While creating new LDraw parts I've paid particular attention to the orientation of the studs to ensure that the parts look as accurate as possible.

One thing I've noticed in the LDraw library (and also the LGEO library, but that's another matter) is that although an existing part may be near-perfect, sometimes the orientation of the studs is incorrect.

This is most apparent when using something like LDView, where stud logos are oriented based on the stud.dat's orientation in the LDraw part file. And when LDView exports a model to POV-Ray and uses LGEO studs on non-LGEO parts, the issue carries over.

My question is this: Should existing LDraw parts be resubmitted to the Parts Tracker (via email, of course) just to fix something like stud orientation?

[Incidentally, my current solution to ensure stud orientation is correct is a modification to stud.dat which incorporates the (uncertified) logo.dat primitive, so the LEGO logo is always visible, even in programs like MLCad.]

Hi,

transferring content from the old site to the new CMS the LDraw.org Steering Committee has decided to integrate the various LDraw guidelines in the LDraw.org Policies And Procedures. The updated article can be found at:

http://www.ldraw.org/article/281.html

Willy Tschager
On behalf of the LDraw Steering Committee

Hi,

transferring content from the old site we, the content managers, update also the information. In this process I added some alternative parts libraries using the LDraw File Format to the new site:

http://www.ldraw.org/parts/other-parts-libraries.html

I'd like to see also Modulex among those. Since there were some objections in the past submitting them to the PT:

http://news.lugnet.com/cad/?n=17385&t=i&v=a

I would go for a link to the modulex page:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/chris.w.dee/Modulex/

but it seams essential to me that there is also a download link. Any chance to add it?

w.

Hey,

I just released LPC 1.4.1..

Please uninstall older versions of this software before installing a new version.
Your configuration won't be deleted if you have already version greater than 1.3.1 installed on your machine.

Change log:

New features:

• The spline tool vertex calculation is improved.
  
• You can lock the Vertex/Triangle Mode, when "Add Vertex" or "Add Triangle" is activated (Advanced Options..->Misc.).
  

I find the docs somewhat unclear, could someone shine some additional light on when and why the '~' and '_' prefixes are used?

For example I used to think the ~ is 'depreciated' and/or 'moved' but looking at 4179 this seems weird because it's a complete (and valid?) part as far i can see.

I'm struggling with this while tweaking the default part bin content of LDCad, currently I exclude all parts starting with ~ and _ but I'm starting to think I might be cutting away too much.

So in short how should these prefixes be handled in means of putting them in a part bin yes/no.

Hi guys it's me (yet) again I've been lurking around here for a while now and thought to see what's new in the tracker and help up with the review stuff a bit and all. I'd get back to authoring if mlcad wasn't as clunky. :/

Though this new account I made on the forums doesn't have review rights and my old arezey account doesn't seem to even exist anymore, can't log into it.

Anyway it's been a while since I've said anything here really so I'd like to mention that the library sure has grown over the past few years and the new CMS is awesome. You guys do a great job.

I'm working on the graphics for a book to be published soon and need to make some pictures which use the new orange brick separator.  As far as I can tell, only the old dark gray one exists in LDraw.  I'd love it if the new one was available to make the book more current.

Thanks,
Eric Albrecht
Blakbird

A few months ago I wrote an LDraw Part Tracker plugin for DuckDuckGo. I've just been notified that is now live!

For example, try this query: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=98263.dat (the plugin generates the box at top)

Some background: DuckDuckGo is a search engine that accepts user-contributed plugins to provide "instant answer" responses for domain-specific queries. See DuckDuckHack for an overview of the plugin architecture. A couple different kind of plugins are possible; mine is a "fathead" plugin, which responds to keywords (part numbers) read from a data source (the tracker's part list). More fathead plugin details and examples are available here. Last but not least, here is the source code for the LDraw plugin.

Please feel free to fork and improve the plugin. The DuckDuckGo team responds to pull requests and may integrate approved changes with their site. (I think they are investing more emphasis on plugins now; the DuckDuckHack overview site did not exist when I first tried writing this plugin.)

I've listed some ideas for improvements under "Limitations" in the Readme for the plugin. The two most obvious would be to support part number-lookup-by-name (right now it's name-lookup-by-number; seems like an easy swap to make) and, especially, support for the full part library, not just the unofficial parts in the tracker. That will be a little more work, since it would need to read multiple sources. However, I think it'd be worthwhile. DuckDuckGo does some clever things with the data output by the plugin, such as auto-generating tables by category.

Hey,

Here comes LPC 1.4.0..


Please uninstall older versions of this software before installing a new version.
Your configuration won't be deleted if you have already version greater than 1.3.1 installed on your machine.

Change log:

New features:

• The spline tool has left the beta stage. Spline vertices are arranged with an equal distance (This feature needs still a bit improvement. I hope to fix it in 1.4.1).
  
• The spline tool was moved to the "Add Primitives.." menu.
  
• Colour changes: Default colour 7 (old-grey) to 71 (light-bluish-grey) and colour 6 (brown) to 70 (reddish brown) [this change will be visible in a fresh installation of this program].
  

• The spline tool is translated (Thanks J.C.)
  
• The triangle chain tool is translated and does not crash anymore
  

Hi all,

With LDCad 1.1 in the beta stage, I'm starting to gather information/ideas for flexible part support (pneumatic hoses etc) in 1.2. I'm mainly thinking about using bezier curves for editing, the generated parts them selves will probably be submodels using official library subparts were available and generated type 2..5 lines for the rest.

I myself have very little experience with LSynth and the likes so if anyone has some different suggestions/ideas?