[LDCad] LDCad Shadow License

[K Johnson]

New to this forum so hello to all of you! 

Mr. Melkert,

First of all, let me say that I admire your work a great deal and I appreciate everything you have done to improve Lego CAD. I am working on a brick game and need to determine connection information on my LDraw models. 

What are the guidelines for using the shadow files for part snapping in my own commercial LDraw application? 

Also, is there an update on including this or some other connection information library as an LDraw standard specification? It seems to me that connection data should have been included as standard a long time ago. 

Furthermore, is there any other open source connection information library that is available for commercial use that you are aware of?

Best,

Ian K Johnson

[Roland Melkert]

What are the guidelines for using the shadow files for part snapping in my own commercial LDraw application?

I made the shadow files "Free for non commercial use" for two reasons:

1: Profiting (on a larger scale) from any LEGO related stuff is a bit of slippery slope. As it could break LEGO's fair play guidelines.
2: I like to think people only use LDraw in non profit ways so they automatically contribute back to it.


I did make a small exception to the LDCad license which allows using the program in creating small scale sellable items (like instruction booklets).. All I ask in return is a single free copy.

But I never thought about it being used for games though (I wonder if it's even efficient to do so), so I'm a bit loss on the subject.

Anyone (SteerCo?) has some ideas or pointers on this ?

[Orion Pobursky]

Anyone (SteerCo?) has some ideas or pointers on this ?

Note this is not an official SteerCo position but just my personal opinion from the perspective of someone who was deeply involved in the license discussions.

From the perspective of the LDraw license, any usage is allowed as long as attribution is given. We have a page explaining this on the LDraw.org website. The reason we went this way instead of, say, the GPL is that (some) commercial companies are GPL shy. Since this was the time of the initial releases of LPub and LDraw was increasingly being used in LEGO related books, we didn't want to stifle this growth. In fact, pretty much every unofficial LEGO book published since uses LDraw in some way. Yah, we don't get compensated but this is a hobby not a money making venture. As long as people are willing to donate to cover server costs, I think I'm good.