I've just changed my mind: in a post further below on this page I suggested to
deprecate light.dat because it is POVRay-specific. It is not. It is a generic helper
which by WHATEVER renderer can be used to place light sources.
For example LDView can do that.
So after sleeping this one night over, I changed my mind:
Yes, this is probably the right time to introduce a "Helper" category, but I also think
we should at the same time introduce a "Helper" subfolder in the library
where these parts go, and MOVE-TO light.dat to there.
This overlaps with the discussion of the stud detail files
and the primitives of different resolutions.
In the long run, I would like to see in this helper category files like Willy created (maybe, simply, his? Willy?)
http://www.holly-wood.it/ldraw/helper-en.html
You need these frequently, and not everybody wants to create them again and again.
If you like the ones in the library - use them,
if you better like your own, custom ones, use your own.
I ALSO think that the LSYNTH constraint files belong into that category:
We should not regard them as LSYNTH specific. They are placeholders for ANY generator which
synthesizes flexible parts. They are simply the files which put the CONSTRAINTS for that generator
into a model. This is fully analogous to LIGHT.DAT which simply says where ANY renderer COULD put a lightsource.
deprecate light.dat because it is POVRay-specific. It is not. It is a generic helper
which by WHATEVER renderer can be used to place light sources.
For example LDView can do that.
So after sleeping this one night over, I changed my mind:
Yes, this is probably the right time to introduce a "Helper" category, but I also think
we should at the same time introduce a "Helper" subfolder in the library
where these parts go, and MOVE-TO light.dat to there.
This overlaps with the discussion of the stud detail files
and the primitives of different resolutions.
In the long run, I would like to see in this helper category files like Willy created (maybe, simply, his? Willy?)
http://www.holly-wood.it/ldraw/helper-en.html
You need these frequently, and not everybody wants to create them again and again.
If you like the ones in the library - use them,
if you better like your own, custom ones, use your own.
I ALSO think that the LSYNTH constraint files belong into that category:
We should not regard them as LSYNTH specific. They are placeholders for ANY generator which
synthesizes flexible parts. They are simply the files which put the CONSTRAINTS for that generator
into a model. This is fully analogous to LIGHT.DAT which simply says where ANY renderer COULD put a lightsource.