Yes guys, you are right. It took me several time to figure all out a couple of years ago, so let me share what I found:
LDview is a stand alone software which runs on its own configuration and parameters.
Within LDview you can set a bunch of preferences which can be saved in profiles to be defined in LDview, which unfortunately cannot be exported nor imported.
There is also no external config file (like an .ini file) but everything is stored directly in the Windows registry.
This implies that if you want to make a backup of your settings or pass them to somebody else you need to play with Regedit(careful!), look for the proper parameters and save them into a .reg file. This way you can load them into a different PC to restore the same settings.
That being said LPub is using the active preference set used by LDview. So if while using LPub you open LDview and change something, changes will be reflected in LPub the next time you refresh your page.
I personally would prefer LPub using its own LDview settings, but I doubt LDview currently allows this.
When it comes it render engine there are 2 options: LDGlite, and LDview. In my testing I found LDGlite to be much quicker but with lower image quality. LDview on the contrary can generate superb image quality but at the cost of speed. So my strategy is to use LDGlite during my work in LPub and switch to LDview just before printing/exporting.
If you are using LPub to generate the final instructions it is suggested to use 300dpi setting, which the standard commercial printing quality. If - like me - you are using an external software to combine your instructions, I personally got best results by exporting images at 600dpi and then scaling them back down to 300dpi within your graphics software. With this last solution I am able to generate excellent steps images in terms of quality.
Make sure to play around with the LDview settings (it is fun!) since you have tons of possible settings, including perspective, lighting, transparency, quality, colors, wireframe, gap between adjacent bricks, etc. This will allow you to generate your very own style instructions ;-)
Back then I unfortunately found no documentation on this, so it would be convenient to share all this on the LDraw website somewhere, instead of in my post. In addition all what I found was based on experiments, so I might be still be missing a few pieces of the puzzle :-)
Good luck with your activities!
- Mattia
PS: I'm on Windows, so I can't tell how LDView works in other operating systems.
LDview is a stand alone software which runs on its own configuration and parameters.
Within LDview you can set a bunch of preferences which can be saved in profiles to be defined in LDview, which unfortunately cannot be exported nor imported.
There is also no external config file (like an .ini file) but everything is stored directly in the Windows registry.
This implies that if you want to make a backup of your settings or pass them to somebody else you need to play with Regedit(careful!), look for the proper parameters and save them into a .reg file. This way you can load them into a different PC to restore the same settings.
That being said LPub is using the active preference set used by LDview. So if while using LPub you open LDview and change something, changes will be reflected in LPub the next time you refresh your page.
I personally would prefer LPub using its own LDview settings, but I doubt LDview currently allows this.
When it comes it render engine there are 2 options: LDGlite, and LDview. In my testing I found LDGlite to be much quicker but with lower image quality. LDview on the contrary can generate superb image quality but at the cost of speed. So my strategy is to use LDGlite during my work in LPub and switch to LDview just before printing/exporting.
If you are using LPub to generate the final instructions it is suggested to use 300dpi setting, which the standard commercial printing quality. If - like me - you are using an external software to combine your instructions, I personally got best results by exporting images at 600dpi and then scaling them back down to 300dpi within your graphics software. With this last solution I am able to generate excellent steps images in terms of quality.
Make sure to play around with the LDview settings (it is fun!) since you have tons of possible settings, including perspective, lighting, transparency, quality, colors, wireframe, gap between adjacent bricks, etc. This will allow you to generate your very own style instructions ;-)
Back then I unfortunately found no documentation on this, so it would be convenient to share all this on the LDraw website somewhere, instead of in my post. In addition all what I found was based on experiments, so I might be still be missing a few pieces of the puzzle :-)
Good luck with your activities!
- Mattia
PS: I'm on Windows, so I can't tell how LDView works in other operating systems.