LPUB3D problems

[Knud Ahrnell Albrechtsen]

Hi

I have just installed LPUB3D and i have run into a couple problem with it.
The first is that when I change from standard document size to LEGAL and the orientation of the document is Landscape, the partlist stays in the middle of the page and I can't get it to move automatically to the upper left corner of the document.
How can I fix this, without having to move them all by hand ?

The other problem is when choosing POV-Ray as default editor.
POV-RAY complains about parsing commandline.
Any idea what to do about this - other than choosing another default renderer
I have attached a screendump of the error.
I should be running the latest version of POV-Ray.

/Knud

[Trevor Sandy]

Hi Knud,

Send sceenshots of the the following:

1. Configuration => Preferences - General and Rendering Tabs
2. Configuration => Page Setup - Page Tab
3. Configuration => Parts List Setup - Background/Border Tab

Send copies of the following:

4. Generated POV-Ray (.pov) file
5. Model (.mpd/.ldr) file

Cheers,
Trevor

[Knud Ahrnell Albrechtsen]

Hi Trevor

I have attached the screenshots you need.
I could not find any POV file in the project folder.
And what would you be looking for in my ldr file?

Kind Regards
Knud

[Trevor Sandy]

Thanks for the information Knud,

I requested the information to better reproduce your issue.

For the model (.mpd/.ldr) file, you don't have to send a full model file. For example, you could create a test file as long as it's producing the issue you are reporting. One scenario where the .ldr file could help is if you are referencing a part that may be causing POV-Ray to abnormal end.

In summary, when the LPub3D renderer is set to POV-Ray, it sends a command arguments to L3P which generate .pov files.

Here is an example of LPub3D's L3P command used to generage a step's csi .pov file:

"C:\Program Files\LPub3D\3rdParty\l3p1.4WinB\L3P.EXE" -ca0.01 -cg0.0,0.0,3116890 -ld -lgeo -lgdC:\Users\Trevor\LDraw\lgeo -car0.772727 -o -lddC:\Users\Trevor\LDraw "-q4 -sw2" C:\Users\Trevor\Desktop\LPub\6964-01\LPub\tmp\csi.ldr C:\Users\Trevor\Desktop\LPub\6964-01\LPub\tmp\CSILDR~1.POV

You can find the current model page csi and pli .pov files under <model folder>/LPub/tmp

LPub3D then sends a command argument to POV-Ray with the appropriate parameters including the path to the .pov file.

If you do not have .pov files in the location above, then LPub3D is not generating then in your environment. The .pov file is very important to troubleshooting any POV-Ray abnormal responses.

Here is an example of LPub3D's POV-Ray command used to render a step's csi:

Rendering using command line '+IC:\Users\Trevor\Desktop\LPub\6964-01\LPub\tmp\CSILDR~1.POV
+OC:\Users\Trevor\Desktop\LPub\6964-01\LPub\assem\6964-mainmodel_1_0_0_0_1_0_0_0_1_6_1275_150_DPCM_1.png +W1275 +H1650 +UA
+LC:\Users\Trevor\LDraw\lgeo\lg +LC:\Users\Trevor\LDraw\lgeo\ar +A'.

Cheers,
Trevor

[Trevor Sandy]

Knud, I just looked at the screenshots you sent.

You should avoid to put the LDraw content library (including lgeo) under the Program Files directory. The LDraw content library does not have any application or program files and should not be placed under Program Files which is designated for application files and their dependencies.

In addition, most programs that must write content (like LPub3D must write fade files) and will not be able to do so under the Program Files directory because of UAC.

Also, for the 3D Viewer (LeoCAD) Library Archive location, I would recommend, in addition to a location not under Program Files, using LDraw's complete.zip along with having the ldrawunf.zip file in the same location. This way you will not have issues to generate fade files which uses the ldrawunf.zip archive.

[Knud Ahrnell Albrechtsen]

Hi
Sorry for the long time before my response.
I have been waiting for the download section here at the forum to be available again.
I have now done the following:
I have completely uninstalled the all-in-one installer, ldview, pov-ray, etc.
I have then downloaded and installed the newest all-in-one installer from the forum. I set it to install everything.
Otherwise I used all standard settings in the installer. I have used the preferred setting under the public user for the ldraw lib files.
I have given the local user modify rights for the install folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\LDraw (just in case).
I have then installed and configured ldview x64, POV-Ray 3.7 and LPUB 3D.

