Hello all,

Like many of you know, I've been working on 2D (ortho) editing support for LDCad. The thing is, it's mostly done but currently I lack the time to completely get it 'beta' worthy for general release.

Because it will take me quite some time to get there I decided to release the current version as a Alpha version so more advanced LDraw users could test it and give me feedback on the new Ortho mode.

I'm very much anticipating the thoughts of the 'old school 2D editors rule' people out there

You can download the alpha here:

www.melkert.net/action/download/LDCad-1-1-Public-Alpha-1-Win-32.rar

www.melkert.net/action/download/LDCad-1-1-Public-Alpha-2-Win-32.rar

Only the windows archive version is available for now. It will take me some extra time in order to get an Linux executable ready, so for the moment I will only do that upon request.

This release is aimed at the experienced user, so I think there is no need for a long intro/manual here. Most of the text on melkert.net/LDCad still applies to this version so that should do for now.

Just play around with the mouse and menu structure (right click anywhere).

If you have any comments/questions let me know ether here or directly by email.

And remember this is an Alpha version, it could escape and terrorize the village at any time

In closing, some pictures ....






edit: Updated to alpha 2

I just wanted to know if we're allowed to do promo and prototype parts to be released in the official library. While I'm pretty sure that the answer is yes regarding the promos, I'm not so sure about the (Lego offocial) prototypes.

Here are a few examples of what I mean:

Promos:
The white Boba Fett


Darth Maul


Prototypes:
R2-KT (to learn more about R2-KT go to http://www.r2kt.com/)


George Lucas

LSC,

The SteerCo has voted to allow the Texture Standard to become official. While the SteerCo has the authority to approve this outright we feel that, since you guys are the caretakers of the file format, we would like you to formally approve it. Here is a proposed motion for you to discuss, modify, and approve.

Quote:Proposal:

The current Texture Mapping extension is hereby adopted as a standard with the following extra rules:

* The standard will be adopted in its current version. Future changes to the standard will be reviewed and approved by the LDraw Standards Committee (LSC) before the changes become official.
* The LSC will formulate how this standard is implemented in the Official LDraw Library. Possible implementation issues to be considered include allowed graphics file format, resolution, storage, naming conventions, fallback detail, etc...

I admit, I don't have any clue how primitives work.
Chris suggested that I should change some circles made of triangles with primitives in one of my patterns.

So I tried that. The first thing that confused me is that I can't adjust the width of rings. A ring with the radius of 1 is too big, 2 ist too small.

Then, how can I assure that the primitives don't overlap? I can't select the vertices to see their position, so I don't know if the ring I put in another ring has the right size.

Then I finally got the first primitives in the right position (a circle, a ring and a squarecirclethingy around it) connected these with triangles with the rest of the pattern and checked that with edger2. The pattern looks right, the primitives look right. Just the connection between both: unmatched edges around the squarecirclethingy. How do i avoid that?

Seriously, I hate primitives as much as condlines.

Hi everyone

I'm was trying to do an export from LDR to DXF on a model of Poison Ivy, but Rolf Redford's LdrDat2DXF program kept coming up with an error processing when processing the files.

I found the problem was in the part file 3626bpb5.dat (this file came with the "Official Update 2012-01"). There are various lines in this file with the text "0x2BEBE64". Once I'd removed all the lines containing "0x2BEBE64" the conversion process then worked.

Any idea why these errors are in the file?

Can someone correct this file to be included in the next parts update.

Thanks

Reuben
[email protected]
=====================================
Download 3D Lego models and other resources from:
http://www.pearse.co.uk/lego
=====================================

Is there a specific reason why the rotation point of the minifig hips is completely useless (IMHO), the position it's in now? The only way hips could turn is the same way the legs turn, so why don't the hips have the same rotation point?

Is there a way I could permanently change the rotation point of a part to my desire?

Hello all,

I am using LPub 4.0.0.10 on Mac OS X 10.7.4. I have found that certain fonts do not appear as expected. Here is an example to illustrate.

Here are the digits 1, 2, and 3 of the font Marker Felt (included with Mac OS X, I believe) as displayed in a page layout app:



Here is a screenshot of LPub with the step group step number font set to the same font, Marker Felt:



"Marker Felt" as displayed in LPub is not really Marker Felt; I'm not sure what it is. (Here is the default step group step number font.)

Can anyone confirm if they see the same discrepancy on Mac OS X? I have not tested many other fonts - does it happen with any others?

Any help appreciated. Thanks,
Jim

Hey,

I implemented a quick usability fix today.
As always you'll find the new version here.

Change log:

Usability improvements for 1.3.5 and older:

• The right mouse click does not cancel “Add Triangle” while CTRL is pressed.
  
• “Add Triangle” and “Add Vertex” are no longer bound to the “Vertices Mode”.
  

• It is not possible to “deform” a primitive anymore.
  

• Triangles which are connected to vertices from primitive/template are not copy protected anymore.
  
• You can merge selected vertices to their average X/Y coordinate.
  
• You can toggle the z-layer of the template lines.
  
• You can display/correct the BFC setting of primitives/groups.
  
• Primitive/template deletion does not delete adjacent triangles anymore.
  
• The template lines are drawn thicker.
  
• "Include Metadata" is checked by default.
  
• Exported LPC subfiles are rotated 180 degrees around the Y-axis.
  
• The subfile/DAT export is improved.
  
• The "superfast" triangulation is improved.
  

• The intersection calculation between triangles was defect.
  
• "Remove isolated vertices" removed vertices which belong to a group.
  
• The projection matrices were corrupted.
  

LEGO model of ITER fusion reactor in Scientific American - kind of neat!

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/a-bl...r-in-lego/

According to the article, it is made by Sachiko Akinaga.

Not always a Bionical part ends up in a Bionicle :-) I looked through LDraw's part list and the Unofficial part list hoping to find this part but I couldn't find it. I need the part for my "pendulum clock documentation" using MLCad / LPub. Perhaps someone here around has built this part for his own use and would allow me to share it ? At the moment I'm not able to create such a .dat file but I'm working on it :-)

Thanks in advance for any help !