[LDPE] 1.8.85 Released (primitive substitution / 3D grid intersections /better icons)

[Nils Schmidt]

Hey,

this release adds primitive substitution to LDPE. It is very similar to LDView's primitive substitution.
I even used some code from LDView and mentioned Travis Cobbs and Peter Bartfai in the credits :)
It also delivers better icons for the dark mode and enhances the 3D grid visualisation.



As always, you can download LDPE from this page:

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

Changelog:

(4 new features and 2 bug fixes)

With this release you will be able to...

• ...use primitive substitution (blue circle button at the upper left corner, ctrl-click to modify substitution quality).
  
• ...benefit from a 3D grid that shows 3D model intersections and has a lager size.
  
• ...benefit from inverted icons for a better contrast with dark buttons.
  
• ...create a coplanar quad within the "Coplanarity Heatmap" mode.
  

The following critical issues are fixed:

1. PartReview had loading problems under MacOS (the 3D view was gone).
   
2. (Linux/Mac) case-sensitivity when following a reference from the text editor with a mouse click when the target file was already opened caused problems.
   

The program was tested intensively with "real world" files.
However, something can go wrong in about 140.000 lines of code.

Installation on Windows:

1. Download and extract LDPartEditor_win32_x64.zip
   
2. Run LDPartEditor-1.8.85.msi
   
3. Start LDPartEditor from the start menu
   

Installation on Linux:

1. Download and extract LDPartEditor_linux_x64.zip
   
2. Install ldparteditor_1.8.85-1_amd64.deb
   
3. Start LDPartEditor from the menu or via launcher
   

Installation on Mac OS X:

1. Download and extract LDPartEditor_mac_x64.zip
   
2. Mount LDPartEditor-1.8.85.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
   

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:

• 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: 150 MB
  

Recommended Requirements:

• Operating System (64bit): Windows 7,8,10,11, 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: 500 MB
  
• For a faster start, LDPartEditor and the LDraw™ library should be installed on an SSD.
  

[Magnus Forsberg]

As always, you can download LDPE from this page:

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

The link goes to the older 1.8.84 version.

[Nils Schmidt]

The link goes to the older 1.8.84 version.

Thanks. The page should be up to date now.

[Gerald Lasser]

Question/Wish/Opinion:

When using the primsubst mode, can the substituted vertices use a different color? In my view that might be helpful

one more wish concerning the feature of 1.8.85
...visually identify which surfaces or lines belong to the model being edited or to a primitive/subpart (with the green "S" button in the upper left corner of the 3D editor).

-> As I user I would like to distinguish between subfiles and primitives (by colour)

[Magnus Forsberg]

I can't find it written in the prim ref, but all tori should have 4 decimals, in both sections of their description. Right?
There are a number of mixed-mode prims in the library that don't follow that rule. Both official and unofficial.
IMO they should have 4, in both sections.

This error might be genereted by PrimGen2 in LDPE.

[Nils Schmidt]

I can't find it written in the prim ref, but all tori should have 4 decimals, in both sections of their description. Right?
There are a number of mixed-mode prims in the library that don't follow that rule. Both official and unofficial.
IMO they should have 4, in both sections.

This error might be genereted by PrimGen2 in LDPE.

LDPE removes trailing zeros from the last section, but limits the number to 4 decimals (e.g. within a generated 48\t06q5000.dat you will find 1 x 0.5000 x 0.1667).
But I see that 48\rm04o2000.dat has also 4 decimals in the last section, 1 x 2.0000 x 0.2500.

I can fix this. Should I extend it to show always 4 decimals in the last section? 1 x 2.0000 x 0.25 -> 1 x 2.0000 x 0.2500

[Magnus Forsberg]

Should I extend it to show always 4 decimals in the last section? 1 x 2.0000 x 0.25 -> 1 x 2.0000 x 0.2500

I would say: yes, please. Maybe.
This seems to be only used on the mixed-mode primitives in the library. Normal and Hi-res Torus primitive don't use 4 decimals.
Is a mixed practice possible, or should we perhaps just ignore this difference?

   

Please also note another issue. There is a mixed use of "inner/inside" and "outer/outside".
IMO, "inside/outside" should be used.

"inner/outer" comes from the online mixed mode generator.