An updated version of the LDraw All-In-One-Installer, in short AIOI, containing the LDraw Parts Library update 2023-01 with 121 new files (including 84 new parts and 9 new primitives) has been released.

The AIOI supports Windows XP (Home and Pro), Windows Vista or higher (all versions). There are two installer files available: Use the 64 Bit AIOI to install all the main 64 Bit programs, while the older 32 Bit programs are offered in a separated .exe file. Please note that only the 64 Bit version contains the LDraw Parts Library. If you want to use the 32 Bit programs it is mandatory that the library has been installed previously. The Installer will NOT run on Windows 95, 98, ME, NT Ver 4, 2000, or XP below SP2.

It contains the following changes:

* Update to Parts Library 2023-01
* Update to MLCad.ini 2023-01
* Update to Offline Parts Catalog 2023-01

You can download the AIOI from:

LDraw.org >> Help >> Get Started >> Windows >> LDraw All-In-One-Installer

Many thanks to all the programmers who contributed to this release.

Willy Tschager
(LDraw.org Content Manager)

LEGO continues to put out more decorated pieces, and LDraw has put a lot of efforts into creating them for the library.  And of course, this is happening while overall new pieces are also being added.  Given the increase then in the parts library, I was curious if there was any thought given to separating out those decorated parts in the part three.  For example: Brick, Bricks Decorated, Tile, Tile Decorated.  BrickLink has done this with their catalog, and it has been a great help for navigation.

Hello,
 after last month's update no longer works the area "Recent parts submitted to the Parts Tracker".
I have seen it on various PCs using the Edge browser.

Attached Files

Thumbnail(s)
   

Hi, I would like to request a part-the foal/baby horse '82445pb01'. This is from the collectable minifigure series 22 'Horse and Groom' set. I believe there is a very similar one ('82445pb02') in the Lego City 2022 advent calendar (60352-23) in a different colour variant.

I have added several pictures below. I hope I have done this correctly (this is my first time posting). I just started using the fantastic Bricklink Studio and it's really nice to see an open source community working together to create something fun!  I appreciate all the hard work! 

Please can someone model this super cute baby horse so I can use it in MOCs?

Foal:

  82445pb01_brown.png (Size: 183.27 KB / Downloads: 118)

With plan and elevation:
   

With full scale horse from the back:
   

With CMF with short legs:
   

Similar 82445pb02 colour variant:

  82445pb02_colour_variant.png (Size: 74.72 KB / Downloads: 118)

The first release of the ldr_tools_blender addon is available on github. The goal of this project is to provided a reliable and performant way to import digital LEGO models into modern versions of Blender for rendering. Both .ldr and .mpd files are supported. You can even import and render very large scenes with hundreds of thousands of pieces using a special instancing option on import.

I've attached a render made of the UCS Millennium Falcon using the addon. The addon creates PBR materials for use with Blender Cycles. You'll need to create your own lights, however. This render is using an HDRI for the environment and a sun lamp with a softer lighting angle to create the shadows. Working directly in Blender has a bit of a learning curve compared to something like Studio's renders. The advantage is better control and being able to take full advantage of your hardware for rendering. I plan on updating the github WIKI with a tutorial for rendering at some point.

The basic installation process and usage is the same as previous importer addons like https://github.com/TobyLobster/ImportLDraw or https://github.com/cuddlyogre/ExportLDraw. Supporting older Blender versions is not a goal of this project, so these are still your best options for Blender versions prior to 3.3. Some releases of ldr_tools_blender will have to break compatibility with previous Blender versions if Blender updates its Python version. This doesn't happen often, so it shouldn't be a big issue. Previous addon releases will still be available to download when this happens.



This is the first release, so there will be bugs. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns. Making an issue on github is the best way to notify me and others of of feature requests or bug reports. This is also how I track if something has already been reported or fixed. I'll still check this thread, but I won't always be as quick to respond as github notifications.

While most of the core LDraw spec is implemented like MPD, I'm hoping to get feedback on what additional extensions or features need to be added. The last time I did digital lego modeling, LDD was still getting updates. The LDraw tools are still very new to me. I do most of my testing with OMR models or exports from Studio. Please let me know if any of your models don't import or don't import in the way you would expect.

The addon is a thin Python wrapper over some LDraw processing code written in Rust. The components are all open source. Check the github link for information on how to develop and contribute or figure out how it works. Most of the code is written in Rust for performance reasons and to take advantage of existing libraries. Splitting up the code like this means the actual addon itself has very little code and also allows components to be reused in other projects. Sadly, some implementation quirks in Blender prevent the importer from being as fast as it could be. The code is still substantially faster than any of the existing Blender importers and can even outperform the Mecabricks importer. Differences are most noticeable on large scenes.

Some quick benchmarks using a stopwatch. I've done my best to use comparable quality options for all importers. I'm not including memory usage, but memory usage was also substantially lower in ldr_tools_blender. You can get comparable memory usage in the other two addons by disabling any options that create modifiers, since this doesn't play nicely with sharing meshes in Blender.

10179-1 - Millennium Falcon - UCS, Logo4
ExportLDraw - 68s
ImportLDraw - 100s
ldr_tools_blender - 7s
ldr_tools_blender (instance on faces) - 5s

31203-1 - World Map, Logo4
ExportLDraw - 24s
ImportLDraw - 58s
ldr_tools_blender - 6s
ldr_tools_blender (instance on faces) - 2s

Repository
https://github.com/ScanMountGoat/ldr_tools_blender

Download:
https://github.com/ScanMountGoat/ldr_too...r/releases

Report bugs or request new features:
https://github.com/ScanMountGoat/ldr_too...der/issues

Hey,

this version will extend the "change winding"-tool to work with lines and condlines, too.
It also corrects a "Merge to Nearest Vertex" bug. This merge function will now skip pure condline control points.
There was an important change on the LDraw library URL, too (www.ldraw.org -> library.ldraw.org).



