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  Problem creating submodels with Steps using LDCad
Posted by: John - 2014-01-03, 18:56 - Forum: LDraw File Processing and Conversion - Replies (10)

I just can't get this to work quite right. I like to use LDD as a starting point for just playing around with new model ideas. It's quick and easy to just throw bricks in place. But then I want to take that into LDCad and break down the one single model into a collection of submodels in a .mpd file.

I can create new submodels in LDCad. I then cut and paste the selection of bricks I want from the existing single model into the empty submodel I just created, making sure to remove position and rotation information as I do so. I'll then take the submodels and "recombine" them into a new main model, this time made of the submodels instead of individual bricks. I can close and reopen the file at this point and everything is fine.

However, if I then go in and add Steps to the submodels I run into a problem. It's not apparent right away. I can create the steps and page through them and it looks fine. But if I close and reopen the file I'll find bricks have moved to different locations. Some are even part of different submodels. I can't seem to figure out what's causing them to move like that. It's definitely a result of adding steps to the submodels.

I can replicate this with any model I make, whether I start in LDD or even make the whole thing in LDCad. I can split a single model into submodels. But as soon as I add Steps to the submodels, the position of random bricks gets messed up upon reopening the file.

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  10350 hacking to support brown briddle
Posted by: Stephan Meisinger - 2014-01-03, 15:24 - Forum: Parts Authoring - Replies (5)

Hi everybody,

i tried to get used to LDraw by hacking 10350p01 from Philo to support another pattern for the black horse (with brown biddle and without white blaze)

I finished one side now, get rid of all BFC-errors and now asked myself what is the next step? I hope it is ok to add several question:

- Do I need permission to post the modified 10350p01 as a new number to the Part Tracker?
- What the proper name of the part - 10350p02?
- What would be the proper author name and history of this file?
- Is there a possibility to mirror the other side or do I need to manipulate the other head side too?

Thanks in Advance

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  Missing images on Pattern Summary page
Posted by: Christian Neumann - 2014-01-02, 20:18 - Forum: Website Suggestions/Requests/Discussion - Replies (11)

A lot of the images on this page http://www.ldraw.org/cgi-bin/ptpatterns.cgi cannot be displayed. This affects all types of parts, and seems to happen after the files become official.

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  Rail question
Posted by: Michael Horvath - 2014-01-01, 22:47 - Forum: MOCs (My Own Creations) - Replies (20)

I'm not familiar with the train and rail parts.

What is a good distance to separate two parallel rail lines from each other? Taking into account curved rail sections and the general way rail parts are supposed to be connected.

Currently I have them set as close as possible next to each other. I chose this value because part 949ac02.dat splits into two lines spaced this much from each other. But looking at Lego.com's TRAIN TRACK PLANNER it seems this can vary.

[Image: th_rail_sections_shapes_01_zpsd3fa3594.png]

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  color matching for pattern
Posted by: Michael Heidemann - 2014-01-01, 20:48 - Forum: Parts Author Tools - Replies (14)

Sometimes I am also looking for new possibilities for creating pattern.

One of the challenges I am faced is to reduce the colours used in that pattern. This is mainly necessary because most (if not all) pictures are antialiased and therefore we do not have sharp edges that we can work with, if we try to automatic the generation of pattern in ldraw file format.

I tried it so far with an algorithm from bitsticker project:

Code:
''' Identify the most similar color in the palette to a specified color based
    ''' on Cartesian distance between RGB colorspace points. Derived from libgd's
    ''' gdImageColorClosestAlpha function (in gd.c).
    ''' Code taken from project "bitsticker" at [url=http://anoved.net/files/bitsticker/bitsticker.txt]http://anoved.net/files/bitsticker/bitsticker.txt[/url])
But the result is not what I was looking for, as you may get strange matches if you only work with this algorithm.

I remembered that Tim some time ago argued that the colors are not recognised by the eye in the same way (blue different than red etc.). So I searched on the internet for calculation of color differences.

I found a source for many color related stuff at:
http://www.brucelindbloom.com/index.html...eCalc.html

Sadly I did not get yet a key idea from that information. But I could read that the algorithm I used so far is known to be not good.

Maybe some can read and understand that, so he can tell me how to calculate the color differences better. This should lead to a better color matching in automatically created pattern.

I think this is a good task for 2014 Smile

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  happy 2014!
Posted by: Santeri Piippo - 2013-12-31, 22:29 - Forum: Off-Topic - Replies (8)

I wish you guys a happy and playful new year 2014! May LDraw keep going strong.

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  Yafaray?
Posted by: Michael Horvath - 2013-12-30, 21:32 - Forum: Rendering Techniques - Replies (5)

Has anyone used Yafaray to render models? Supposedly it is faster than POV-Ray at rendering complex images with a lot of features.

Does Yafray have a scene description language like POV-Ray? Can it be run standalone without Blender? Or is Blender also required?


Mike

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  part 2560 widening
Posted by: Matt `da Wolf - 2013-12-30, 2:14 - Forum: Part Requests - No Replies

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=2560

Can someone modify this so it's three lengths, 48 studs wide, while duplicating the bottom holes threefold?
Also a variant where it is 32 studs wide?
Thanks.

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  Certifiable but currently unneeded primitives
Posted by: Jude Parrill - 2013-12-29, 5:07 - Forum: Parts Authoring - Replies (4)

Recently I've noticed that Chris has begun to hold certifiable but currently unneeded primitives (for example this one). To me, this seems like a bad idea.

According to our reference, we define a held part as:

Reference Page Wrote:Hold (No) - It's getting there, but not yet.
There are errors to be corrected before the part can be released. The author has to take care of the errors.

These parts clearly do no fall under this category. Now, I understand the sentiment of wanting to sort these parts so you don't have to look over them again and again, only to realize you don't need to deal with them/certify them now. However, by putting them on hold, your only shifting this nuisance to part authors/fixers. Imagine the part author who checks his submitted parts list to see he has a held part, but when he goes to see what's wrong and fix it, finds there is, in fact, nothing wrong with it. Furthermore, imagine someone who likes to fix up parts perusing the held parts list looking for a part to fix up, constantly clicking on parts that don't need to be fixed. It'll be both annoying and off-putting to them as well.

Therefore, I'd like to suggest creating a new category for parts like this (beyond our current "certified", "needs admin review", "needs more votes", "has uncertified subfiles", and "held" categories). You could call them "Certified but unneeded" (or something along those lines) and give it a seperate color (may I suggest blue?). This way, the parts are seperated out so both you and others can skip over them instead of having them always being in the way, and they won't be a nuisance for anybody any more.

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  Datsville
Posted by: Michael Horvath - 2013-12-29, 4:02 - Forum: MOCs (My Own Creations) - Replies (54)

Download it here:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/datsville/

https://github.com/mjhorvath/Datsville

Most changes since the previous release are "under the hood". I made the file headers uniform and filled in missing information. I de-inlined a number of sub-models. I made sure only parts used the DAT extension. There should be no change in outward appearance, so the previous town map still is accurate.

[edit]

Here's the project's Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/188200221436/

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