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+--- Thread: LDCad 1.6 suggestions/plans (/thread-18426.html)
Re: LDCad 1.6 suggestions/plans - Michael Horvath - 2016-01-21
It would be neat if LDCad had WASD controls for the camera, and the ability to lock the Y axis so that no matter where you are looking, your movement is always level.
Re: LDCad 1.6 suggestions/plans - Merlijn Wissink - 2016-01-21
LDCad's own GUI system indeed looks not very slick. To be honest, when I was still using SR3D Builder a long time ago, I was a little hestitant to try LDCad, because it looked so strange on the screenshots.
My point is, I have no problems at all with the GUI and it works wonderful, but I can imagine it might 'scare' users off.
In my opinion, something that would be really cool would be something like Microsoft's Ribbon Interface like in their Office applications, also a bit like Autodesk implements in their 3D software.
But, changing the gui is (again, in my opinion of course) far not as important as new features (or bug fixes). Because, well, it works perfectly fine as it is now.
Re: LDCad 1.6 suggestions/plans - Merlijn Wissink - 2016-01-21
Ok, I've made 3 extra shadow library parts. It was actually quite easy with the built-in shadow editor. You can download them here in case anyone would like to use them.
Note: all 3 shadow parts are for (currently) unofficial parts, so you should add a second shadow library in LDcad for the unofficial parts
Re: LDCad 1.6 suggestions/plans - Roland Melkert - 2016-01-21
Merlijn Wissink Wrote:LDCad's own GUI system indeed looks not very slick. To be honest, when I was still using SR3D Builder a long time ago, I was a little hestitant to try LDCad, because it looked so strange on the screenshots.I know this seems to be a problem for some people, but to be honest I don't really understand it as the gui isn't that much different layout wise.
I bet if Apple came out with that old school 90s look everybody would declare it groundbreaking
But to be serious the current state of the gui is mostly the result of me not being an artist and a bit lazy as it is very time consuming to draw gui stuff using OpenGL. If anyone has some ideas on how to improve things without the need to fully rewrite the rendering of those panels etc (e.g. by color/icon tweaks etc) I'm open for any suggestions.
Merlijn Wissink Wrote:My point is, I have no problems at all with the GUI and it works wonderful, but I can imagine it might 'scare' users off.I do want to add a better toolbar at some point but it indeed isn't high prio at the moment.
In my opinion, something that would be really cool would be something like Microsoft's Ribbon Interface like in their Office applications, also a bit like Autodesk implements in their 3D software.
But, changing the gui is (again, in my opinion of course) far not as important as new features (or bug fixes). Because, well, it works perfectly fine as it is now.
Re: LDCad 1.6 suggestions/plans - Roland Melkert - 2016-01-21
I have been working on the 1.6 hotkey configuration stuff during my vacation it is now possible to reassign any 'action' in the program. I could add some actions to control the camera (key less by default) which you can then assign keys to yourself using the below new dialog.
Re: LDCad 1.6 suggestions/plans - Merlijn Wissink - 2016-01-21
I've made a few more shadow edits, now also with 2 official parts. Link if anyone is interested.
Really nice work Roland, everything just works
Re: LDCad 1.6 suggestions/plans - Roland Melkert - 2016-01-21
Merlijn Wissink Wrote:I've made a few more shadow edits, now also with 2 official parts. Link if anyone is interested.Thanks Merlijn.
Really nice work Roland, everything just works
32474p01 uses the s\32474s01.dat, primitve so I've added the info over there like so:
Code:
0 !LDCAD SNAP_CLEAR
0 !LDCAD SNAP_CYL [gender=F] [caps=one] [secs=R 6 4 A 6 15.25] [slide=true] [pos=0 9.25 0]Re: LDCad 1.6 suggestions/plans - Michael Horvath - 2016-01-22
Another cool feature would be to add support for the following POV-Ray objects:
1) light source location
2) spotlight point_at parameter
3) camera location
4) camera look_at parameter
These should be objects that can be moved around just like a regular Lego part. The tricky bit is pairing them with each other, so a light source and its point_at object are considered a duo.
