LDCad 1.4 (win+linux)

[Roland Melkert]

After two beta's I think 1.4 is stable enough to justify a definitive version, so here you go.

I've fixed all the issues reported in the beta 2 thread and some direct mails. I've also implemented a few small changes suggested in those same sources.

No big changes (besides the 17 bug fixes ) otherwise, just:

• Missing files dialog (disabled by default)
  
• Edge anti alias (disabled by default as I'm not a big fan of aa myself)
  
• Reorganized the selection menu hoping to make it more intuitive.
  

Like always you can get the newest version from www.melkert.net/LDCad/download

Here's a preview of the edge AA, in means of an OpenGL export without it and one with it enabled

   

   

And somewhat unrelated to 1.4 I also made a short tutorial clip showing how to work with the flexible part templates.

With this version I'm closing the book on 1.4 in order to get started with 1.5. In which I'm hoping to extend the animation and scripting possibilities, and it will also introduce detachable/floating bins (default gui will remain visually identical though)

Have fun

[Orion Pobursky]

I'm really excited about the animation stuf but I really don't feel like rebooting my machine into windows. Any hope for an OSX version? If your compiling for Linux, OSX shouldn't be to hard. If it's a lack of hardware, I'll willingly volunteer to do test compiles.

[Roland Melkert]

well...

Good news: LDCad uses wxWidgets for the os dependent gui layer, which has a OSX version. and I'm fairly sure the other libraries I use (freetype, boost, lua) are also osx compatible.

Bad news: I kinda gave up on an apple version some time ago as they seem to actively hamper people creating free software for mac's etc by forcing registration and making it impossible to (legally) run an osx VM on windows/linux etc.

But your post made me revisit the cross compiling approach, which led me to this gcc tool chain I'm willing to give this tool a try next weekend or so as compiling on a new platform usually is an adventure on it's own .

In the meantime you could go the other way around, by running Linux in a VM on your osx. I don't know if parallels has decent OpenGL performance but besides that LDCad should run just fine on most Linux (e.g. suse, kubuntu, ubuntu etc) live iso's, so no further installation is needed to take a look inside a vm.

[Travis Cobbs]

I just tried the 64 bit Linux version with Ubuntu 14.04 x64 running under the current version of Parallels, and performance seemed fine. I also tried the Windows version running in a Windows 8.1 VM under Parallels, and that performed fine also. (Speaking of that, is there a reason there's no 64-bit Windows version?)

Having said that, if you don't already have a VM set up, then it's an awful lot of work just to run one app. My Windows 8.1 VM is VM-only; I don't have Boot Camp configured on my Mac at all. It is my understanding that if you do have Boot Camp set up, you can configure Parallels to run that Windows without having a separate VM, but only some Windows versions have a license that supports that. (My OEM copy of Windows 8 that I got with the Mac to use in Parallels doesn't have such a license.)

From my past experiences with OpenGL in Linux in VirtualBox, I strongly suspect that the performance there would be lacking. LDView performance sucked rocks in VirtualBox, but isn't bad in Parallels. (Ubuntu desktop performance sucked rocks in VirtualBox, too, the last time I checked.)

[Philippe Hurbain]

(disabled by default as I'm not a big fan of aa myself)

Can you elaborate on this? I find display looks better with it... Performance penalty?

And somewhat unrelated to 1.4 I also made a short tutorial clip showing how to work with the flexible part templates.

Thanks for this, helpful! What's the purpose of DYNHP mode? something more than transparency?

[Merlijn Wissink]

[This shouldn't be a reply to philo's post...]

Nice. As I said before, I really like LDCad. I wish I started using it earlier

In my "quest" to build the Tumbler to really get to know LDCad, I found a few things so far, which can be improved (in my opinion):

• When using a custom grid orientation (if it's called like that, when I press "o"), copy/pasting of parts gets screwed up. I guess, it's because it doesn't copy the new grid orientation.
  
• LDCad uses the tags AUTHOR and NAME, but it would be better if it uses the tags Author: and Name: . Notice the : and the upper/lower case. It may sound useless, but that's the way the official standard says it should be. And, other software is sometimes unable to identify that AUTHOR is the same as Author: (like MPDcenter).
  

I'm sure I'll find a few more things, but that would probably just usability things, because so far, I haven't found any bugs (except if you cound the first point above as a bug...).

[Roland Melkert]

Can you elaborate on this? I find display looks better with it... Performance penalty?

