[LDPartEditor] 0.8.32 Beta Released (Manipulator / Usability / bugfix)

[Nils Schmidt]

Hey,

in the last weeks I had much fun at work and some time on the weekend for LDPE :)


As always, you can download LDPE from this page:
http://nilsschmidt1337.github.io/ldparteditor/

Changelog:
(10 new features and 6 bug fixes)

With this release you will be able to...

• ...see the distance traveled/angle rotated in the status bar while using the move or rotate tool.
  
• ...access the manipulator features from a sub menu in the 3D editor context menu.
  
• ...see a tooltip for view rotation in the primitive area.
  
• ...move the Manipulator with left/right or up/down arrows on keyboard.
  
• ...remove all "0 // Inlined:" notices with a "quick fix".
  
• ...download/update the "ldconfig.ldr" file from LDraw.org.
  
• ...download/update the "categories.txt" file from LDraw.org.
  
• ...benefit from much faster undo/redo.
  
• ...benefit fom a faster program start.
  
• ...benefit from the fact that when using the translate/scale/set etc actions, it displays the global axis, if global mode is active.
  

The following critical issues were fixed:

1. Sometimes, deselected elements were re-selected when selecting a subpart.
   
2. "Save As..." did not trigger a check for warnings / hints / errors
   
3. "LDConfig.ldr" / "ldconfig.ldr" issues on case sensitive file systems.
   
4. LDPE false reported that the single !HELP meta command was "split apart".
   
5. Sometimes, the UI freezed permanently under Linux.
   
6. Implementation: Little resource leak with org.eclipse.swt.graphics.Cursor instances.
   

What will the next release 0.8.33 deliver? Bug fixes, more header validation features, usability improvements...

---

The program was tested intensively with "real world" files.
However, it is still a beta version and something can go wrong in about 100.000 lines of code.

Make sure that you choose the right architecture for your OS and Java Virtual Machine (JVM) (64bit or 32bit).
A short guide how to check if a 64bit JVM is installed on your system is located at the bottom of this message.

1. Download the zip-Archive
   
2. Extract the archive content to the location of your choice
   
3. On windows, double-click "run.bat" to start LDPE.
   
4. On linux, you have to excecute the shell script "run.sh" to start LDPE.
   

Please note that this software is in the beta stage. Although, this version was tested, there are already known issues  for this release. There is a potential risk of data loss.

You can search for updates if you do the following steps:

1. On windows, double-click "update.bat" to search for updates.
   
2. On linux, you have to excecute the shell script "update.sh".
   

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:

• 64-bit Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.8
  
• OpenGL 2.1 compatible Graphics Card
  
• Operating System (64-bit): Windows [7 or newer], Linux [e.g. Ubuntu Linux >=14.4]
  
• CPU: Multicore-Processor e.g. Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon II (>2.0Ghz)
  
• RAM: 4GB
  
• Video-Memory: 1 GB
  
• Free Disk Space: 100 MB
  

Recommended Requirements:

• Operating System (64bit): Windows 7,8,10, Linux [e.g. Ubuntu Linux >=14.4]
  
• OpenGL 3.3 compatible Graphics Card
  
• CPU: Multicore-Processor with 4 cores (or more)
  
• RAM: >4 GB
  
• Video-Memory: >1 GB
  
• Free Disk Space: 512 MB
  
• For a faster start, LDPartEditor and the LDraw™ library should be installed on an SSD.
  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How to check your JVM version (32- or 64-bit):
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can try on the command line:

Code:

java -d64 version

If it's not a 64-bit version, you'll get a message that looks like:
This Java instance does not support a 64-bit JVM. Please install the desired version.