LPub3DViewer

[Trevor Sandy]

Below is a snapshot of some modifications I'm doing to LPub - just for me but I'll be happy to share if anyone is interested :-)

The ability to manage source (i.e. cut and paste step and subfile content) is very useful - especilly when preparing instructions. For example, LPub does not handle some LDCad template content very well so it is sometimes necessary to move content around.

As you can see, I've added a 3D viewer to visualize steps and insert the ROTSTEP meta in order to optimize positioning the step for best instruction presentation. Notice, the cut, paste, rebuild capabilities in the source editor which are very useful.

You can also see in the snapshot the fade step functionality I developed allowing the user to fade previous steps in the model giving another capability to better visualize instructions. For this feature, it is sometimes helpful to change static colored parts (e.g. shock absorber spring and strut) in the source in order to properly fade the assembly.

   

Best,
Trevor

[Roland Melkert]

Regarding the source window, I'd like it to behave a bit like in MLCad. When I make instructions, I build the model in LDCad and then I open it in MLCad to reorganize all steps. Because, with such a source window, it's easy to see the order of the parts and being able to move whole steps back and forth. I'd really like that, being able to move the order of the parts directly in the source window.

Moving lines around is something I consider essential in order to justify the source windows existance. I'm mostly wondering about how much freedom it should allow while working with unkown meta's etc.

Do you plan to enable cut and paste within the source window and 3D 'reload' from source in the 1.5 roadmap?

Currently I'm leaning towards giving the source window it's own (totally different) copy paste handling logics. Any changes will be visualized in de 3d view instantly. Only initial restriction will be the FILE meta, as the current source window displays only the current (sub)model.

The ability to manage source (i.e. cut and paste step and subfile content) is very useful - especilly when preparing instructions. For example, LPub does not handle some LDCad template content very well so it is sometimes necessary to move content around.

I have some template functionality pending which is only partly present in 1.4. It allows defining replacement / BOM listing parts optionally based on length of the curve etc. Maybe we can set something up so you can use it with LPUB ?

Those LPUB modifications you did so far look very useful.

[Willy Tschager]

I totally missed your post. I guess this is the first time after several years that someone gets his hands wet on LPub. I would really love to integrate your work into the AIOI and it would be fantastic if you could fix some issues in LPub on the way.

w.

[Gerald Lasser]

Hello Trevor,

I missed this post unfortunately I need to say. It is great to see that LPUB gets some reboot :-) I am myself looking through the source for quite some time now as I have ideas for add ons. I first wanted to give some better sorting options for the BOM. Today I first tried to compile the source the first time "as is" but I ran into problems, so there is a bit more understanding required before I can start.

I would love to collect some ideas in a seperate thread.

Gerald

[Jetro de Château]

This looks like it might be just the thing I was looking for. Is your modified version available for download anywhere?

[Willy Tschager]

I mailed him but got no reply so far. You might bump?

w.

[Jetro de Château]

Not sure I understand what you mean. I have tried to send him a message through the forum, but found I couldn't...

[Jaco van der Molen]

Nice! Would like to take a look too.
Especially the fade step functionality!
Where can I download? :-)

[Mattia Zamboni]

Trevor, Gerald and everyone working on improving Lpub:

It is really great to see somebody working on improvements on Lpub. I am a heavy user of Lpub and the following would be my suggestion:
One of the most valuable feature in Lpub is the BOM generation. Even if currently it works perfectly (I love the resizing feature), I think it could be enhanced by adding the possibility to change the parts sorting method. Currently I guess parts are sorted by size (which makes perfectly sense) but it would be interesting to also be able to sort the parts by color.
Sorting by color most likely implies eventually the need of more real estate, but in some cases I think this is perfectly ok. My feeling is that sometimes just by sorting by size, makes the BOM look somewhat messy.

Do you guys have any update? Anyone else knowing something about it?

Thanks a lot in advance,

- Mattia

PS: I am currently still working on improving ldraw.xml ...

[Gerald Lasser]

I was experimenting with the color sort already. I need to figure out the placement routine though as currently it generates a few unwanted overlaps.
   

[Mattia Zamboni]

Hi Gerald,

this looks great: I'm glad I am not the only one with this need.
Yes, I do totally understand that it is tricky to be able to come up with a smart algorithm to place parts neatly in the BOM.
In my dream the optimal solution would be -after the automated placement - to be able to move parts around to manually fix things, but this might be complex to program.
Personally since at the end I am importing all the graphics in Photoshop anyways, your solution (even if not perfect) might help because it would still save time!
If I can help you beta testing your code please don't hesitate to ask. BTW, is your updated Lpub version available anywhere?