Personally I think it makes things somewhat blurry in certain conditions. It also messes with your transparent background if any. And it seems to increase Z-fighting on lines currently in the selected color.
Performance wise it shouldn't really matter as I'm using the extremely cheap smooth lines AA baked into OpenGL itself.

What's the purpose of DYNHP mode? something more than transparency?

DYNHP stands for "give DYNamic part gui stuff Hotracking Priority" (might need a better name ) it's useful in situations where the bezier control point end up inside the tube skin or something, in the older versions you wouldn't be able to select/adjust them in those cases.

[Roland Melkert]

When using a custom grid orientation (if it's called like that, when I press "o"), copy/pasting of parts gets screwed up. I guess, it's because it doesn't copy the new grid orientation.

It's dependent on the copy past options (prefs/edit) as the info is placed on the clipboard using abs coordinates, but pasted on tup of the grid orientation (thus rotating twice in your case). You can prevent that by ether choosing always (or yes) for the "The selection has rotational information......" for copy action or by setting the "The main part on the clipboard has rotat....." to always (or yes). Also if your copy pasting inside LDCad it self you probably better of just using the ins key as it clones the selection no matter t's orientation.

it would be better if it uses the tags Author: and Name:

For some reason I could have sworn the all caps version where the (old?) standard. But you are right it should use the human friendly format. I'll change this in the next version as I was planning to extend the header dialog meta's anyway.

I'm sure I'll find a few more things, but that would probably just usability things, because so far, I haven't found any bugs

All suggestions are welcome, as I tend to set things up (as defaults) the way I like it myself so I'm sure there are many things I wouldn't even think about without some pointers

[Roland Melkert]

Thanks for testing Travis.

Speaking of that, is there a reason there's no 64-bit Windows version?

Well I can compile a 64 bit version if needed, but at the moment I don't have a nice setup solution for it. I'm also a bit unclear on the License mingw64 uses. It differs from the the 32 bit stuff on it's threading component, I have to look into that some more as I statically link to it and all.

Just gave it a low prio as the 32 bit version has no current problems only solvable with a 64 bit version (for example even datsville only uses ~500MB mem), the 64 bit version does run a bit faster rendering wise though.

[Jason Smith]

1.4 is great so far. I just love being able to hover over the parts bin tabs and see what I've filtered them to, that's so nice now. Thanks for the quick update on that one.

Question: I did something wrong in a sub file. I need to go into nested view in the sub file to select just one part. Normally I only have to go into nested to change a sub file part when in the main file. For some reason though I need to do the same, only in one of my subs though. I don't know what that grouping behavior is called but can I undo it somehow?

Oh and copying over my main.gui file with my changes worked great for this revision bump. I imagine for 1.5 it'll be a different story though huh?

[Roland Melkert]

I did something wrong in a sub file. I need to go into nested view in the sub file to select just one part. Normally I only have to go into nested to change a sub file part when in the main file. For some reason though I need to do the same, only in one of my subs though. I don't know what that grouping behavior is called but can I undo it somehow?

I'm not sure what you mean here.

If you mean to undo a part move/del/etc you need to use ctrl+z in the model you did the action no-matter which subfile it affected (through nesting).

If you mean you grouped something after the change, a undo will not affect the grouping it will undo movement/ins/color/etc of the individual parts only.

If you want to change individual parts in a group you need to degroup the group (1.5 will have a better solution though) first.

Hope it's one of these answers you looking for.

copying over my main.gui file with my changes worked great for this revision bump. I imagine for 1.5 it'll be a different story though huh

The executable holds all the defaults so any field not in the main.gui file will revert to it's default. I don't expect to add/change much for the 1.5 version but I simple file comparing tool should give insight quite easily.

[Jason Smith]

I guess it's the grouping behavior that I'm having an issue with.

In the main model when I click on a part that's part of a sub file the whole sub file and all its parts are selected. To select just one part I need to go into nested mode.

When in the sub file I can just select any part while staying in normal mode, I don't need to go into nested.

But with one sub file I do need to be in nested mode to make changes which I think isn't normal. I'm remembering that I copied the parts from another sub file (mirrored sub assembly) so that's probably why it happened.

I guess my actual question is how do I ungroup them in 1.4 while leaving them in the subgroup? It's not a big deal though, my model is done, I'm just cleaning up the mpd.