I created a folder here: C:\temp\test and gave the local user full access.
I created a test.ldr file containing 2 bricks and saved it to the above folder.
I opened the test.ldr with LPUB3D and changed the page setup to 35.5600 x 21.5900.
Then the following happenes when I change the preferred renderer:
LDView/LGLite: It still does not put the partlist to the edge of the document.
POV-RAY: It comes with the following error:
IO Restrictions prohibit write access to 'C:\temp\Test\LPub\parts\3001_0_2100_150_DPCM_1_23_-45.png'
Failed to start render: Cannot open file.

Regarding the complete.zip and ldrawunf.zip. I have downloaded and put them both here C:\Program Files (x86)\LDraw\
And as i mentioned earlier there is modify access to the folder for the local user.
I cant find anywhere where i can set the path to the above .zip files?

I have attached pictures of the setup in LPUB3D.
Perhaps I should mention that I am only logged on as a normal user, NOT Admin or power user.

Kind Regards
Knud

[Knud Ahrnell Albrechtsen]

Hi again Trevor

I have been looking into my problems with LPub3D, and found a solution to one of them.
The first problem I described in my original post, was that the partlist was not placed in the edge of the document when orienting the page as landscape. I fixed this by going to the first partlist and rightclicking on the page number next to it and selecting "move step number". Then i changed the "relavite to" setting from "page Header" to "page".
That did the trick

Regarding the render problem with using POV-ray, I still have the same problem.
I have been looking a bit more into what you describe above.
I have created a new empty ldr file with only two parts: a 3005 1x1 brick.
I placed the file in C:\temp and the folder has write access for all users.
I the started LPub 3D (newest version) and loaded the file. Then changed the rendere til POV-Ray.
POV-RAY: It comes with the following error:
IO Restrictions prohibit write access to 'C:\temp\Test\LPub\parts\3001_0_2100_150_DPCM_1_23_-45.png'
Failed to start render: Cannot open file.

I the left the POV-Ray window open and looked for the .pov file you describe under C:\temp\LPub3D\tmp.
There is none. there are 3 ldr files, but no .pov file.
and the C:\temp\Test\LPub\parts\3001_0_2100_150_DPCM_1_23_-45.png does not exist either.

I hope you can help me find out what is wrong

[Trevor Sandy]

Hello Knud,

Do not put any updatable content (i.e. ldraw archive or unofficial archive) under your program files directory. I believe the AIOI puts the these items elsewhere. See the AIOI online documentation.

For you parts list issue: If you are on a single-step page, you should be able to move the parts list to to the location you want. On a multi-step page use the context menu (right-click) to access Move Part List and follow the dialog.

You should read the POV-Ray documentation on adding Library-Path[s] to the povray.ini and check your Script I/O Restrictions under Options (in the application)

Cheers,

[Knud Ahrnell Albrechtsen]

Hi Trevor

I have moved all that you mention to another location.
I still have problems with using POV-Ray as a renderer. If you read my post from 9. February for details.
Besides the problem with using POV-Ray, I have found out that LPub3D for some reason will not show the 15068.dat int the part list.
I have attached the file and a screenshot.
I am using version 1.3.5 Revision 615 build 2 of LPub3D

[Philippe Hurbain]

You must have something wrong in your LDraw library, your "Empty.ldr" file renders fine here with all variants of 15068.dat.

Nonetheless, I noticed something weird: I had a copy of 15068p04.dat in the temporary folder where I put the model file. And though the copy had a regular part header (albeit unofficial) and despite the part beeing also in my LDraw library, it was treated as a submodel instead of a part. Is there a good reason for this behaviour?

[Knud Ahrnell Albrechtsen]

Hi Philippe

The parts also render here. The problem is that it does not show up in the partslist on the page.
And it is not in the BOM either.

[Philippe Hurbain]

Mmhhh... PLI and BOM are OK here, see attached image.

Got a problem while generating this page: if you insert a BOM on a multistep page, trying to move BOM by drag and drop results in an instant crash. Minidump attached.

[Knud Ahrnell Albrechtsen]

I just tried downloading the newest LPub3D to try to make yet another clean installation to see if that will fix my problems and my
antivirus send an allert.
See attached file.
I downloaded from here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/lpub3d/
It seems the file is infected.

[Jetro de Château]

I informed of the same issue in another thread. The file is safe (I installed it and then ran an anti-virus scan just in case) so this is just a false positive.

[Philippe Hurbain]

Out of curiosity, in the other thread you are talking of Avast, but mine (Avast free version) reports nothing on the installer?!

