[LDPartEditor] 0.8.25 Beta Released (64bit only / usability / bugfix)

[Nils Schmidt]

Hey,

here is version 0.8.25 with 8 bug fixes and <3 enhancements!
Unfortunately, I have to drop the 32bit support for a moment.
Currently, I  implement a new render path and I write some content for the wiki/manual.
The last build failed on Windows XP (32-bit) and I had no time to track down the issues, yet.
But yeah... I want to keep the release train rolling



As always, you can download LDPE from this page:
http://nilsschmidt1337.github.io/ldparteditor/

Changelog:
(3 new features and 8 bug fixes)

With this release you will be able to...

• ...double click on a decimal number to select the whole value, including integer part, decimal part, decimal separator and minus sign if any (Text Editor).
  
• ...see that all three coordinates are unchecked when the coordinate dialog opens. The coordinates where you type in a value will become active (3D Editor, Merge/Split -> Set X/Y/Z).
  
• ...benefit a little from a faster draw method for lines and condlines.
  

The following critical issues were fixed:

1. Flipper: Condlines were "not recalculated" so their control points were wrong after flipping.
   
2. The calculation for quad (and triangle) collinearity detection was wrong
   
3. Last added elements were not saved (3D Editor).
   
4. Wrong winding colour in some rare cases (CW: clockwise winding only)
   
5. Merge/Split -> Set X/Y/Z did not work sometimes
   
6. A ConcurrentModificationException occured in the process which hides condline control points
   
7. A ConcurrentModificationException occured during normal calculation for the LDraw Standard Mode
   
8. There were non-threadsafe method calls within the logger class.
   

What will the next release 0.8.26 deliver? Bug fixes, more header validation features, usability improvements and maybe a new fast render path (I don't know how much time it will need)...

---

The program was tested intensively with "real world" files.
However, it is still a beta version and something can go wrong in about 100.000 lines of code.

Make sure that you choose the right architecture for your OS and Java Virtual Machine (JVM) (64bit or 32bit).
A short guide how to check if a 64bit JVM is installed on your system is located at the bottom of this message.

1.  Download the zip-Archive
   
2. Extract the archive content to the location of your choice
   
3. On windows, double-click "run.bat" to start LDPE.
   
4. On linux, you have to excecute the shell script "run.sh" to start LDPE.
   

Please note that this software is in the beta stage. Although, LDPE 0.8.25 was tested, there are already known issues  for this release. There is a potential risk of data loss.

You can search for updates if you do the following steps:

1. On windows, double-click "update.bat" to search for updates.
   
2. On linux, you have to excecute the shell script "update.sh".
   

I listen carefully to your requests and possible complaints. Please leave me a message, with your thoughts and wishes to further improve the software.

LDPE is a 3D CAD application: The overall system requirements are higher. While I recommend to use a powerful 64-bit multicore system, it could be possible, to run LDPE on older machines as well.

System Requirements:


Minimum System Requirements:

• 64-bit Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.8
  
• OpenGL 2.1 compatible Graphics Card
  
• Operating System (64-bit): Windows [7 or newer], Linux [e.g. Ubuntu Linux >=14.4]
  
• 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
  

Recommended Requirements:

• Operating System (64bit): Windows 7,8,10, Linux [e.g. Ubuntu Linux >=14.4]
  
• 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 a SSD.
  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How to check your JVM version (32- or 64-bit):
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can try on the command line:

Code:

java -d64 version

If it's not a 64-bit version, you'll get a message that looks like:
This Java instance does not support a 64-bit JVM. Please install the desired version.

[Philippe Hurbain]

...double click on a decimal number to select the whole value, including integer part, decimal part, decimal separator and minus sign if any (Text Editor).

Excellent! but there is a little bug: double click doesn't select the last character of a value if it is at end of line

[Magnus Forsberg]

Thank you Nils,

As a user I want to have the CR LF at the end of a line to be included in the selection when I click on a line number.
As it is now, I have to "make place" for the line in the text editor, before I can paste it,
and the focus gets shifted to the end of the line, where the cursor is. The CR LF is included if I trippel-click on a line.

