Indeed LSynth did it! Bellow I will describe the process in MLCad for those who will get here while looking for similar info. (Keep in mind that the holly-wood tutorial – http://www.holly-wood.it/lsynth/tutorial-en.html – covers mostly hoses rather than belts and bands.)
But I still have some more questions.
I think that what I don’t like mostly about this approach is that I have to have the extra parts for LSynth to process. So if I will modify the original part I have to remember about modifying the second (hidden) one. And then also rerunning LSynth.
I considered using those dedicated parts as actual model parts so there are no copies. But it requires showing them again after running LSynth. And also it means that most likely at least one of the parts will be a lot “out of order” in model build sequence.
Also how is this better from Rubber Belt Generator in MLCad? Sure it seems somewhat simpler by avoiding manual calculations (although those “manual calculations” could be done be a more user friendly user interface!). But you get lots of parts rather then a single one. (Obviously I limit here myself to belts/bands over two parts – over that Rubber Belt Generator is no longer an option...)
- From menu Extras / LSynth select item Add Command...
- A dialog shows, select there “23 – RUBBER BENT” or “24 – RUBBER BELT”.
- This will add three COMMENT items to the model: “SYNTH BEGIN RUBBER_BAND 16”, “SYNTH SHOW”, “SYNTH END”.
- Between “SYNTH SHOW” and “SYNTH END” add parts on which the rubber bent/belt is to be mounted. Bushes, wheels and so one. There are a few supported parts. It is important that you have to add those parts twice. Once in the model normally, as you build. And for the second part between the LSynth commands. Those second ones will be hidden in the process so in the end you will see just one of them.
- At this point you will still see nothing since you just entered commands for LSynth to process – but it didn’t process the yet.
- Now from menu Extras / LSynth select item Run LSynth. This will process the commands and add actual parts so you will now see the rubber bent/belt. This will also hide (but not remove!) the parts that were added between LSynth commands.
But I still have some more questions.
I think that what I don’t like mostly about this approach is that I have to have the extra parts for LSynth to process. So if I will modify the original part I have to remember about modifying the second (hidden) one. And then also rerunning LSynth.
I considered using those dedicated parts as actual model parts so there are no copies. But it requires showing them again after running LSynth. And also it means that most likely at least one of the parts will be a lot “out of order” in model build sequence.
Also how is this better from Rubber Belt Generator in MLCad? Sure it seems somewhat simpler by avoiding manual calculations (although those “manual calculations” could be done be a more user friendly user interface!). But you get lots of parts rather then a single one. (Obviously I limit here myself to belts/bands over two parts – over that Rubber Belt Generator is no longer an option...)