https://forums.ldraw.org/ Sun, 12 Apr 2026 16:59:17 +0000 MyBB https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-28998.html Sun, 10 Aug 2025 11:39:19 +0000 Sylvain Sauvage]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-28998.html
It seems LGEO is basically abandonned but some people are still using it (notably through Studio), so I’m posting here in case someone else has the problem and looks on these forums.  

So the problem is that, as reported in a thread on the Studio forum, the LGEO version of 30076 is rotated 90° (Z).  I checked that Studio is using the same defs as the latest LGEO lib I have and I tested with a standalone POV-Ray install and I get the same results so I can confidently say it’s not this problem.

I made a quick correction (attached; I only added two ‘rotate’ statements) and I’m sending it to the Studo devs.

  lg_30076.inc (Size: 13.48 KB / Downloads: 1) ]]>
It seems LGEO is basically abandonned but some people are still using it (notably through Studio), so I’m posting here in case someone else has the problem and looks on these forums.  

So the problem is that, as reported in a thread on the Studio forum, the LGEO version of 30076 is rotated 90° (Z).  I checked that Studio is using the same defs as the latest LGEO lib I have and I tested with a standalone POV-Ray install and I get the same results so I can confidently say it’s not this problem.

I made a quick correction (attached; I only added two ‘rotate’ statements) and I’m sending it to the Studo devs.

  lg_30076.inc (Size: 13.48 KB / Downloads: 1) ]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-28652.html Sat, 01 Feb 2025 22:20:22 +0000 Hughes]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-28652.html
I would like to ask for some advice, please.

I wish to render some of my LDraw models in a night setting. In other words, they will be in darkness (or near darkness), but I would like light to appear to come from inside the model. Think lights coming from the window of a house and illuminating the street.

My usual method is to model in LDCAD and use its export feature to generate a .pov file, which I then render using POVRay. I have been learning how to edit the .pov file to alter the lighting, change the floor etc. I tried to place a lightsource inside the scene, but this is clearly the wrong way to do it. Can anyone offer advice on how to achieve what I am trying to do?

Apologies if this topic has already been covered elsewhere.

Many thanks,

Max]]>
I would like to ask for some advice, please.

I wish to render some of my LDraw models in a night setting. In other words, they will be in darkness (or near darkness), but I would like light to appear to come from inside the model. Think lights coming from the window of a house and illuminating the street.

My usual method is to model in LDCAD and use its export feature to generate a .pov file, which I then render using POVRay. I have been learning how to edit the .pov file to alter the lighting, change the floor etc. I tried to place a lightsource inside the scene, but this is clearly the wrong way to do it. Can anyone offer advice on how to achieve what I am trying to do?

Apologies if this topic has already been covered elsewhere.

Many thanks,

Max]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-28237.html Thu, 02 May 2024 14:52:37 +0000 Sylvain Sauvage]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-28237.html
Now that Studio’s Eyesight has been open sourced, I managed to build and run it natively on Linux 🥳 and to make Studio use it seamlessly 🥳🥳 and with the GPU too 🥳🥳🥳🥳

If someone wants to give it a try, I wrote a howto.]]>
Now that Studio’s Eyesight has been open sourced, I managed to build and run it natively on Linux 🥳 and to make Studio use it seamlessly 🥳🥳 and with the GPU too 🥳🥳🥳🥳

If someone wants to give it a try, I wrote a howto.]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-27589.html Sun, 23 Jul 2023 03:02:09 +0000 Walt White]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-27589.html
The other example animations all still work as usual; only Camera Test fails.  When using the OpenGL animation export, it just exports hundreds of identical images.

I downloaded the latest version of LDCad and reinstalled it to no avail.  It fails on my MOCs and on the examples like 5550.mpd.

Walt]]>
The other example animations all still work as usual; only Camera Test fails.  When using the OpenGL animation export, it just exports hundreds of identical images.

I downloaded the latest version of LDCad and reinstalled it to no avail.  It fails on my MOCs and on the examples like 5550.mpd.