[Jetro de Château]

I'm also using the free version of Avast. It went to far as to delete the extracted file I downloaded through the "update" function in the LPub3D software itself. I had to disable it before I could install.

[Walt White]

Hi,

I have the same problem Knud experienced.  Using POV for rendering in LPub3D 2.0.19 generates the same "Failed to set render options" error message he reported, when asked to render an LDR file containing a single steering pulley piece.  

POV-Ray 3.7 by itself can render its example woodbox.pov fine.  And both Stud.io and LDCad 1.6 Beta 1a can call POV and successfully render that one piece steering pulley LDR file.  Only LPub3D fails.

Looking at the earliest fail point in the LPub3D log file, it reports that it cannot find the steering pulley 3736.dat in the LDR file, and very helpfully reports exactly where it is looking.  But 3736.dat is clearly in the complete.zip file being examined.  See screenshot below.

Trevor suggested to Knud that the Preference for "Ldraw Root Directory" shouldn't be in the Program Files folder, even though the AIOI put it there.  I think the confusion is over the word "Root," and whether it really means "Part Library."  I tried setting the LPub3D preference to the LDraw folder containing the part library, and there was no change to the failure reported in the log file.

Any and all ideas are welcome for solving this problem.  I haven't figured out how to attach thumb size images, they are full size in this edit mode, and it looks like I'll have to post again to get the last two files, <sigh>

Walt

Attached are:
OneSinglePiece.ldr
csi.ldr.pov — POV temp file generated during failed LPub3D session
OneSinglePiece.pov — Successful POV generated by LDCad
NotFound.png — Log report 3736 not found
3736dat.png — 3736.dat does exist in complete.zip
Messages.png — POV-Ray failure messages
LDView.png — LDView render and POV-Ray path
LPub3D-GeneralPref.png — LPub3D General Preferences
POV-script.png — Successful POV settings using LDCad
Stud.io.png — Successful POV settings using Stud.io

[Walt White]

Hi,

I have the same problem Knud experienced.  Using POV for rendering in LPub3D 2.0.19 generates the same "Failed to set render options" error message he reported, when asked to render an LDR file containing a single steering pulley piece.  

POV-Ray 3.7 by itself can render its example woodbox.pov fine.  And both Stud.io and LDCad 1.6 Beta 1a can call POV and successfully render that one piece steering pulley LDR file.  Only LPub3D fails.

Looking at the earliest fail point in the LPub3D log file, it reports that it cannot find the steering pulley 3736.dat in the LDR file, and very helpfully reports exactly where it is looking.  But 3736.dat is clearly in the complete.zip file being examined.  See screenshot below.

Trevor suggested to Knud that the Preference for "Ldraw Root Directory" shouldn't be in the Program Files folder, even though the AIOI put it there.  I think the confusion is over the word "Root," and whether it really means "Part Library."  I tried setting the LPub3D preference to the LDraw folder containing the part library, and there was no change to the failure reported in the log file.

Any and all ideas are welcome for solving this problem.  I haven't figured out how to attach thumb size images, they are full size in this edit mode, and it looks like I'll have to post again to get the last two files, <sigh>

Walt

Attached are:
OneSinglePiece.ldr
csi.ldr.pov — POV temp file generated during failed LPub3D session
OneSinglePiece.pov — Successful POV generated by LDCad
NotFound.png — Log report 3736 not found
3736dat.png — 3736.dat does exist in complete.zip
Messages.png — POV-Ray failure messages
LDView.png — LDView render and POV-Ray path
LPub3D-GeneralPref.png — LPub3D General Preferences
POV-script.png — Successful POV settings using LDCad
Stud.io.png — Successful POV settings using Stud.io

Last two files should be attached

[David Manley]

<snip>

Trevor suggested to Knud that the Preference for "Ldraw Root Directory" shouldn't be in the Program Files folder, even though the AIOI put it there.  I think the confusion is over the word "Root," and whether it really means "Part Library."  I tried setting the LPub3D preference to the LDraw folder containing the part library, and there was no change to the failure reported in the log file.

Any and all ideas are welcome for solving this problem.  I haven't figured out how to attach thumb size images, they are full size in this edit mode, and it looks like I'll have to post again to get the last two files, <sigh>

Walt

</snip>

Last two files should be attached

Hi Walt,

I downloaded your sample file OneSinglePiece.ldr and ran LPub3D to see if;
(a) I would experience the same behaviour and, if so,
(b) whether I could offer some suggestions for resolution.