[Philippe Hurbain]

A minor bug: in text editor, if you select a range of lines then perform a "Toggle comment" operation, variation of number of characters (adding/removing 0 // ) is not accounted for. So after a comment operation the selection is shorter by number_of_lines*4 character (and longer by the same amount for an uncomment operation)

[Nils Schmidt]

There are some news from the implementation process of LDPE's upcoming OpenGL 3.3 driven render engine.

I just want to say that I was able to do the optional line (aka "condline") visibility calculation with a GLSL shader.

What does this mean?
The amount of displayed optional lines will not affect the performance that much.
The old implementation uses one CPU core to calculate the visibility.
The new implementation uses the shader processors from the GPU.
(my graphics card has 2560 shader processors, and a graphics card from 2006 has ~25-30 shader processors. Still more cores than your CPU... well, OpenGL 3.3 capable hardware exists since ~2009...).

[Philippe Hurbain]

(my graphics card has 2560 shader processors, and a graphics card from 2006 has ~25-30 shader processors. Still more cores than your CPU... well, OpenGL 3.3 capable hardware exists since ~2009...).

OK, 112 shaders here...

[Willy Tschager]

I'v got a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M. Never cared about how many shaders it has. I was told it's for gamers, which I'm not - well not in that sense

w.

[Philippe Hurbain]

It is displayed in Nvidia configuration panel, help -> system information (Cuda core)

[Willy Tschager]

640

[Nils Schmidt]

(my graphics card has 2560 shader processors, and a graphics card from 2006 has ~25-30 shader processors. Still more cores than your CPU... well, OpenGL 3.3 capable hardware exists since ~2009...).

OK, 112 shaders here...

my intention was not to start a discussion about numbers. There will be a just a performance benefit unless the program runs with software emulation.
Less work for the CPU -> more work for the GPU
LDPE is currently CPU bound, which is a pity on modern hardware.

I don't know if I said it before, the program will detect automatically if your PC meets the requirements.
If yes, it will use the new implementation, otherwise it will fallback to the old implementation.

[Nils Schmidt]

I just discovered a bad performance for the "Show All"  feature.

The current implementation of "Show All" () can be very slow in some cases.
I fixed it (#467) and will provide the faster solution with the next release*


* If you are familar with the Big O notation: running time should be O(N), but it was sometimes near O(N²).

[Nils Schmidt]

These are the last tasks on my TODO list:

• "!LPE PNG" (background image meta command)
  
• Special materials from LDConfig.ldr (glitter, metallic surfaces)
  
• "!TEXMAP" (Language Extension for Texture Mapping)
  
• Test session for all new features.
  

I'll hope that I am able to finish this before the beginning of 2017.

[Philippe Hurbain]

Wishes of the day...

- As a user, I'd like to be able to constrain "Merge to Nearest Face" to operate in a fixed direction (x/y/z). Said another way: I'd like to be able to project things on nearest surface in x/y/z direction.
Current "Merge to Nearest Face" is nice and useful, but often distort the mesh in an unwanted way.

- As a user, I'd like to be able to tell whether or not "Merge to Nearest Edge" splits the edge on merged vertices (yes, this creates a T-junction, but sometimes that's just what I want).

[Philippe Hurbain]

Not a major issue, but... If I change the definition of color 16 in LDConfig.ldr (see discussion here), the color in toolbar is changed, but part remains rendered in gray. Of course I can live with this

[Philippe Hurbain]

The quick fix of "invalid use of 'BFC INVERTNEXT' / Flat subfile" only removes the BFC INVERTNEXT statement. It should also invert direction of the flat subfile in flat direction to keep BFC winding the same.

[Philippe Hurbain]

Wishes of the day...
- As a user, I'd like to be able to choose between world axis X/Y/Z and manipulator axis X/Y/Z for transformation tools (set selection XYZ, translate / rotate / scale selection)
- As a user, I'd like to see more digits (at least 4 decimal places) for protractor and distance meter.
- As a user I'd like to be able to copy protractor and distance meter value in the clipboard. Note that I would be happy if displayed value remained limited to 2dp as it is today if copy of value was not precision-limited.

