In the interest of leaving some public record of its lifespan, I thought I'd post a note here to mention that I've retired Bitsticker, an image-to-LDraw-sticker CGI script I wrote a few years ago. Although it was capable of some clever tricks, it was never intended as (or, to my knowledge, used as) a serious part authoring tool. Plus, it proved tedious to maintain as my web site and hosting service changed.

Anyway, here is a gallery of example images, including an "art gallery" with paintings rendered as actual LDraw elements:



(I have not been following the progress of the LDraw texture standard closely, but my guess is that it will soon facilitate similar appearances anyway.)

Another updated version of the application is now available from http://sr3dbuilder.altervista.org/

Most significant new feature is STICKER support as shown in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KepDhEfPQFM

Following is a list of what is changed.

Enjoy Building !!

Sergio

0.7.3.12 - Changes to previous version (2012.08.20)

Fixed
- Parts selection can cause application crash when using groups
- Problems aligning parts along a vertical axle
- Animation of Linear Actuators was a bit incorrect
- Animation of some kind of complex hinges was incorrect (not totally fixed but anyway better than before)
- Flex parts management should now work again !!
- When rotating the viewpoint with RMB can accidentally (but very annoying) add your selection to model
when releasing button over yellow and blue center

Added
- Support for STICKERS!! ( for registered users ). Please notice that since stickers connections are added
on-the-fly to model parts, this causes the following different behaviors in the UI:
. The sticker follow mouse pointer over bricks it can connect with (and auto-orient according to part
surface slope)
. You can only use the keyboard to rotate a sticker and add it to the model (use <SPACE> or <ENTER>)
- Application now creates a backup of your model before saving it
- Latest lDraw official parts update (August 2012)

There are still some floating boat hulls waiting to be made:

Boat Hull Unitary 25 x 10 x 4 1/3 Complete Assembly

Boat Hull Unitary 38 x 10 x 5 2/3 Complete Assembly

Boat Hull Unitary 52 x 12 x 6 1/3 Complete Assembly


It would be nice to see at least one of them in the ldraw library. Maybe one or even two of them are ready next year at this time...
I know each of them is a lot of work...

[EDIT 23-03-13 T.Takahashi] Changed subject for keyword search, corrected links

Hi folks,

I just updated the MLCad.ini file accordingly to the latest LDraw.org parts
update 2012-02. The .ini file defines (among other things) the parts available
in MLCad's minifigure generator.

Download the file from my website: http://www.holly-wood.it/mlcad/mlcad_ini-en.html

A direct download is available at: http://www.holly-wood.it/files/mlcad/MLCad.ini

Bye, w.

If not I might give a mockup a try. But even a '(needs work)' version isn't going to be easy so I'd rather avoid duplicating effort.

Hi,

I just wanted to send a personal message to Jaco van der Molen regarding his page
https://sites.google.com/site/binarybric...artsupdate

I don't have his personal e-mail contact data and wanted to use this forum to drop him a note.
I found his user at http://forums.ldraw.org/profile.php?23,13
, however, there seems to be no feature which allows me drop him a personal message.

Could we enable such a feature in the forum software?

Best,
Steffen

Jaco, if you read this: the page mentioned above has a typo in it, I think:
I think it refers to 2012-01, not 2012-02.

The 2012-02 LDraw Parts Update has been now been released. This update includes 579 new files in the core library, including 348 new parts and 59 new primitives.

This is another big step in reducing the backlog on the Parts Tracker and brings the number of files there to its lowest level since March 2004. Thanks are due to the small community of part authors who created or corrected parts for this release and to those who have reviewed files in order to make this release happen.

This update has been a little longer coming than I had hoped, largely due other work necessitated by the demise or the previous website content management system and the migration of the Parts Tracker authentication mechanism to this forum's user database. This has also resulted in a further 445 files (not counted in the totals above) being re-issued in this update to adjust header text reflecting a small number of Username / UserID changes.

You can preview the new parts in 2012-02 and download the update by going to the Latest Parts page.

Most of the 132 certified files remaining on the LDraw Parts Tracker were held back from this update in keeping with our normal practice of not releasing new primitives or subparts until they are needed for an official part file.

Assuming that there are sufficient certified parts on the Parts Tracker, I am hopeful that the next update can be issued in October.

There are some anomalies in the way that Minifig headwear has been categorised (Minifig vs. Minifig Accessory) current official library. There are examples of hats and hair in both categories.

I'd prefer that 'Minifig Accessory' be restricted to hand-held parts. I propose to introduce new CATEGORY values:
Minifig Headwear : Hair and hats
Minifig Neckwear : parts like Epaulettes, Neckscarves, capes
and possibly
Minifig Waistwear : fabric skirts as seen in the Collectable Minifigs
Minifig Footwear : Flippers, Ice Skates

Does anyone see a problem with this or have a better idea?

Hi,

if you're a linux user you could help revising the Getting Started - Linux page at:

http://wiki.ldraw.org/index.php?title=Ge...ed_-_Linux

Do you know of any tutorials that could be added? Other editors, viewers?

w.

Guys,

transferring article from the old site I came across this article:

Quote:Home text
By: Tim Courtney
January 21, 2002

LDraw model files now have a new default file extension. The LDraw.org team decided to act recently on a long standing sentiment in the LDraw/CAD Development groups on LUGNET that 'DAT' was too ambiguous of a file extension. Having the default model extension as a .DAT file often hurt other associations on users' computers because it is rather generic (many other programs use .DAT). This problem gets solved with the decision to change the default LDraw Model File extension to .LDR.
Body text

The issue was forced when MLCAD author Mike Lachmann inquired about rumors of a change when he prepared his latest version of MLCAD, 2.11. He got the official OK from Steve Bliss and Tim Courtney at LDraw.org, and implemented it in the release. Since then, L3PAO, L3P, and LDView fully support LDR. Many other utitlites are making the change when they release new versions.

LDR files are now the official default extension ONLY for MODEL FILES (user creations). PART FILES will continue to use the DAT extension because this is hard-coded in LEdit, the original LDraw editor for DOS. LEdit is still a standard because the license for distributing parts without the original LDraw package has not been put into effect.

Users will be effected in the following ways: New models created in MLCAD will be given the LDR extension by default. Also, some programs may not yet support LDR, so it might not yet be an option on the File Open or File Save/Save As Dialogue windows. As soon as these changes are implemented (timing may vary for individual programs) these problems should be eliminated. LUGNET appears to support LDR in the DAT groups, though this has not been tested - it does display all files when browsing for a DAT, including LDR.

A helpful hint for people who wish to use LDR files on LDraw applications which have not yet made the switch: to open an LDR file when the window only displays DAT files, type *.ldr or *.* in the filename box to display the files which are hidden in the window.

A positive side-effect, and definitely a benefit seen when this was under consideration, is the brand-building nature of the new file format. Now, no matter what editor, viewer, converter, or renderer someone is using, they are interacting with a file which identifies it with LDraw. This serves as a subtle reminder that LDraw is a system of tools from many different authors, and those tools all work underneath the LDraw file format.

Any questions or comments on this article or the extension change should be directed to Tim Courtney.

• PART FILES use the DAT extension because of historical reasons.
  
• LDR files are the official default extension ONLY for MODEL FILES (user creations) as a .DAT file often hurt other associations on users' computers because it is rather generic.
  
• MPD files or "Multi-Part Documents" are a way to combine several LDraw files into one consolidated source.