[Philippe Hurbain]

TwoThree little things with user interface (that may well be too personnal to be worth considering!)
- I find field of view too wide for my taste, causing unwanted distortion
- I would expect ESC key to abort current operation (when a part is attached to cursor), select none when a part or group is selected.
- When navigating the part bins, I often miss a "back" button to come back to previous bin.

[Roland Melkert]

Don't seem that personal to me, thanks for suggesting.

The field of view is 75 deg horizontal by default (widescreen), but you can change it in the prefs/editing menu (horizontal FOV). You could calculate the 'correct' value by taking into account your eyes to screen distance and the width of a editing window, or just try some values

Using the esc to cancel a selection seems very handy, I might add that. In the mean time you could also use ctrl+shift+a to deselect all.

You are right there is no key to go a level back up, I'll add use 'backspace' for that in the next version.

[Roland Melkert]

I guess my actual question is how do I ungroup them in 1.4 while leaving them in the subgroup? It's not a big deal though, my model is done, I'm just cleaning up the mpd.

I think you mean submodel when talking about groups. I think you have a single reference to another model in the problem file. This causes you to have to go into nesting to select loose parts because the model containing the parts is not at top level.

I thik it's something like this:

Code:

model A
  - model B
    - parts
  - model C
    - parts
  - model D
    - model E
      - parts

You can remove the unwanted layer (D) by ether referring to the parts containing model (E) directly from model A. Or by in-lining E into D, folowed by removing E from the file (it not used elsewhere)

In-lining can be done from the new reorganize menu after you selected it in model D.

hope this is somewhat clear, recursion is fun

[Philippe Hurbain]

Ah - I set fov to the lowest possible (?) value, 45°, and I'm much more happy with this...
New experiments, new questions and wishes...
- I find quite strange that minifigs arms belong to "other minifig parts" and hand to "accessories"... But connectivity between minifig parts work great, making "minifig generator" useless!
- I did not noticed this previously (might be 1.4 new?), but sometimes a part "jumps" to another place when I click on it to select it.
- Is it possible to change screen background color? I think I browsed every options/config entries, but found nothing...
- If possible I suggest the use of DEL key when mouse is over filter field to clear it.

One this I did was to create a rope spool with hook (below)... with its own set of wishes!
- Is it possible to create a template from an existing assembly like this spool?
- It would be interesting to be able to extend something like a string past the end instead of adding points in the middle. Of course it's difficult to integrate with parts that have a different segment on the end...
- I wish I could copy/paste control points... for this highly repetitive structure I ended up editing MPD text - workable but not very elegant

   

[Jason Smith]

- I did not noticed this previously (might be 1.4 new?), but sometimes a part "jumps" to another place when I click on it to select it.

I have this happen a lot as well. I've noticed it on beta 2 as well as 1.4. You go to click on a part and it jumps away. I always have part snapping enabled if that means anything.

[Merlijn Wissink]

I also have the same. I thought it was because I maybe moved the mouse little bit after selecting, but I'm not sure about that.

[Roland Melkert]

I maybe moved the mouse little bit after selecting

This is the cause indeed. When snapping is enabled parts jump to their origin to the mouse cursor location when moving them as that location determines where it snaps too next.

When snapping is disabled you don't have the jump as grid movement corrects for the cursor's grab location.

I'll try to improve this in the next version by ether having a similar correction during snapping or by trying to decrease the movement detection sensitivity.

[Jason Smith]

It may also depend on the resolution of our mice. I'm using a gaming mouse which is quite sensitive.

Maybe a sensitivity control would help more people?

[Roland Melkert]

I set fov to the lowest possible (?) value, 45°

Yes current range is 45-150 but it has no technical reason, I'll lower it. Did not expect such low values to be used in real life though, given people complain about the low value in LDD

I find quite strange that minifigs arms belong to "other minifig parts" and hand to "accessories"

Yes those are a bit odd, but I thought it would be even weirder to have a bin for only two parts. The way I usally create minifigs using 1.4 is by placing the official shortcut minifig and inline it using the reorganize menu afterwards. You can then select e.g. the torso and replace it by a double click on a different torso in the bin and change the colors as needed. No need to search all the individual parts that way.

but sometimes a part "jumps" to another place when I click on it to select it.

See answer below.

Is it possible to change screen background color? I think I browsed every options/config entries, but found nothing...

Yes, by editing the main.gui file in gui\default (located in C:\Users\Roland\AppData\Roaming\LDCad or something when the setup version is used, otherwise alongside the exe's location). Look for the editor_BG property, but keep in mind the file will revert to defaults when upgrading. This seems to be requested a lot so I'm making it a gui option in the next (big) version.

