Hi all.
I'm working on a simple builder in Java, derived from JLDraw Java viewer, but now I wonder if we really need yet another building software

My program will have a building mode with "autoconnect", i.e. new part will "snap" to nearest connection on line of sight (it is already done for studs, tubes, some technic pin and pegholes, but needs lots more work for other connections).

It is in Java, so we have "one version is good for all". Some drawbacks are the "rough" rendering (You must optimize a lot if you want some accettable speed in Java...), and probably the maximum size of a model, that will be in the order of 5k-10k parts (i'll not tested yet).

The coming of "MOC Builder" from Bricklink will make my program useless, I think.

So, I'm here to ask for your opinion: we need another building software? Please talk frankly and be direct: I'll survive to your criticism :-p ;-)

Thank you in advance.

After two beta's I think 1.4 is stable enough to justify a definitive version, so here you go.

I've fixed all the issues reported in the beta 2 thread and some direct mails. I've also implemented a few small changes suggested in those same sources.

No big changes (besides the 17 bug fixes ) otherwise, just:

• Missing files dialog (disabled by default)
  
• Edge anti alias (disabled by default as I'm not a big fan of aa myself)
  
• Reorganized the selection menu hoping to make it more intuitive.
  

I saw that Philo has started to author some of the Simpsons Parts (Homer only at the moment).

I was wondering : as I own almost the entire collection : are you planning to do them all, or would you mind if I try to contribute, especially with the patterned accesssories that come with the sets? Also, I'd like to investigate 3D scanning with Agisoft Photoscan but I don't want to "steal" what you might plan to do.

Let me know.

Dear fellow digital builders,

I’m Henry Park, a member of BrickLink's tool development team.
I’d like to introduce MOC Builder, our new Digital LEGO builder, that was developed based on LDraw's library of virtual LEGO bricks. It allows you to build a virtual LEGO creation on your Windows, Mac, or Linux computer. It also helps you order real LEGO bricks to turn your virtual creation into a physical model. To make that possible, we added part connectivity on top of the LDraw library and integrated BrickLink's marketplace within the tool.





Here are key features of MOC Builder:

• Drag-and-drop building
  
• Building with Connectivity
  
• Undo, Redo, Cut, Copy and Paste
  
• Loads both LDraw and LDD (Lego Digital Designer) models
  
• Search parts by name and description either from LDraw library or BrickLink Catalog
  
• Part Browser with customizable category
  
• Supports all LDraw colors (as of 10/30/2014)
  
• Find and replace (with color) parts within a working Set
  
• Step browsing for building instructions
  
• Automatic grouping
  
• Overlap Check
  
• Import a set as a model from local file system
  
• Import a set from the Set Inventory of BrickLink
  
• Export parts to BrickLink Wanted List
  
• Calculate price of model based on BrickLink market price of the parts
  
• +Connectivity Editor
  

Brickset has started to collect links to official sets made in LDraw.

How can we contribute?

I'm wondering... is POVRay still the most liked / preferred HQ rendering tool for LDraw scenes / animations out there?

I mean with GUI tools like blender around and all.

Just wondering in preparation of the LDCad animation HQ export feature.

So I have a problem that maybe someone would be able to help me with. I did a search of the forum and found nothing.

I use multiple computers with multiple hard drives and therefore have to boot from various copies of OS X. I'd like to be able to export my favorites list of parts to another hard drive and not have to re-create a new favorites list. Is this possible? I imagine it would be located in a system preferences file somewhere. But I can't seem to find a system preference file for Bricksmith. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hello,

I was surprised to see that part 87414 isn't in the LDraw library yet, not even on the PT.
I suppose it's not a really difficult part to make, since it's just part 3641, but with a "band" around the wheel at the center.
Take a look at the images at Bricklink to see what I mean.

Ok. I kicked the hornets nest with threading. That's a good thing by the way since I now know it is important. I'd like to post a poll and have some more discussion.

- Does anyone use the "flat post" view for the forums and if it went away would it detract from your forum experience? (Note: not the hybrid view which indented posts, the completely flat view)
- For the threaded used not using hybrid (i.e. one post per page with the thread tree on the bottom), if this option went away and was replaced by something similar to the hybrid view would that detract from your forum experience?
- What about for the hybrid users if that were replaced by the "one post per page" view?

Hello,

I've made this file (it's set 7140), but I can't view it in LDview. It crashes immediately when it starts up (after double clicking the file). I think it must be one of the parts inside the X-wing, because I can view all the submodels separately except the X-wing. And, I downloaded a file from the internet based on the same set (altough it was old and incomplete) and it had the same problem with the X-wing.

Could someone try to open the file on their pc to see if it crashes there too?

I have Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit and LDview 4.2 Beta.