[Nils Schmidt]

Currently, I am still busy with the OpenGL/LWJGL migration.
I will take care of your wishes later...! (#483, #484, #485)

[Philippe Hurbain]

Currently, I am still busy with the OpenGL/LWJGL migration.
I will take care of your wishes later...! (#483, #484, #485)

Sure! But if I don't write when I see the need I forget fortunately it's going to be migration time - at least for birds

[Philippe Hurbain]

I think that deltax/y/z of diatance meter is somewhat buggy. The following code

Code:

0 !LPE DISTANCE 24 4 39.9985 -46 4 -4 -76
1 16 0 -4 -76 0 0 4 2.2532 43.9985 0 -3.3048 30 0 4-4cyli.dat

shows a distance of 53.2529 (correct), dx=43.9985 (for me this is dy, dx should be 0), dy=-28.3195 (should be 43.9985) and dz=9.8999 (should be 30)

(edit): I now realize that it depends on manipulator orientation. But if I set the manipulator to the origin of the cylinder, then the two selected vertices of distance meter are aligned with manipulator Y axis so I should have dx=dz=0, dy=cylinder length=53.2529? But I read dx=-30, dy=-36.3524, dz=-24.7866 ?!?

[Nils Schmidt]

The new render engine will support smooth shading.

[Nils Schmidt]

I finished the implementation of the new OpenGL 3.3 render engine.

My implementation of the "Language Extension for Texture Mapping" is ready.
Milestone 0.8.26 is now feature complete.
I will do some final testing and I am going to release 0.8.26 in a few days.



All in all I had to do 5,071 additions and 926 deletions to the code base, which is far beyond my expectations.

[Philippe Hurbain]

Yeah!

[Magnus Forsberg]

Hi Nils,

Is it possible to set the Manipulator so that one of its axis is colinear with a line through two vertices?
eg.
I have two triangles ABC and BCD. I select two vertices B and C, and then use the Split function to create a new vertex E.
Then, I want to set the Manipulator to vertex E and adjust is so that I could move that vertex closer to vertex B, or C.
This would make it much easier to adjust a pattern printed on a 3D object. I know how to move a vertex on a flat surface. Just select it and adjust the Manipulator to nearest face normal. But when I want to move a vertex along a defined line, it becomes difficult.


Is it possible to not have LDPE create a new quad when I use Split on two triangles? I keep having to split new quads and flip triangles more often than I want to. It's a good help, but sometimes I want to turn of that help.


Is it possible to not have the Special Cond.Line Mode also turn on the BFC green/red colours?
I sometimes want to see were the condlines are when adjusting a pattern.


And when I snap a vertex to a temporary guideline, the (unvisible) condline gets divided into two new condlines.
I don't want to add more condlines to a patterned part.

[Philippe Hurbain]

Is it possible to set the Manipulator so that one of its axis is colinear with a line through two vertices?

+10!

Is it possible to not have the Special Cond.Line Mode also turn on the BFC green/red colours?

+1

Is it possible to not have LDPE create a new quad when I use Split on two triangles? I keep having to split new quads and flip triangles more often than I want to. It's a good help, but sometimes I want to turn of that help.

I think I have something to learn/experiment here...

And when I snap a vertex to a temporary guideline, the (unvisible) condline gets divided into two new condlines.

Actually I'd like to be able to disable any split when snapping to edge. This feature is often useful, but not always. (edit): request already here.

[Nils Schmidt]

Hi,

due to some technical issues my internet access is very limited now.
I hope that the situation will get back to normal in the end of november.
I will use my smartphone or the internet connection from my friends to keep you up to date.

Leg godt

Nils

[Willy Tschager]

Buf of the day:

LDPE reports this:

4 15 7.488 -0.25 -1.137 9.89 -0.25 -5.029 8.131 -0.25 -4.333 7.706 -0.25 -2.223

correctly as collinear vertices and does also a quickfix which is fine. Selecting the quad in the text or 3D editor and trying to split the quad into triangles however does not work. No splitting is performed at all.

w.

[Philippe Hurbain]

Annoyance of the day:
Looks like Protractor has his own will: sometimes angle appears on first selected vertex, sometimes second, sometimes third... Maybe the best way would be to display all 3 angles?

