I do not yet consider myself proficient at reviewing stickers or patterns. LDraw could use people with that skill. More than one person. So, why not write about my journey and inspire others to follow?
Here I am wanting to learn how to review a sticker. Stickers are patterns on a thin part and I don't want to learn the stickerback standard by heart here in the beginning.
So. I go to the Parts Tracker.
https://library.ldraw.org/tracker
Select the Parts List from the menu bar on top
https://library.ldraw.org/parts/list
And create a query/filter with the following parameters:
Library Status - Unofficial Parts
Part Status - Needs 1 more vote
Add Rule:
Description Ends with "pattern"
This will produce a list of patterned parts having already one vote. These should be relatively easy to review.
I sort the results by Date Updated - Descending to obtain the most recently updated/created parts. I then scroll the list to find a flat pattern - I don't want to begin with a 3D-surface. A flat pattern is best for beginners.
I find 3070bp1s.dat - a 1x1 tile with a medium lavender dog face on top. I open the part page for it.
https://library.ldraw.org/parts/49928
I begin my review process with looking at the parts/file header:
I see the description line (first line) and it contains double spaces before the numbers. The description also ends with "Pattern" as it should. So far so good.
The Author is RainbowDolphin, who I know to be a good pattern author. This was one of the unmentioned criteria for choosing this pattern to review. Nevertheless, all looks good down to keywords. I make a mental note to check the keywords later. Every pattern also need a Set XXXX keyword. I see one set mentioned.
At this point, I do not wish to expand the Show Contents. I go to look at the unofficial subparts section. I now see that the pattern is symmetric and it is composed of a half. That half is a subpart that I also need to review.
Most importantly, I see that the unpatterned tile will not need to be reviewed. It is already under official subparts.
Finally, I check the Part Events to see that there aren't any comments.
I then download the part from the Download Zip File button near the top of the page. I unzip its content in a folder I have named "Review" so that I know which part(s) I'm reviewing now.
The unzipping creates a p folder and a parts folder.
I start LDPE and open the 3070bp1s.dat file from the parts folder.
Once open, I switch to No Backface Culling view mode and select the Top view. Now I see the part from above.
Hmm. Now I need something to compare to. I don't have the part so I will need to look for an image. The easiest way is to use the View on BrickLink, View on Rebrickable, and View on BrickOwl buttons available on the parts page. All three links work, but the picture on Rebrickable has the printing slightly on one side, so I choose not to use it. It is, however, the only picture (of the three) directly from above. The three pictures also show that the printing of different colors is not always the same. Compare for example the nose vs the lavender area. They are misaligned in virtually all three pictures.
The pink area appears round in some of the pictures, but the author has likely chosen not to use primitives for it. This is quite common in patterns. It is far more important to follow the base part shape than having the pattern follow a regular geometric shape. Also, it would take too long to fit primitives.
Next I look at the 3070bp1s.dat file contents and it has the expected structure; the base part first, then the two pattern halves, and finally the joining surfaces.
I see that the vertexes have been rounded to one decimal - good.
The dark purple is confirmed by BrickLink. The Bright Light Blue color is mentioned in LDraw description, but nowhere else. Okay, just leave it. It looks correct.
The Medium Lavender is confirmed by Rebrickable and BrickLink.
The base color of the part is white. This means all 'white'/background parts of the pattern will be color 16. Luckily, there aren't any white parts of the pattern.
Next I check for potential overlap of the surfaces in this main file. This I do by highlighting each code line in the text window by selecting one or two lines and push the Show Selection in 3D View button. The surfaces are highlighted with red edge lines. Sometimes, it is easier to recolor, comment out, or delete the surfaces I have gone through. I can also use the Random Colors View Mode, but that requires moving the viewport eye to observe flickering of colors. For patterns, I use the recolor/delete method for convenience or out of habit since I use something very similar for prim usage. If I recolor or delete, I need to reload the file to reset any changes made.
I then go through each vertex to make sure that the vertexes match. I know they match when I select a vertex and the coordinate popup window shows up. If I had selected multiple vertexes, the coordinate window would not show up. Knowing that the author has rounded to one decimal means that vertex mismatches would be visible. It also reduces the possibility of vertex mismatches.
I also need to check that the whole pattern is at y=0. This is rather convenient to do by looking at the coordinates in the popup window. There are multiple ways of doing it and the best way depends a lot on what else needs to be checked.
Finally, I run Edger2 (with default settings) to check if it would add any cond lines. It doesn't and everything is fine.
I switch to Green Frontfaces/Red Backfaces view mode to check BFC. It appears fine and I don't see any gaps when rotating the viewport eye.
Next I open the subfile and repeat the process. All ends up perfect.
What a great review experience!
But I'm not done yet. I check the subfile naming. s01 as it should. Good.
The Set keyword is convenient to check in BrickLink and yes, it is correct.
The final thing to do is to go back to the part page and submit my Certify Vote.
Done.
Now, you try one.