Walt]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-27509.html Tue, 20 Jun 2023 08:36:45 +0000 Sieradzki]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-27509.html
Darak.

  75214.jpg (Size: 138.45 KB / Downloads: 1) ]]>
Darak.

  75214.jpg (Size: 138.45 KB / Downloads: 1) ]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-27278.html Mon, 10 Apr 2023 18:40:13 +0000 Max Murtazin]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-27278.html
I have tried multiple ways, but nothing seems to work. Generally, it seems I should not interpolating normals between faces that share sharp edge, but then arises problem of faces that share only 1 vertex. How this case should be approached?]]>
I have tried multiple ways, but nothing seems to work. Generally, it seems I should not interpolating normals between faces that share sharp edge, but then arises problem of faces that share only 1 vertex. How this case should be approached?]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-27253.html Tue, 04 Apr 2023 16:13:18 +0000 Jonathan N]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-27253.html


  datsville_ldr_wgpu.jpg (Size: 661.12 KB / Downloads: 7)


The framerates can easily be several times faster than existing renderers in applications like LeoCAD, Blender, LDView, etc. My desktop with an RTX 3060 only gets 1 fps (1000+ms) per frame when viewing Datsville with standard resolution primitives and no logos on studs. I get about 6-7 fps when Fully zoomed out in ldr_wgpu. Framerates shoot up to 60-120 fps when viewing a more modest area of the scene.


While the newer graphics APIs have less CPU overhead, the biggest performance improvements come from only rendering what's actually visible each frame. This is why the framerate is highly variable as the camera moves around. ldr_wgpu performs culling at the object level. Frustum culling culls any objects that are outside the camera's viewable area. Occlusion culling culls any objects that are completely obscured by other objects. While conceptually simple, occlusion culling is hard to implement efficiently. See the README on the github repository linked below and the source code for more details. The culling is calculated each frame in real time and only requires precalculating bounding boxes and bounding spheres. When zoomed out, frustum culling no longer helps. Occlusion culling can often reduce the amount of rendered geometry by 2x-3x.


There have been a number of posts about level of detail for studs and primitives. This improves performance but greatly reduces the visual quality. Thankfully, this isn't the only way to reduce the amount of vertex processing that needs to be done by the GPU. Indexed drawing can be faster than non indexed drawing but only if duplicate vertices are merged. Modern GPUs can cache vertices with the same index. This cut the vertex processing time in half when profiling on my M1 Macbook Air.


The other main topic of discussion I've seen is BFC as a performance enhancement. Whether this helps or not is highly dependent on the situation. Backface culling happens after the vertices are processed by the vertex shader. If you have a very simple pixel/fragment shader as is common in many CAD programs, there won't be much of a performance difference. I haven't been able to measure any performance difference in my testing since I'm currently just using flat shading. The processing time each frame was easily dominated by the vertex shader. I'll reassess the impact if I implement more complicated lighting and shading in the future.


The code is designed to serve as a reference for people wanting to optimize their own renderers. I've done my best to comment any techniques and link to papers and articles where appropriate. I don't have any prebuilt executables at the moment, but you can download the code from github and compile it yourself. This requires having the Rust language toolchain installed. I plan on making this into a library that people can use for their own Rust projects eventually. There are still a number of features and improvements to address like normals and more realistic shading. The github repository will be updated periodically with new techniques and insights.

https://github.com/ScanMountGoat/ldr_wgpu


  aston_ldr_wgpu.jpg (Size: 110.59 KB / Downloads: 3) ]]>


  datsville_ldr_wgpu.jpg (Size: 661.12 KB / Downloads: 7)


The framerates can easily be several times faster than existing renderers in applications like LeoCAD, Blender, LDView, etc. My desktop with an RTX 3060 only gets 1 fps (1000+ms) per frame when viewing Datsville with standard resolution primitives and no logos on studs. I get about 6-7 fps when Fully zoomed out in ldr_wgpu. Framerates shoot up to 60-120 fps when viewing a more modest area of the scene.