I can firstly confirm that I did experience similar behaviour, though the behavior I experienced aligns to that of Knud's (i.e. POV-Ray displaying an error message "IO Restrictions prohibit write access ...") rather than your error message (i.e. "Could not find file ...").

Digging into this a little, the "IO Restrictions prohibit write access ..." appears to come about from a security check within POV-Ray. I verified this in two ways;
1) opening POV-Ray as a separate executable, I set the menu item "Options | Script I/O Restrictions" to "No Restrictions" and then exited the application. The next time LPub3D invoked POV-Ray for rendering, it successfully generated the desired images.
2) I opened POV-Ray as a separate executable a second time, set the menu item "Options | Script I/O Restrictions" to "Allow Read, Restrict Write" and edited the Pov-Ray engine ini file pvengine.ini (located in the directory "%USERPROFILE%\Documents\POV-Ray\v3.7\ini") to add an appropriate directory root to the [Permitted Output Paths] section (refer to http://wiki.povray.org/content/Documenta...figuration for more details about this). In my case, I added the directory "D:\users\djm\personal\2017\LEGO" as a permitted path since I had your LDR file within a sub-directory of this path.

Now while the above may not resolve the issue you are experiencing, are you able to post two things;
1) the value you have for "Path" within the "LDraw Root Directory" on the "General" tabbed sheet which is displayed when within LPub3D you select the menu item "Configuration | Preferences". For example, my value is set to D:\Users\Vista\Public\Documents\LDraw. 
2) the value of the environment variable LDRAWDIR. For example, my environment variable value is set to D:\users\Vista\Public\Documents\LDraw
Knowing these values may help in further diagnosis.

Regards,

David

[Walt White]

Last two files should be attached

Hi Walt,

I downloaded your sample file OneSinglePiece.ldr and ran LPub3D to see if;
(a) I would experience the same behaviour and, if so,
(b) whether I could offer some suggestions for resolution.

I can firstly confirm that I did experience similar behaviour, though the behavior I experienced aligns to that of Knud's (i.e. POV-Ray displaying an error message "IO Restrictions prohibit write access ...") rather than your error message (i.e. "Could not find file ...").

Digging into this a little, the "IO Restrictions prohibit write access ..." appears to come about from a security check within POV-Ray. I verified this in two ways;
1) opening POV-Ray as a separate executable, I set the menu item "Options | Script I/O Restrictions" to "No Restrictions" and then exited the application. The next time LPub3D invoked POV-Ray for rendering, it successfully generated the desired images.
2) I opened POV-Ray as a separate executable a second time, set the menu item "Options | Script I/O Restrictions" to "Allow Read, Restrict Write" and edited the Pov-Ray engine ini file pvengine.ini (located in the directory "%USERPROFILE%\Documents\POV-Ray\v3.7\ini") to add an appropriate directory root to the [Permitted Output Paths] section (refer to http://wiki.povray.org/content/Documenta...figuration for more details about this). In my case, I added the directory "D:\users\djm\personal\2017\LEGO" as a permitted path since I had your LDR file within a sub-directory of this path.

Now while the above may not resolve the issue you are experiencing, are you able to post two things;
1) the value you have for "Path" within the "LDraw Root Directory" on the "General" tabbed sheet which is displayed when within LPub3D you select the menu item "Configuration | Preferences". For example, my value is set to D:\Users\Vista\Public\Documents\LDraw. 
2) the value of the environment variable LDRAWDIR. For example, my environment variable value is set to D:\users\Vista\Public\Documents\LDraw
Knowing these values may help in further diagnosis.

Regards,

David

Hi David,

Thanks for investigating this puzzle.

My Path to the LDraw Root Directory was:
C:\Program Files (x86)\LDraw

I tried changing it to:
C:\Users\Public\Documents\LDraw 
so it matches exactly my LDRAWDIR environment variable:
C:\Users\Public\Documents\LDraw
but it still failed.

I already had the "Options | Script I/O Restrictions" set to "No Restrictions" but went ahead and added the folder containing the .LDR file to the [Permitted Output Paths] in pvengine.ini as suggested, but it still fails.

I haven't considered file permissions as a problem because LPub3D successfully generates six files in the "tmp" sub-folder:
csi.ldr
csi.ldr.pov
main.ldr
pli.ldr
pli.ldr.pov

For me, the clue is that both of the .POV files contain sixty eight lines of:
// Empty model
so LPub3D never generates anything in the "parts" sub-folder, which explains why POV-Ray fails with the message that it can't find what it is looking for in that "parts" sub-folder.