PS. It doesn't really matter if you can't vote yet. Just do the review and leave a comment on the parts tracker.
Here I am wanting to learn how to review a sticker. Stickers are patterns on a thin part and I don't want to learn the stickerback standard by heart here in the beginning.
So. I go to the Parts Tracker.
https://library.ldraw.org/tracker
Select the Parts List from the menu bar on top
https://library.ldraw.org/parts/list
And create a query/filter with the following parameters:
Library Status - Unofficial Parts
Part Status - Needs 1 more vote
Add Rule:
Description Ends with "pattern"
This will produce a list of patterned parts having already one vote. These should be relatively easy to review.
I sort the results by Date Updated - Descending to obtain the most recently updated/created parts. I then scroll the list to find a flat pattern - I don't want to begin with a 3D-surface. A flat pattern is best for beginners.
I find 3070bp1s.dat - a 1x1 tile with a medium lavender dog face on top. I open the part page for it.
https://library.ldraw.org/parts/49928
I begin my review process with looking at the parts/file header:
I see the description line (first line) and it contains double spaces before the numbers. The description also ends with "Pattern" as it should. So far so good.
The Author is RainbowDolphin, who I know to be a good pattern author. This was one of the unmentioned criteria for choosing this pattern to review. Nevertheless, all looks good down to keywords. I make a mental note to check the keywords later. Every pattern also need a Set XXXX keyword. I see one set mentioned.
At this point, I do not wish to expand the Show Contents. I go to look at the unofficial subparts section. I now see that the pattern is symmetric and it is composed of a half. That half is a subpart that I also need to review.
Most importantly, I see that the unpatterned tile will not need to be reviewed. It is already under official subparts.
Finally, I check the Part Events to see that there aren't any comments.
I then download the part from the Download Zip File button near the top of the page. I unzip its content in a folder I have named "Review" so that I know which part(s) I'm reviewing now.
The unzipping creates a p folder and a parts folder.
I start LDPE and open the 3070bp1s.dat file from the parts folder.
Once open, I switch to No Backface Culling view mode and select the Top view. Now I see the part from above.
Hmm. Now I need something to compare to. I don't have the part so I will need to look for an image. The easiest way is to use the View on BrickLink, View on Rebrickable, and View on BrickOwl buttons available on the parts page. All three links work, but the picture on Rebrickable has the printing slightly on one side, so I choose not to use it. It is, however, the only picture (of the three) directly from above. The three pictures also show that the printing of different colors is not always the same. Compare for example the nose vs the lavender area. They are misaligned in virtually all three pictures.
The pink area appears round in some of the pictures, but the author has likely chosen not to use primitives for it. This is quite common in patterns. It is far more important to follow the base part shape than having the pattern follow a regular geometric shape. Also, it would take too long to fit primitives.
Next I look at the 3070bp1s.dat file contents and it has the expected structure; the base part first, then the two pattern halves, and finally the joining surfaces.
I see that the vertexes have been rounded to one decimal - good.
The dark purple is confirmed by BrickLink. The Bright Light Blue color is mentioned in LDraw description, but nowhere else. Okay, just leave it. It looks correct.
The Medium Lavender is confirmed by Rebrickable and BrickLink.
The base color of the part is white. This means all 'white'/background parts of the pattern will be color 16. Luckily, there aren't any white parts of the pattern.
Next I check for potential overlap of the surfaces in this main file. This I do by highlighting each code line in the text window by selecting one or two lines and push the Show Selection in 3D View button. The surfaces are highlighted with red edge lines. Sometimes, it is easier to recolor, comment out, or delete the surfaces I have gone through. I can also use the Random Colors View Mode, but that requires moving the viewport eye to observe flickering of colors. For patterns, I use the recolor/delete method for convenience or out of habit since I use something very similar for prim usage. If I recolor or delete, I need to reload the file to reset any changes made.
I then go through each vertex to make sure that the vertexes match. I know they match when I select a vertex and the coordinate popup window shows up. If I had selected multiple vertexes, the coordinate window would not show up. Knowing that the author has rounded to one decimal means that vertex mismatches would be visible. It also reduces the possibility of vertex mismatches.
I also need to check that the whole pattern is at y=0. This is rather convenient to do by looking at the coordinates in the popup window. There are multiple ways of doing it and the best way depends a lot on what else needs to be checked.
Finally, I run Edger2 (with default settings) to check if it would add any cond lines. It doesn't and everything is fine.
I switch to Green Frontfaces/Red Backfaces view mode to check BFC. It appears fine and I don't see any gaps when rotating the viewport eye.
Next I open the subfile and repeat the process. All ends up perfect.
What a great review experience!
But I'm not done yet. I check the subfile naming. s01 as it should. Good.
The Set keyword is convenient to check in BrickLink and yes, it is correct.
The final thing to do is to go back to the part page and submit my Certify Vote.
Done.
Now, you try one.
PS. It doesn't really matter if you can't vote yet. Just do the review and leave a comment on the parts tracker.