While the newer graphics APIs have less CPU overhead, the biggest performance improvements come from only rendering what's actually visible each frame. This is why the framerate is highly variable as the camera moves around. ldr_wgpu performs culling at the object level. Frustum culling culls any objects that are outside the camera's viewable area. Occlusion culling culls any objects that are completely obscured by other objects. While conceptually simple, occlusion culling is hard to implement efficiently. See the README on the github repository linked below and the source code for more details. The culling is calculated each frame in real time and only requires precalculating bounding boxes and bounding spheres. When zoomed out, frustum culling no longer helps. Occlusion culling can often reduce the amount of rendered geometry by 2x-3x.


There have been a number of posts about level of detail for studs and primitives. This improves performance but greatly reduces the visual quality. Thankfully, this isn't the only way to reduce the amount of vertex processing that needs to be done by the GPU. Indexed drawing can be faster than non indexed drawing but only if duplicate vertices are merged. Modern GPUs can cache vertices with the same index. This cut the vertex processing time in half when profiling on my M1 Macbook Air.


The other main topic of discussion I've seen is BFC as a performance enhancement. Whether this helps or not is highly dependent on the situation. Backface culling happens after the vertices are processed by the vertex shader. If you have a very simple pixel/fragment shader as is common in many CAD programs, there won't be much of a performance difference. I haven't been able to measure any performance difference in my testing since I'm currently just using flat shading. The processing time each frame was easily dominated by the vertex shader. I'll reassess the impact if I implement more complicated lighting and shading in the future.


The code is designed to serve as a reference for people wanting to optimize their own renderers. I've done my best to comment any techniques and link to papers and articles where appropriate. I don't have any prebuilt executables at the moment, but you can download the code from github and compile it yourself. This requires having the Rust language toolchain installed. I plan on making this into a library that people can use for their own Rust projects eventually. There are still a number of features and improvements to address like normals and more realistic shading. The github repository will be updated periodically with new techniques and insights.

https://github.com/ScanMountGoat/ldr_wgpu


  aston_ldr_wgpu.jpg (Size: 110.59 KB / Downloads: 3) ]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-26910.html Sat, 17 Dec 2022 21:14:08 +0000 Jerzy Orłowski]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-26910.html I know more or less how to generate ldraw files programmatically.

How can I programmatically generate visualizations?

I would like to be able to:
- Change camera position
- change textures
- change lighting
-change background
 - add some noise objects

Any idea?]]> I know more or less how to generate ldraw files programmatically.

How can I programmatically generate visualizations?

I would like to be able to:
- Change camera position
- change textures
- change lighting
-change background
 - add some noise objects

Any idea?]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-26623.html Mon, 08 Aug 2022 08:23:10 +0000 Magnus Forsberg]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-26623.html
https://gizmodo.com/robot-machine-lego-s...1849366176

What software have been used to create the animation to the right?
From LPub3D to a "video rendering".]]>
https://gizmodo.com/robot-machine-lego-s...1849366176

What software have been used to create the animation to the right?
From LPub3D to a "video rendering".]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-26024.html Sun, 06 Feb 2022 18:15:39 +0000 kevlamar]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-26024.html
If there is anyone out there that has advice, either combining legos or rendering enormous files into video via other routes I would be very grateful.  This project has been shelved for two years because this problem proven so difficult. I am willing to pay for professional services to make this happen.  If you would like me to upload the files just let me know.

  montgomery lego screen grab 2.jpg (Size: 555.37 KB / Downloads: 4)

  montgomery lego screen grab.jpg (Size: 435.24 KB / Downloads: 2) ]]>
If there is anyone out there that has advice, either combining legos or rendering enormous files into video via other routes I would be very grateful.  This project has been shelved for two years because this problem proven so difficult. I am willing to pay for professional services to make this happen.  If you would like me to upload the files just let me know.