[Willy Tschager]

Annoyance of the day:
Looks like Protractor has his own will: sometimes angle appears on first selected vertex, sometimes second, sometimes third... Maybe the best way would be to display all 3 angles?

Try changing the order of the triples.

w.

[Philippe Hurbain]

Annoyance of the day:
Looks like Protractor has his own will: sometimes angle appears on first selected vertex, sometimes second, sometimes third... Maybe the best way would be to display all 3 angles?

Try changing the order of the triples.

w.

Sorry, don't understand what you mean? You mean, change the order in text window? Yes... remains annoying.

[Nils Schmidt]

Hi,

I am going to release version 0.8.26 on sunday, 2016-11-20 :)

Cheers,

Nils

[Philippe Hurbain]

Hi Nils,
If you get around the LDPC template projection problem... I get another idea to help the creation of templates from a flat surface and a matching formed one (see http://forums.ldraw.org/thread-21905-pos...l#pid23825): a topological surface sorter. The user would indicate the first A and second B elements (adjacent), then an algorithm reaching all elements depending on their connection would be applied to sort all elements of the surface (Could be a sort on "topological distance" as shown in the attached image). Once this is done it's a simple task to create a template from flat and formed surfaces, at least a basic one. A more sophisticated one would also reassemble all coplanar elements in the formed file (and matching ones in flat file) to minimize pattern boundaries.

[Nils Schmidt]

I will take a look. For the next three evenings I am going to test the next version and then I release version 0.8.26 on Sunday (I visit my parents and use their internet connection)... :)

[Willy Tschager]

(I visit my parents)...

You've got parents? Seriously? I always thought that you were programmed by a code god in the valley 

w.

[Philippe Hurbain]

Wishes of the day...
- As a user, I'd like to see more digits (at least 4 decimal places) for protractor and distance meter.
- As a user I'd like to be able to copy protractor and distance meter value in the clipboard. Note that I would be happy if displayed value remained limited to 2dp as it is today if copy of value was not precision-limited.

I just discovered that selection window targeted on a protactor shows values with more digits AND allows to copy value! But it seems this doesn't work for distance meter (it show empty "protractor" values instead!)

[Willy Tschager]

LDPE rarely crashes. Today it did. Log attached.

w.


  error_log.txt (Size: 76.13 KB / Downloads: 4)

  hs_err_pid8184.log.txt (Size: 34.91 KB / Downloads: 2)

[Nils Schmidt]

LDPE rarely crashes. Today it did. Log attached.

I don't know why the Intel display driver crashed. LDPE has several protection mechanisms to prevent a crash or a deadlock.
However..., with the release of 0.8.26 you will benefit from a brand new render path.
It will behave different but I can't say that it will be better or worse regarding the probability of a display driver crash...

[Nils Schmidt]

(I visit my parents)...

You've got parents? Seriously? I always thought that you were programmed by a code god in the valley 

w.

Well, that's not the whole truth... but at least I am a big fan of Ghost in the Shell

[Magnus Forsberg]

Hello Nils,

Rectifier in LDPE add the same edge line into two adjacent rect primitives. 6 edges and 2 quads

Code:

2 4 4.46 -22 -28 -52.41 26.7 -28
2 4 4.46 -22 -33 -52.41 26.7 -33
2 4 -52.41 26.7 -33 -76.02 -.82 -33
2 4 -52.41 26.7 -28 -76.02 -.82 -28
2 4 -52.41 26.7 -33 -52.41 26.7 -28
4 13 -52.41 26.7 -28 -76.02 -.82 -28 -76.02 -.82 -33 -52.41 26.7 -33
4 13 4.46 -22 -33 4.46 -22 -28 -52.41 26.7 -28 -52.41 26.7 -33
2 24 4.46 -22 -28 4.46 -22 -33

makes this code in LDPE

Code:

1 13 -64.215 12.94 -30.5 0 0 11.805 0 1 13.76 -2.5 0 0 rect3.dat
1 13 -23.975 2.35 -30.5 0 0 -28.435 0 1 24.35 2.5 0 0 rect.dat

One of the edge lines is included in both rect primitives.


but Rectifier in LETGUI makes this code

Code:

1 13 -64.215 12.94 -30.5 0 -1 11.805 0 0 13.76 -2.5 0 0 rect3.dat
1 13 -23.975 2.35 -30.5 0 0 28.435 0 1 -24.35 -2.5 0 0 rect3.dat

[Philippe Hurbain]

Wish of the day...
As a user I'd like to have a "set translation to manipulator position" button.
Purpose: to move some point of selection (where I previously positionned manipulator) to origin. This means that ideally the translation vector should receive opposite values of manipulator position...