And the LPub3D log file clearly states why it can't generate the required file:
@ln 1014 "Item [3736.dat] not in the LPub3D archives. C:/Users/Walt/AppData/Local/LPub3D Software/LPub3D/libraries/lpub3dldrawunf.zip C:/Users/Walt/AppData/Local/LPub3D Software/LPub3D/libraries/complete.zip"

The puzzle for me is why LPub3D can't find that 3736.dat file in complete.zip when my Windows 10 machine clearly shows that .DAT file in that .ZIP file. I've tried running LPub3D as an administrator and it still fails.

Walt

[David Manley]

Thanks for investigating this puzzle.

My Path to the LDraw Root Directory was:
C:\Program Files (x86)\LDraw

I tried changing it to:
C:\Users\Public\Documents\LDraw 
so it matches exactly my LDRAWDIR environment variable:
C:\Users\Public\Documents\LDraw
but it still failed.

I already had the "Options | Script I/O Restrictions" set to "No Restrictions" but went ahead and added the folder containing the .LDR file to the [Permitted Output Paths] in pvengine.ini as suggested, but it still fails.

I haven't considered file permissions as a problem because LPub3D successfully generates six files in the "tmp" sub-folder:
csi.ldr
csi.ldr.pov
main.ldr
pli.ldr
pli.ldr.pov

For me, the clue is that both of the .POV files contain sixty eight lines of:
// Empty model
so LPub3D never generates anything in the "parts" sub-folder, which explains why POV-Ray fails with the message that it can't find what it is looking for in that "parts" sub-folder.

And the LPub3D log file clearly states why it can't generate the required file:
@ln 1014 "Item [3736.dat] not in the LPub3D archives. C:/Users/Walt/AppData/Local/LPub3D Software/LPub3D/libraries/lpub3dldrawunf.zip C:/Users/Walt/AppData/Local/LPub3D Software/LPub3D/libraries/complete.zip"

The puzzle for me is why LPub3D can't find that 3736.dat file in complete.zip when my Windows 10 machine clearly shows that .DAT file in that .ZIP file. I've tried running LPub3D as an administrator and it still fails.

Walt

Walt,

I think that the error you encountered may be due to a space somewhere in your directory path. Refer to https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-22020.html for a possible explanation.

Are you able to try renaming you directory path, replacing any space in the directory name with an underscore? Please post the outcome of attempting this i.e. whether or not it resolved the issue you encountered.

Regards,

David

[Walt White]

Thanks for investigating this puzzle.

My Path to the LDraw Root Directory was:
C:\Program Files (x86)\LDraw

I tried changing it to:
C:\Users\Public\Documents\LDraw 
so it matches exactly my LDRAWDIR environment variable:
C:\Users\Public\Documents\LDraw
but it still failed.

I already had the "Options | Script I/O Restrictions" set to "No Restrictions" but went ahead and added the folder containing the .LDR file to the [Permitted Output Paths] in pvengine.ini as suggested, but it still fails.

I haven't considered file permissions as a problem because LPub3D successfully generates six files in the "tmp" sub-folder:
csi.ldr
csi.ldr.pov
main.ldr
pli.ldr
pli.ldr.pov

For me, the clue is that both of the .POV files contain sixty eight lines of:
// Empty model
so LPub3D never generates anything in the "parts" sub-folder, which explains why POV-Ray fails with the message that it can't find what it is looking for in that "parts" sub-folder.

And the LPub3D log file clearly states why it can't generate the required file:
@ln 1014 "Item [3736.dat] not in the LPub3D archives. C:/Users/Walt/AppData/Local/LPub3D Software/LPub3D/libraries/lpub3dldrawunf.zip C:/Users/Walt/AppData/Local/LPub3D Software/LPub3D/libraries/complete.zip"

The puzzle for me is why LPub3D can't find that 3736.dat file in complete.zip when my Windows 10 machine clearly shows that .DAT file in that .ZIP file. I've tried running LPub3D as an administrator and it still fails.

Walt

Walt,

I think that the error you encountered may be due to a space somewhere in your directory path. Refer to https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-22020.html for a possible explanation.

Are you able to try renaming you directory path, replacing any space in the directory name with an underscore? Please post the outcome of attempting this i.e. whether or not it resolved the issue you encountered.

Regards,

David

David,

Yes, I had a space in a directory name and removing that space solved the problem.

Edit 11 Feb 2017 — working with LDCad — a space in a submodel name also fails when subsequently using POV-Ray from LPub3D. From LDCad, name the submodel "WheelAssembly" and not "Wheel Assembly."

Walt