Re: LDCad 1.6 macro scripting - Roland Melkert - 2016-01-27
Hello all,
I've been thinking about the macro scripting feature to be added in 1.6.
This made me wonder about what people might want to do with those macro's as that determines the api extensions needed.
I've been thinking about adding:
- Simple dialogs (input str/number, message, confirm)
- Camera control (e.g. use a macro to set a specific camera view)
- Selection control (e.g. use a macro to align bricks or apply some auto placement math).
Is anyone has some additional ideas of things to do with macros and what would be needed in order to get it working from the lua environment.
Example of a (almost mandatory) hello world maco:
Code:
--[[
LDCad macro scripting example
This script demonstrates how to add a simple macro to the GUI.
--]]
function register()
--Register a new macro named 'Hello'
-- This new macro will show up in this script's dedicated submenu within the 'Scripts' menu.
local macro=ldc.macro('Hello')
--Set the optional hint for this macro item.
macro:setHint('Very simple macro example.')
--Link the macro to the lua function to be called when the user clicks it in a menu.
macro:setEvent('run', 'onRunHello')
end
function onRunHello()
--This function will be called when the user clicks the 'Hello' macro in a menu.
-- So lets perform its groundbreaking task.
ldc.dialog.runMessage('Hello, welcome to '..ldc.getVersion()..' running lua '..ldc.getLuaVersion())
end
--Call the main register function.
-- It is best to register things in a dedicated function in order to minimize global variables.
register()Re: LDCad 1.6 suggestions/plans - Jason McReynolds - 2016-01-28
Not sure anyone else would find these useful, but I figured I'd put them out there and see.
All of these are "nice to haves".Customizable tabs for parts bin window
I love that we can now have multiple part bin windows but sometimes I don't always remember which parts are selected for the tabs I have. Would it be possible to allow customization of the numbers on the parts bin window tabs? I was thinking something like being able to enter two characters so that you could have something like "T1", "T2" for Technic parts, "PT" for plain tiles, "NP" for normal plates...whatever the user wants to enter to help remember what that tab is on. Granted, some might change up whats in the tabs a lot and this might not help. I find myself usually setting up certain tabs for certain parts to make it easier to find them and I would definitely use this feature.
Ability to create groups for favorite parts
I like the ability to favorite parts and that comes in really handy. I think the next "evolution"
of favorites could be to allow the creation of favorite groups. For example, say I like to build mechs and Technic race cars. I'd favorite a lot of parts for both of those and they would all get bunched together in my favorites so I don't have to jump around looking for everything I need. Granted, even with having favorite parts for both (or even more) lumped together and going through my favorites it's usually faster than trying to find the pieces by browsing or searching. Being able to separate them into different groups could make it even simpler and faster for different types of builds. Maybe even make those lists "portable" (i.e. saved to a file or exportable/importable) so that they can be shared if people want to do that. You could even go so far as to select all the parts for a particular build and then create a favorites group based off of those parts. Some might ask what's the point of creating a favorite's list for all the parts of a build when you could just open up the model. However, sometimes I have models with parts I don't use very often and I don't remember the name/number of the part and it takes a while to find it (if I haven't favorited it). If I could save all the parts for that model to a group I could easily go to that group and find the part rather than having to search for something I don't remember the name for (maybe I just need more practice searching ;-)). Anyway, I think having groups like that available could be pretty useful. I'd be interested to hear what others think of this idea.Ability to export parts list
I think this might have been mentioned before, and I realize that there are different formats in use, but I figured I'd throw it out there. I also realize that there are other programs that can create lists from LDraw files, but having it all in one place is just faster and easier. So, Roland, if you're bored one weekend... ;-)
Thanks!