[Philippe Hurbain]

Minor bug: unrectifier function inserts an extraneous empty lines where rects were previously
Minor wish: I'd like to be able to be able to limit unrectifier to only inline rect primitives (and not split triangles)

[Nils Schmidt]

I now realize that it depends on manipulator orientation. But if I set the manipulator to the origin of the cylinder, then the two selected vertices of distance meter are aligned with manipulator Y axis so I should have dx=dz=0, dy=cylinder length=53.2529? But I read dx=-30, dy=-36.3524, dz=-24.7866 ?!?

Yes, you can switch the basis of the distance between "local" ( ) and "global" ( ) mode .
"Local" mode: dx, dy, dz depends on manipulator orientation (default).
"Global" mode: dx, dy, dz depends on the world space.

But, there was indeed a bug which calculated the wrong deltas based on the manipulator orientation!
I fixed it today!

[Nils Schmidt]

Wishes of the day...
- As a user, I'd like to be able to choose between world axis X/Y/Z and manipulator axis X/Y/Z for transformation tools (set selection XYZ, translate / rotate / scale selection)

This feature is now implemented (issue #483 and issue #494).

[Philippe Hurbain]

Eager to see 0.8.28 ;D

[Nils Schmidt]

I just discovered that selection window targeted on a protactor shows values with more digits AND allows to copy value! But it seems this doesn't work for distance meter (it show empty "protractor" values instead!)

Now it is possible to set the length of a distance meter with the selection window (#502).

[Nils Schmidt]

Wishes of the day...

- As a user, I'd like to be able to constrain "Merge to Nearest Face" to operate in a fixed direction (x/y/z). Said another way: I'd like to be able to project things on nearest surface in x/y/z direction.
Current "Merge to Nearest Face" is nice and useful, but often distort the mesh in an unwanted way.

My question is: what should I choose first? The direction or the closest distance?
I would normally search the closest point and then determine the projection on the surface, based on the given direction.
Otherwise, I would cast a ray in the direction and calculate which surface point is closest to the ray (like SlicerPro2, more complicated and maybe less intuitive).

I prefer the first approach, because it adds more functionality instead of duplicating features from SlicerPro2.
Any thoughts?

I am going to release version 0.8.28 when issue #479 is closed.

[Philippe Hurbain]

I would normally search the closest point and then determine the projection on the surface, based on the given direction.

I guess you mean "search the closest surface and then..." Problem is that the closest surface may not have an intersection in the given direction. So in my mind it was direction first, raytracing style. My main purpose is to project vertices (or possibly lines) on a surface. Granted it has some relationship with slicerpro, but AFAIK neither vertices nor lines can be projected with slicerpro?

[Nils Schmidt]

I would normally search the closest point and then determine the projection on the surface, based on the given direction.

I guess you mean "search the closest surface and then..." Problem is that the closest surface may not have an intersection in the given direction. So in my mind it was direction first, raytracing style. My main purpose is to project vertices (or possibly lines) on a surface. Granted it has some relationship with slicerpro, but AFAIK neither vertices nor lines can be projected with slicerpro?

Yes, my mistake... As far as I understand you want a simple projection in a given direction onto a surface (and no slicing)?

[Philippe Hurbain]

Yes, my mistake... As far as I understand you want a simple projection in a given direction onto a surface (and no slicing)?

Exactly!

[Magnus Forsberg]

Yes, my mistake... As far as I understand you want a simple projection in a given direction onto a surface (and no slicing)?

Exactly!

Yes, I want that too.

[Nils Schmidt]

Exactly!

Yes, I want that too.

Working on it.

I will provide you with a very exact implementation and I expect to finish the work this week.