If possible I suggest the use of DEL key when mouse is over filter field to clear it.

You mean the dialog editing fields? Should be possible I'll look into it.

Is it possible to create a template from an existing assembly like this spool?

Yes, using a text editor copy the path subfile (excluding the GENERATED portion) from the mpd into a new ldr and place it in a template location (templates\path or a custom one). Copy keywords and category from one of the exiting default templates to make it appear in the bins. If you send it to me I could also add it to the default set of templates too.

It would be interesting to be able to extend something like a string past the end instead of adding points in the middle. Of course it's difficult to integrate with parts that have a different segment on the end...

I could make it a path option, or only apply it if caps are used. I usually put the last point at the destination so it doesn't move during shaping the path.

I wish I could copy/paste control points... for this highly repetitive structure I ended up editing MPD text - workable but not very elegant

Path points should be copy/pasteable and also respond to the ins key combined with multiple selection etc, seems to be a bug I'll have to check this. If so this could be grounds for a 1.4a as 1.5 won't be ready for some time.

[Philippe Hurbain]

Did not expect such low values to be used in real life though, given people complain about the low value in LDD

I guess it's just a matter of personal feeling, but I really never understood these complaints! After all, the "standard" lens is a 50 mm that has a 45° fov, and my current LDView setting is 30°...

Yes those are a bit odd, but I thought it would be even weirder to have a bin for only two parts.

Maybe it would be more rationale to put these parts with legs and rename that bin "limbs"? And there will be more parts soon (patterned arms), don't forget hook hand (that doesn't seem to have connectivity btw).

by placing the official shortcut minifig and inline it using the reorganize menu afterwards

That's the method I used for Friends figures, but AFAIK there is no such "official shortcut minifig" in my library? Actually I expected to find something in the templates...
And thanks for the double click trick, I missed that one!

You mean the dialog editing fields?

I meant in the search field above bins.

Copy keywords and category from one of the exiting default templates

OK, works fine (once you find the right folder). Attached the mpd of the 1st version I made in my model (with a loop at the end for the hook, just missing a sphere to fake a knot) and the simplified template.

I usually put the last point at the destination so it doesn't move during shaping the path.

Yes, but I find it a bit disturbing to see the unrouted part bending wildly during edit.

[Manfred Kern]

Hello,

I am getting more and more used to this wonderful piece of software. And every now and then I am detecting a new feature.

But still I have a question: Is there a way to remap short cut keys? Background information:
I like the short cut "Ins" to insert the last selected part. But on my Lenovo keypad, I need to press two keys to activate it.
One (Fn) is at the lower left of the keyboard and the second is on the right. They cannot be pressed with one single hand, you need both hands. Doing that, you are lacking another hand for moving the mouse. So if I can map the "Ins" to another key, I would be able to use the mouse with one hand and press the Ins with another hand.

It's strange, but premium notebook manufacturer Lenovo does not offer one single key for the Insert functionality.

Maybe the remap is already available, and I just did not find it yet.

[Roland Melkert]

Thanks,

But I'm sorry there's currently no option to remap hotkeys.

A while back another user with a similar problem indicated he used a key mapping program to solve the problem for the time being, he was using autohotkey.

Remapping is on my 1.5 list of features but it has low prio, so it might not be in the first beta.

[Roland Melkert]

but I really never understood these complaints! After all, the "standard" lens is a 50 mm that has a 45° fov

I'll change it to 0<fov<180, I might also make it an option to use horizontal or vertical fov as the master.

don't forget hook hand (that doesn't seem to have connectivity btw).

If only those minifig tools used a primitive for handles , anyway the minifig aso/hats etc are pending for full snap info.

Attached the mpd of the 1st version I made in my model (with a loop at the end for the hook, just missing a sphere to fake a knot) and the simplified template.

Thanks, you could include the hook and a knot part as end caps don't know if they're official (sub) parts though. I'll add this hook template to the default ones for the next version.

I find it a bit disturbing to see the unrouted part bending wildly during edit.

Things can get pretty messed/wrapped up indeed, but it shouldn't be harmful (crash wise) far I know. I'll adjust the next version so it only applies the insert before last rule when (a) end cap(s) are used.

[Manfred Kern]

Yes, Roland.

This is of low priority.

Attached there is a very basic autohotkey script for those who suffer from the same problem.

For my specific notebook I mapped the Insert-Key to F12 if the active window is LDCad. It is easy to change, if someone has other preferences.