Thanks for your efforts :-)

- Mattia

[Merlijn Wissink]

You can actually manually move everything around... after you've exported it to a pdf...
The way the pdf is generated is actually quite nice, all text, images etc. etc. aren't flattented to one big image per page, but are just loose components. Because of that, you can easily edit the pdf in a pdf editor of your choice. You can move or delete images, you can alter text etc. etc.

[Jaco van der Molen]

True Merlijn, but one needs to have Acrobat professional or other advanced PDF editor to do that.
Most of them are not free. Unless you have an illegal or hacked version...?
Or do you know or have a free PDF editor that can edit PDF's ?

[Gerald Lasser]

Right now the change is just two lines, but the problem is if you re-size it, then the placement does not work properly. I would like to work that out first before giving the modified code out to test.

[Merlijn Wissink]

True. I personally use Adobe Acrobat Pro. I was able to get a license for a very reduced price a while ago (otherwise I would've never bought it, way too expensive), so I'm using that one since then. I don't really know about good, free pdf editors. I actually never edited pdf's until I got Acrobat...

[Milan Vančura]

Even it is not intended to be a PDF editor, I use inkscape (free and open source) and I'm very happy with that.

[Jaco van der Molen]

Through my cotacts I got this version of LPub that makes it possible to make more than one page BOMs where one can specify what color bricks are on the BOM pages.
Say you have a model with mainly many grey bricks you could generate a BOM page with only grey bricks and a BOM page with all the rest of the used colors. Also usefull for large models!

This modification was done by Jean-Noël Meurisse.

Read more, how to use and download:
https://sites.google.com/site/workingwit...om-version

[Jaco van der Molen]

I forgot to mention other features too:

• export one page at a time (very convenient when there is an error only on one page)
  
• permits to move callouts on a page with two steps
  
• fixed add text
  
• added the link to this online manual in the Help menu
  

[Merlijn Wissink]

The feature to be able to export only 1 page is something I've been missing so many times. Thanks!

[Gerald Lasser]

is there a chance to get the code uploaded to the LPUB project on sourceforge?

[Jaco van der Molen]

is there a chance to get the code uploaded to the LPUB project on sourceforge?

The author is not "part of the LEGO community" but I will ask!

[Milan Vančura]

Hello!

Please check my announcement - now the development is open at github and we can join our effort. So far, we concentrated on bug fixing - some of most annoying bugs of LPub are already fixed in our branch. I'd be glad if we merge our patches

[Jaco van der Molen]

The source code for this version is here:
https://bitbucket.org/jnmeurisse/lpub5/overview

[Jarema]

PS: I am currently still working on improving ldraw.xml ...

Can you share this file when finish work. I will be glad.

[Trevor Sandy]

Hello Mattia,

Sorry for the dealy but I'm now reading your post. Today I released LPub3D v1.0 which does have a BOM enhancement but not sort by colour. If I had know about your request earlier, I'm sure it would have been possible to incorporate as it seems quite straightforward.

Anyway, I'll put your request on the list of future enhancements.

Can you elaborate a bit (or point to any post) on what you are doing with ldraw.xml and how you see it enhancing LPub?

Kind regards,
Trevor

[Mattia Zamboni]

Hi Trevor,

Congratulation for LPub3D which I will surely be more than glad to test asap! I will make sure to provide you feedback.
Thank you for considering my suggestion of adding more BOM sorting methods, this is really appreciated.

My Ldraw.xml note was in fact not related to LPub and I personally don't really see a relation.
But just to answer you and Jarema I am currently writing a tutorial in order to allow everybody to generate fixes for the Ldraw.xml file which is used to translate the formats LDD<->Ldraw. I'm personally also generating fixes based on my current need of translating big dioramas from LDD to Ldraw.

As soon as I will be done I will publish both tutorial and Ldraw.xml update, which should hopefully happen before the end of summer.

Thanks!

- Mattia

[Jaco van der Molen]

...Today I released LPub3D v1.0...
Trevor

Where can I (we) download? I'd like to test :-)

[Philippe Hurbain]

Here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/lpub3d/

[Jaco van der Molen]

Thanks. Did I miss that link or should I have guessed it was at sourceforge :-)

Launching LPub3D I got two errors: missing libgcc_s_sjlj-1.dll and quazip.dll

I downloaded some versions of these DLL files but none of them seem to work, placing it in the folder where LPub3D_x32.exe is.

Any tips?