[LDPartEditor] 0.8.39 Beta Released (Shear Matrices / Edge Selection)

[Nils Schmidt]

Hi,

I wanted to release this version in 2018, but I completed it earlier... why should I wait?


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

Changelog:
(6 new features and 7 bug fixes)

With this release you will be able to...

• ...use a SlantingMatrixProjector tool to generate shear matrices.
  
• ...save all your user settings in a file, and restore it when you want to (screenshot).
  
• ...restore your 3D view settings when you completed a PartReview.
  
• ...use ALT + UP/DOWN to move a line up and down in the text editor.
  
• ...see a progress bar when downloading files from the PT for PartReview.
  
• ...set the coplanarity threshold (Tools... -> Options...).
  

The following critical issues were fixed:

1. Colour palette: The window was sometimes not wide enough.
   
2. Sometimes long edges were hard to select until both vertices were visible.
   
3. The logger did not detect errors while loading the workbench.
   
4. An edge, or condline was selectable through a surface, even if it was hidden behind that surface.
   
5. Ytruder generated triangles when it should generate quads.
   
6. "Save As..." created a wrong part type (Flexible_Section).
   
7. Divide by zero during Catmull-Clark subdivision
   

What will the next release 0.8.40 deliver? More features for subfile manipulation / bug-fixes.

---

The program was tested intensively with "real world" files.
However, it is still a beta version and something can go wrong in about 140.000 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/mac, you have to excecute the shell script "run.sh" to start LDPE.
   

Please note that this software is in the beta stage. Although, this version 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/mac, 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], 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
  

Recommended Requirements:

• 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.
  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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]

Thanks Nils, almost a Xmas present

[Philippe Hurbain]

OK, I don't get the slanting tool...
How do I transform the base shape into the red one? All attempts I made do some slanting, but also result in squash/scale of the shape...

[Magnus Forsberg]

OK, I don't get the slanting tool...
How do I transform the base shape into the red one? All attempts I made do some slanting, but also result in squash/scale of the shape...

I'm equally confused....
How did you get the tool to do anything?

[Philippe Hurbain]

OK, I don't get the slanting tool...
How do I transform the base shape into the red one? All attempts I made do some slanting, but also result in squash/scale of the shape...

I'm equally confused....
How did you get the tool to do anything?

As is described when you open the tool: select a red/blue lines with one common vertex, deselect them then select the thing(s) you want to transform, and call the slanting tool again.

[Nils Schmidt]

OK, I don't get the slanting tool...
How do I transform the base shape into the red one? All attempts I made do some slanting, but also result in squash/scale of the shape...

Assuming that you want to get this:

Code:

1 4 0 0 0 10 -10 0 0 -20 0 0 0 10 4-4cylc.dat
1 4 -10 -20 0 5 -10 0 0 -20 0 0 0 5 4-4con1.dat
1 4 -20 -40 0 5 0.5 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 4-4disc.dat
1 4 -20 -40 0 5 0.5 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 4-4edge.dat

Hit ESC to make sure that your previous slanting matrix is deleted.

Select this set of lines:

Code:

2 4 0 0 0 1 0 0
2 2 0 0 0 .5 1 0

Then select your base shape:

Code:

1 16 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 -20 0 0 0 10 4-4cylc.dat
1 16 0 -20 0 5 0 0 0 -20 0 0 0 5 4-4con1.dat
1 16 0 -40 0 5 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 4-4disc.dat
1 16 0 -40 0 5 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 4-4edge.dat

Finally, open SlantingMatrixProjector and apply the following configuration (screenshot):

• Uncheck "Set origin to the center of the first axis pair."
  
• Uncheck "Reset subfile orientation"
  

Click OK.


Side note for single rect-primitves:
If I want to project rect-primitives I draw just two lines X (red) and Z (blue) and select the rect.dat primitive.
Then I keep "Set origin to the center of the first axis pair." and "Reset subfile orientation" checked.
As a result the rect-primitive will fit to the two lines.

[Magnus Forsberg]

So the red/green/blue lines act like some sort of magnifier?

If I use this:

Code:

2 4 10 0 0 11 0 0
2 2 10 0 0 10 -2 .1
2 1 10 0 0 10 0 1

on only the cylinder in this:

Code:

1 16 10 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 rect.dat
1 16 10 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4-4cyli.dat
1 16 10 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4-4edge.dat

I end up with this:

Code:

1 16 10 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 rect.dat
1 16 20 0 0 1 0 0 0 -2 0 0 .1 1 4-4cyli.dat
1 16 10 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4-4edge.dat

That's not what I want.