In order to upload it, I needed to append an "txt" extension. Just remove it from the filename, so that the extension is "ahk".

Hope that I did not violate any rules attaching a file like this.

[Philippe Hurbain]

It seems that connectivity of small panels pegholes (11946/11947) is off by 0.5 studs...

[Roland Melkert]

You are right, it behaves as if it has should 3 holes.

Only needed a small correction, so attached the corrected seed file.

To use it drop it in the program files\ldcad\seeds folder while the program is closed and remove the extra .zip form the filename.

[Philippe Hurbain]

Thanks, worked fine.

[Merlijn Wissink]

Haha. I guess we're working on the same "project", since I discovered this bug too today

[Willy Tschager]

Pardon me for my stupid questions but I'm just taking my first steps into LDCad:

* I cannot find any "Search" (contextual) menu entry beside the "Search" in the top part bin grid, which is always some mouse-clicks "up".
* Is there a "Search" feature in the color bin?
* Looks like filter doesn't support exclusion like a "-Duplo". Say filter by "Plate" but do not show "Duplo plates" (plate -duplo)
* Is there an operator for the first word in the description such as < in MLCad?
* Like the "switch between different groups" a lot
* Like the fact that holding down the STRG key I'm able to rotate the parts in the part bin even more
* Is there a key which places the part automatically at 0, 0, 0?

w.

[Roland Melkert]

I don't mind ...

I cannot find any "Search" (contextual) menu entry beside the "Search" in the top part bin grid, which is always some mouse-clicks "up".

The bin is currently the only place you use for searching parts. If you need it often it's best to keep it open in one of the (last) bin pages. In the 1.5 version you will also be able to open a second part bin if you want it to be always visible (optionally in a floating window).

Is there a "Search" feature in the color bin?

Currently there is no search for the color bin as I was thinking there arn't that many items to begin with. But I might add a search group and or direct number input in a future version.

Looks like filter doesn't support exclusion like a "-Duplo". Say filter by "Plate" but do not show "Duplo plates" (plate -duplo)
Is there an operator for the first word in the description such as < in MLCad?

Currently only the options in the filter dialog control how the text is used in searches, but I see how those operators could be useful so I'll try to add them in a future version.

Like the "switch between different groups" a lot
Like the fact that holding down the STRG key I'm able to rotate the parts in the part bin even more

Thanks

Is there a key which places the part automatically at 0, 0, 0?

a part will only be placed at 0,0,0 when you drag it from the bin without an open model. After that you can shift any selection to 0,0,0 with shift+c

[Philippe Hurbain]

+1 for search in colors... either by word (allowing for example to see all "yellow" variations) or number.

[Jason Smith]

+2 by word.

It would certainly make building the favorites that much quicker as well as finding the odd ball colors.

[Jason Smith]

I thought I'd share a completed pic of my model. It's a 2013 Harley Davidson Electra Glide Police Version. I think they look cool so I built this to learn LDCad. All built on 1.4 beta to 1.4.

Features:

- Chain drive, should be belt but the chain looked better.
- Working pistons
- Suspension front and rear.
- Seat suspension.
- Emergency buttons (red)
- Mirrors
- Crash Bars
- Side and upper luggage bags.

[Roland Melkert]

Looks very nice.

I usually buy the official LEGO technic bike models when they come out, and this is certainly on par with those.

Only thing missing is a custom technic figure at scale

fyi: If needed you can get a clean (no gui /grid lines etc) in a particular resolution using the view/OpenGL export feature.

[Jason Smith]

Thank you for the kind words. LDCad made it easy and fun so kudos to you as well.

Great idea about the figure, making a motor cop should be an interesting project indeed.

I'll try out the export feature, had no idea it even existed, clearly I need to explore more.

[Philippe Hurbain]

I agree on both points, this is a great model, and LDCad is an excellent program. Actually the "feature" that appreciate most is that it is rock solid. Never had a crash...

[Roland Melkert]

Thanks,

Seems all those assert statements have paid off

[Denis Smirnov]

Roland, once again I want to express my admiration for the work you have done. This program is great, but what it certainly lacks is the proper documentation. Currently I'm curious about what does each of "copy paste options" mean, in particular 2 of them:
- "the main line is not the first, move it to the top";
- "there is non zero work orientaion active".
From some point of editing I started to receive this dialog every time I copy-paste even a single part. It seems that I changed some global option, but I can't understand which one and how to switch it back to default.

