matrix arithmetic problems in some renderers, the third dimension ({y} in the default orientation) of two-dimensional primitives must be given a scaling factor of 1.
to
Quote:To avoid matrix arithmetic problems in some renderers, the third dimension ({y} in the default orientation) of two-dimensional primitives must be given a non-zero scaling factor.
There is no reason to restrict this value to 1, the only point is to avoid a non-degenerated transformation matrix.
This change should avoid sterile discussions such as this one: http://www.ldraw.org/cgi-bin/ptdetail.cg.../u9228.dat
Quote:Unofficial parts are allowed to be used, but must be included in the MPD as referenced subfiles. The filename of the unofficial part is subject to the following naming rules:
Quote:Appendix VI
Programs relying on the parts.lst file rather then the LDRAW_ORG meta-statement use special characters to prevent the parts being included in the list:
The descriptions of all subparts (i.e. line 4 = '0 !LDRAW_ORG Subpart') must start with '~'.
The description of all obsolete parts, maintained for backwards compatibility must start with '~'.
The descriptions of all aliases (i.e. line 4 = '0 !LDRAW_ORG Part Alias') must start with '='.
The descriptions of all physical colour parts (i.e. line 4 = '0 !LDRAW_ORG Part Physical_Colour') should start with '_' .
The use of '~' for non "s\" part files is at the author's discretion, to hide mouldings that are not released independently. This is one case where merely reading the LDRAW_ORG line is insufficient for tools to know how to treat the file.
While working on VEX parts (I know, boo; hiss, that's not LEGO) , I finally had a real-world reason to map spherically.
The HEXBUG folks have a VEX IQ compatible set called Orbit, which is a built-it-yourself Orrery, and it includes three spheres that would need the texture mapping treatment (our Sun, the Earth and its moon).
I have mapped the latter two.
Congratulations, Roland. This was easy for me to get working, and it looks fantastic in LDCad!
[I did a half-mapping of each half-sphere, top and bottom -- was able to use the same image in either case, didn't have to slice or dice that at all]
![[Image: imgDuke2.png]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fi18ywwsEUo/VOOuvkpsdzI/AAAAAAAAASw/Ax0RRFkleKA/s64-no/imgDuke2.png)
, I finally had a real-world reason to map spherically.