  montgomery lego screen grab 2.jpg (Size: 555.37 KB / Downloads: 4)

  montgomery lego screen grab.jpg (Size: 435.24 KB / Downloads: 2) ]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-25727.html Mon, 13 Dec 2021 04:30:51 +0000 liu]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-25727.html
https://youtu.be/QSMPZDEJ_H4

ldr file I'v upload to google drive  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1...sp=sharing

Could somebody help me?]]>
https://youtu.be/QSMPZDEJ_H4

ldr file I'v upload to google drive  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1...sp=sharing

Could somebody help me?]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-25300.html Fri, 24 Sep 2021 02:12:08 +0000 belle]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-25300.html
非常感谢您

  src=http___5b0988e595225.cdn.sohucs.com_q_70,c_zoom,w_640_images_20180519_3bf6c937be7b4259b0a41269132c6f6a.gif&refer=http___5b0988e595225.cdn.sohucs.gif (Size: 244.54 KB / Downloads: 162)

  demo.ldr (Size: 1.03 KB / Downloads: 7) ]]>
非常感谢您

  src=http___5b0988e595225.cdn.sohucs.com_q_70,c_zoom,w_640_images_20180519_3bf6c937be7b4259b0a41269132c6f6a.gif&refer=http___5b0988e595225.cdn.sohucs.gif (Size: 244.54 KB / Downloads: 162)

  demo.ldr (Size: 1.03 KB / Downloads: 7) ]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-25010.html Sat, 28 Aug 2021 12:31:39 +0000 KristyB]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-25010.html
Further - how would I go about translating the matrix to a left-handed +y-up format? I am trying to read ldr files inside of UE4, and the typical method of flopping the y/z coords and negating x/y/z is not working.]]>
Further - how would I go about translating the matrix to a left-handed +y-up format? I am trying to read ldr files inside of UE4, and the typical method of flopping the y/z coords and negating x/y/z is not working.]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-24520.html Sun, 28 Mar 2021 12:13:03 +0000 Bertrand Lequy]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-24520.html
I'm rendering a lot of part these days, and I only noticed recently that normal stud are replaced by LGEO's one but not hollowed stud.

I checkd old (2016) rendering of mine and find some files where it was the case. I tried the same parts today and the stud weren't smooth.

It wasn't on the same computer, so I something's different. Does anybody have an idea ?

I generate my pov file using LDView.]]>
I'm rendering a lot of part these days, and I only noticed recently that normal stud are replaced by LGEO's one but not hollowed stud.

I checkd old (2016) rendering of mine and find some files where it was the case. I tried the same parts today and the stud weren't smooth.

It wasn't on the same computer, so I something's different. Does anybody have an idea ?

I generate my pov file using LDView.]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-24456.html Thu, 25 Feb 2021 21:18:33 +0000 Sylvain Sauvage]]> https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-24456.html
there was this post on the Studio forum about rendering errors in POV-Ray.  I’ve a déjà vu feeling with these errors.

Studio uses LDView’s code to export to POV-Ray and also uses LGEO for the exported 3D models.

I checked for 608p03: Studio’s .inc is the same I have from LGEO (which I believe is up-to-date, it’s been a while I have used it but, if I’m not mistaken, the last updates are “only” Darat’s high-def ones).

So I think it’s an error in LGEO… or it maybe something in the POV-Ray code/options but then I don’t see what it could be.

Does that ring a bell to anyone?]]>
there was this post on the Studio forum about rendering errors in POV-Ray.  I’ve a déjà vu feeling with these errors.

Studio uses LDView’s code to export to POV-Ray and also uses LGEO for the exported 3D models.

I checked for 608p03: Studio’s .inc is the same I have from LGEO (which I believe is up-to-date, it’s been a while I have used it but, if I’m not mistaken, the last updates are “only” Darat’s high-def ones).

So I think it’s an error in LGEO… or it maybe something in the POV-Ray code/options but then I don’t see what it could be.

Does that ring a bell to anyone?]]>