Is it correct that the common point of the three lines has to be 0 0 0?

[Nils Schmidt]

[...]

That's not what I want.

Is it correct that the common point of the three lines has to be 0 0 0?

Currently, the common point C is added to your selection and translates it by C.X, C.Y, C.Z.
You can either move the lines or the cylinder to the origin.

I could implement a feature which disables the translation. Would this be helpful?

[Philippe Hurbain]

Is it correct that the common point of the three lines has to be 0 0 0?

Same thing here... I thought that the center of transformation would be the manipulator?

[Philippe Hurbain]

...I don't want to be negative, as the 3 lines method is probably much more powerful if/when I master it. But setup seems pretty heavy since it requires to enter 3 lines (thus 12 coefficients) when most of the slanting operations I'd like to perform involve changing just ONE 0 coefficient in an identity matrix...

[Nils Schmidt]

...I don't want to be negative, as the 3 lines method is probably much more powerful if/when I master it. But setup seems pretty heavy since it requires to enter 3 lines (thus 12 coefficients) when most of the slanting operations I'd like to perform involve changing just ONE 0 coefficient in an identity matrix...

I do not consider your thoughts as "negative". This tool was developed as a first draft to have at least something to work with. I am open for any new requirements or change requests regarding the SlantingMatrixProjector

[Philippe Hurbain]

For some reason, LDPE stopped working this morning... I made a few things that worked properly, then suddenly I can't do anything useful (I can select things, but actions do nothing, and I can't create new elements...). Tried restarting LDPE and even rebooted my computer to no avail. Investigating...

[Philippe Hurbain]

For some reason, LDPE stopped working this morning... I made a few things that worked properly, then suddenly I can't do anything useful (I can select things, but actions do nothing, and I can't create new elements...). Tried restarting LDPE and even rebooted my computer to no avail. Investigating...

Problem solved, but remains mysterious... I first saved my configuration, then killed config.gz in LDPE folder. restarted LDPE, entered my folders, etc, it worked. Restored my configuration... still works!

[Nils Schmidt]

For some reason, LDPE stopped working this morning... I made a few things that worked properly, then suddenly I can't do anything useful (I can select things, but actions do nothing, and I can't create new elements...). Tried restarting LDPE and even rebooted my computer to no avail. Investigating...

Problem solved, but remains mysterious... I first saved my configuration, then killed config.gz in LDPE folder. restarted LDPE, entered my folders, etc, it worked. Restored my configuration... still works!

Hi Philo,

happy new year!
To solve this I need to look into the error_log.txt file from the application directory.
Would it possible that you attach it to a forum post?
Magnus reported similar issues to me for a previous version of LDPE.

Best,
Nils

[Philippe Hurbain]

Happy New Year too!

Attached the  error log file but I see nothing significant in the log today... If you need it, I also have my old configuration file.

[Philippe Hurbain]

Ytruder generated triangles when it should generate quads.

Seems the problem is not completely fixed, or came back in more recent versions (using 0.8.41).
The ytrusion of attached line still creates triangles (Y direction, symmetry across plane).

A very little issue as it can be easily fixed with rectifier!

[Nils Schmidt]

Ytruder generated triangles when it should generate quads.

Seems the problem is not completely fixed, or came back in more recent versions (using 0.8.41).
The ytrusion of attached line still creates triangles (Y direction, symmetry across plane).

A very little issue as it can be easily fixed with rectifier!

Thanks! I created an issue (#678).
In the next week I will publish version 0.8.42. It will not include a fix for this, but contains other fixes and for the first time you'll be able to open *.dat files with LDPE from the Windows Explorer (Open with... -> Select LDPartEditor.exe).

[Philippe Hurbain]

...I don't want to be negative, as the 3 lines method is probably much more powerful if/when I master it. But setup seems pretty heavy since it requires to enter 3 lines (thus 12 coefficients) when most of the slanting operations I'd like to perform involve changing just ONE 0 coefficient in an identity matrix...

I do not consider your thoughts as "negative". This tool was developed as a first draft to have at least something to work with. I am open for any new requirements or change requests regarding the SlantingMatrixProjector

Just for the record... I tried again to do something the SlantingMatrixProjector, and failed again miserably. Impossible to wrap my head around the interface. My dream: be able to apply a transformation matrix to the current selection, either in global or local coordinates. The interface would present the user the 3x3 transformation matrix, initially set to identity matrix, with the possibility to edit and change all 9 coefficients.

...going to boot dreaded MLCad to do the job...