Not sure where to post this, but I guess here isn't the worst option at least.
Trying to identify a minifig head or torso can be very difficult. I have been thinking of a system of standardized, unique keywords to narrow down the search in a very easy way.
So far, I've just made a pilot test with the 51 first minifig torsos that comes up in my Parts library, and added three new keywords. The point is to be able to filter for example, not only whether there are buttons or not on a torso pattern, but exactly how many. The three "variables" I've been experimenting with so far is:
btn for button count (btn7 for 7 buttons and so on)
pkt for pocket count
and
zpr for zipper count
What would be the most efficient search criteria, could of course be subject of discussions; these three were just the first that came to my mind. But yet, the combination of these three filters looks very promising. Very often, only one torso remains in the search. (But then again, I have only implemented the system on 51 torsos so far...) We could probably add other search criteria, such as base colour[s], belt [clip count], and... you name it, but on the other hand, we can still use the rest of the part descriptions and already existing keywords in our search. So the key is to find the best keywords that has the highest potential for effective filtering. So far, I've found that 'btn' is by far the most efficient variable, but combined with other criteria, the filtering effectiveness increases exponentially.
So, for example, now when I enter "btn7" in LDList (for 7 buttons), I get only one hit: 973p1f. I'm sure there will be more hits if I ever get through all torsos, but then I may enter police or badge in the search, and it will probably be very few hits.
What do you think? A massive amount of work, yes, but IMO extremely beneficial.
Trying to identify a minifig head or torso can be very difficult. I have been thinking of a system of standardized, unique keywords to narrow down the search in a very easy way.
So far, I've just made a pilot test with the 51 first minifig torsos that comes up in my Parts library, and added three new keywords. The point is to be able to filter for example, not only whether there are buttons or not on a torso pattern, but exactly how many. The three "variables" I've been experimenting with so far is:
btn for button count (btn7 for 7 buttons and so on)
pkt for pocket count
and
zpr for zipper count
What would be the most efficient search criteria, could of course be subject of discussions; these three were just the first that came to my mind. But yet, the combination of these three filters looks very promising. Very often, only one torso remains in the search. (But then again, I have only implemented the system on 51 torsos so far...) We could probably add other search criteria, such as base colour[s], belt [clip count], and... you name it, but on the other hand, we can still use the rest of the part descriptions and already existing keywords in our search. So the key is to find the best keywords that has the highest potential for effective filtering. So far, I've found that 'btn' is by far the most efficient variable, but combined with other criteria, the filtering effectiveness increases exponentially.
So, for example, now when I enter "btn7" in LDList (for 7 buttons), I get only one hit: 973p1f. I'm sure there will be more hits if I ever get through all torsos, but then I may enter police or badge in the search, and it will probably be very few hits.
What do you think? A massive amount of work, yes, but IMO extremely beneficial.