As always, you can download LDPE from this page:

http://nilsschmidt1337.github.io/ldparteditor/

Changelog:

(4 new features and 3 bug fixes)

With this release you will be able to...

• ...use the change winding tool (j) on type 2 and type 5 lines, swapping the end points.
  
• ...have the "verbose" option common to nearly all tools, and be remembered between sessions.
  
• ...deep inline a subfile and it will mark the end of that subfile, too.
  
• ...have the CR LF at the end of a line to be included in the selection when you click on a line number.
  

1. "Merge To Nearest Vertex" recognized condline control points as vertices to merge for.
   
2. The LDraw library URL was outdated (www.ldraw.org -> library.ldraw.org).
   
3. 3D scenes only rendered to 1/4 of 3D window in some rare cases.
   

1. Download and extract LDPartEditor_win32_x64.zip
   
2. Run LDPartEditor-1.8.66.msi
   
3. Start LDPartEditor from the start menu
   

1. Download and extract LDPartEditor_linux_x64.zip
   
2. Install ldparteditor_1.8.66-1_amd64.deb
   
3. Start LDPartEditor from the menu or via launcher
   

1. Download and extract LDPartEditor_mac_x64.zip
   
2. Mount LDPartEditor-1.8.66.dmg
   
3. Drag LDPartEditor.app to the Applications folder
   
4. Copy ldparteditor.sh to your home folder
       4a. Open a Terminal.app and run ./ldparteditor.sh
       4b. Or open a Terminal.app and run /Applications/LDPartEditor.app/Contents/MacOS/LDPartEditor
   

• OpenGL 2.1 compatible Graphics Card
  
• Operating System (64-bit): Windows [7 or newer], Linux [e.g. Ubuntu Linux >=14.4], Mac OS X [>=10.6]
  
• CPU: Multicore-Processor e.g. Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon II (>2.0Ghz)
  
• RAM: 4GB
  
• Video-Memory: 1 GB
  
• Free Disk Space: 100 MB
  

• Operating System (64bit): Windows 7,8,10, Linux [e.g. Ubuntu Linux >=14.4], Mac OS X [>=10.6]
  
• OpenGL 3.3 compatible Graphics Card
  
• CPU: Multicore-Processor with 4 cores (or more)
  
• RAM: >4 GB
  
• Video-Memory: >1 GB
  
• Free Disk Space: 512 MB
  
• For a faster start, LDPartEditor and the LDraw™ library should be installed on an SSD.
  

I am done with the sliding bricks.

On Bricklink they are listed as "bb0037" and "bb0037b" in our library we do have only "bb0037b" as "x946"

• bb0037
  is loosely mounted on the Sliding Brick Holder and kept in place by an extension on the bottom of the Train Base (LDraw: 303, BL: x902)
  
• bb0037b (LDraw: x946)
  needs to be pushed in the SLiding Brick Holder to "clip" in place, it will not come loose easily and does not require the Train Base to be held in place
  

1. x946 and x946b or
   
2. x946a and x946b
   

• u9597a - housing as bb0037
  
• u9597b - housing as bb0037b
  
• u9580 - weight (2x)
  
• u9582 - cover
  
• and the existing bearing 3111 (2x)
  

• Shall we add shortcuts? They might be reasonable as the brick usually holds two train wheels and swivels with them (by approximately 11 degree in either direction. The question is, what is uncoloured, best is tthe train wheel...
  
• They are used as follows
  

1. x946(a) with wheel 244c02
   - black wheel with black rubber (sets 162, 727)
   - red wheel with black rubber (set 182)
   
2. x946b
   - red wheel 244c01 motor without rubber (set 720)
   - red wheel 243c01 (Set 721)
   

• I moved the origin by 6 LDU to have it swivel around the centre of the circle that the bows on the part are part of.
  -> This might have a lot of impact on existing models, as this part is practically since an eternity on the tracker. On the otherhand it is unofficial.
  -> What do you think? is it ok to move the origin or if we use a new naming, the old part will anyway become obsolete
  

I tried to download a recent version of LDConfig.ldr from

https://www.ldraw.org/library/official/ldconfig.ldr
or
https://library.ldraw.org/library/official/ldconfig.ldr

This was not possible. Where can I download a recent version of LDConfig.ldr?

edit: I found the answer. It was located here (case sensitive):

https://library.ldraw.org/library/official/LDConfig.ldr

Since we had only 5 confirmed nominees, no election was necessary.

Therefore, the 2023/2024 LDraw.org Steering Committee [1] is:

Philippe Hurbain
Gerald Lasser
Orion Pobursky
Max Martin Richter
Willy Tschager

[1] Try not to confuse the LDraw.org Steering Committee (SteerCo) with the LDraw.org Standards Board (LSB). The Steering Committee sets the course for the LDraw Organization while the Standards Board deals with the LDraw File Format.

Congratulations to the reconfirmed members!

Max Martin Richter
On behalf of the LDraw.org Steering Committee

Hi folks,

I just updated the MLCad.ini file accordingly to the latest LDraw.org parts update 2023-01. The .ini file defines (among other things) the parts available in MLCad's, LEOCad's and Bricksmith's minifigure generator.

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

Bye, w.