Sorry if this is not right topic to post questions.

[Roland Melkert]

I'm working on documentation but as I'm making some gui changes for 1.5 I decided to wait with it until those are done in order to prevent having to rewrite again.

As for the copy paste options those can be seen as import/export options as it allows some control over the LDraw lines coming in or going out of LDCad.

Copy paste inside LDCad itself should only be really necessary when copying between two models, in almost any other case it is more efficient / easier to use the ins key on the selection to (silently) clone it.

As for those two options:

the main line is not the first, move it to the top

When selecting parts, the first one selected is the mainline of the selection and acts as it's center point. When copying to the clipboard the resulting LDraw lines are taken in the placement (.ldr/.mpd line) order. This option can be used to force the selection main item to the top of the resulting LDraw list so other software automatically also use that line as the center (it being the first in the text and all).

there is non zero work orientaion active

LDCad remembers the orientation of the last selection and applies it to new parts so you don't have to rotate e.g. every 2x4 brick to make a wall in a certain direction. But when pasting something this extra rotation is not always wanted therefore you are given the option to override it.


The dialog will only appear if an option is relevant to the current copy/past action and some needed option has currently a yes/no value. So to get rid of the options all together you could set all options to either always or never.

Hope this make things more clear.

[Denis Smirnov]

Thanks, somehow I missed insert hotkey.

By the way, any plans to implement built-in instruction maker tool? It seems to be almost impossible to work with large technic models in LPub. It would be a nice feature to control instructions formatting directly from LDCad. For example, you can add some parts to a step, then preview the instructions' page and rearange parts/steps if necessary.

[Jason Smith]

Maybe if there was a way to make a "snapshot" as you progress along side of adding the steps. The steps could auto populate a box and attach to the corresponding snapshot... I have no idea what I'm talking about but have always thought of this approach.

[Roland Melkert]

By the way, any plans to implement built-in instruction maker tool?

Not in the short term, but it will become easier to edit non visual / meta LDraw content in a nearby version as I'm introducing a 'source' window with the upcomming 1.5 version. This will make it at least possible to edit the LPub meta's from within LDCad.

For example, you can add some parts to a step, then preview the instructions' page and rearange parts/steps if necessary.

Maybe if there was a way to make a "snapshot" as you progress along side of adding the steps. The steps could auto populate a box and attach to the corresponding snapshot... I have no idea what I'm talking about but have always thought of this approach.

Alternative might be using the animation/scripting feature of LDCad as I plan to add access to stepping related things to the api. That way it will be (easier, as it's already sort of possible) to create building instruction animation videos.

I'm also thinking about adding a special build mode animation mode, which lets you play a scripted step to step transformation animation (e.g. falling bricks).

[Jason Smith]

I'm also thinking about adding a special build mode animation mode, which lets you play a scripted step to step transformation animation (e.g. falling bricks).

Unless a person really wants their instructions in print form I think your idea would be excellent. I can see me using that because I usually use digital instructions from a tablet. Would we need to do write the scripts for that just like the animations?

[Jakub Trznadel]

This seems interesting to me: is there an easy way to figure out from which direction the part shall appear?

Thanks,
Jakub

[Roland Melkert]

Would we need to do write the scripts for that just like the animations?

I imagine the scripts universally handling the animation transition from step a to b, and thus I'll probably include a couple of simple universal ones which will enable the feature for any model containing steps.

Custom scripts would then only be needed for very complicated models which would need camera rotations and or moving sub assemblies spanning multiple instructions steps or something.

[Roland Melkert]

Sorry for late reply, I missed you're post as I was in the process of posting myself

This seems interesting to me: is there an easy way to figure out from which direction the part shall appear?

You mean while using a falling bricks step to step animation? I think the easiest way would be to determine the target locations distances to the model's 6 bounding box planes. And let the part 'fall' into the model from the closest side.

Although it might also depend on the theme as with creator etc it's probably ok to always let new things drop in from the top (-y).

[Philippe Hurbain]

Roland, is there a way to see the !HELP section of a part (or more generally the whole header)?

[Roland Melkert]

No currently only the name, author, keyword and category tags are editable/viewable through the model header dialog.

But I'm working on a 'source' window you can optionally dock left/right/top/bottom in the upcoming 1.5 version. It will show all LDraw text content of the current model and it will also be usable for selecting parts.

And depending on time etc it might also allow for editing any LDraw content but I might push that to the next next version.