[LDPartEditor] 0.8.4 Beta Released

[Nils Schmidt]

Hello,

as promised, here is the new feature release 0.8.4
In the meantime, I prepare the migration to Java 8. Later releases will require Java 8.


You can download LPE from this page:
http://nilsschmidt1337.github.io/ldparteditor/

Changelog:

With this release you will be able to...

• ...use the new "MeshReducer" tool, to simplify generated CSG meshes.
  
• ...use a more "aggressive" T-junction-finder (can destroy the mesh geometry under some circumstances!)
  
• ...use the "Move on Line" function, to move a vertex on a line between two vertices (its a beta tool! Soon I will explain how to use this.)
  

The program was tested intensively with "real world" files. Especially, "Undo" and "Redo" should work now fine.

Make sure that you choose the right architecture for your OS and Java Virtual Machine (JVM) (64bit or 32bit).
A short guide how to check if a 64bit JVM is installed on your system is located at the bottom of this message.

1. Download the zip-Archive
   
2. Extract the archive content to the location of your choice
   
3. On windows, double-click "run.bat" to start LPE.
   
4. On linux/mac, you have to excecute the shell script "run.sh" to start LPE.
   

Please note that this software is in the beta stage. Although, LPE 0.8.4 was carefully tested and developed, there are already known issues for this release. There is a potential risk of data loss.
Something can go wrong in about 100.000 lines of code.

You can search for updates if you do the following steps:

1. On windows, double-click "update.bat" to search for updates.
   
2. On linux/mac, you have to excecute the shell script "update.sh".
   

LPE is a 3D CAD application: The overall system requirements are higher. While I recommend to use a powerful 64-bit multicore system, it could be possible, to run LPE on older machines as well.

System Requirements:

Minimum System Requirements:

• Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.7
  
• OpenGL 2.1 compatible Graphics Card
  
• Operating System (32/64bit): Windows [XP; Vista; 7 or newer], Mac OS X [>=10.6], Linux [e.g. Ubuntu Linux >=10.4]
  
• CPU: Multicore-Processor e.g. Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon II (>2.0Ghz)
  
• RAM: 2.5GB
  
• Video-Memory: 512 MB
  
• Free Disk Space: 100 MB
  

Recommended Requirements:

• Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.8
  
• Operating System (64bit): Windows 7, Mac OS X [>=10.6], Linux [e.g. Ubuntu Linux >=10.4]
  
• CPU: Multicore-Processor with 4 cores (or more)
  
• RAM: >4 GB
  
• Video-Memory: >512 MB
  
• Free Disk Space: 512 MB
  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How to check your JVM version (32- or 64-bit):
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can try on the command line:

Code:

java -d64 version

If it's not a 64-bit version, you'll get a message that looks like:

Code:

This Java instance does not support a 64-bit JVM. Please install the desired version.

In general, I recommend to install the 64-bit version of the JVM for Java 8.

[Willy Tschager]

Some issues:

* If there isn't anything selected the shortcuts 1, 2, 3, ... for Select, Move, ... as well F2, F3, F4 ain't working
* Is there a way to move the Manipolator icons to a toolbar?
* How to show condlines properly

w.

[Nils Schmidt]

Hi Willy,

thanks for your feedback!
I created issues for the bugs and feature requests which were mentioned by you.
Unfortunately, I don't understand the question "How to show condlines properly?"...

Today I released version 0.8.4b.
This version includes two bug fixes regarding "Merge to Nearest..." and "Move Subfile To Manipulator".

It is also the first release which requires Java 8.

Cheers,

Nils

[Magnus Forsberg]

Hello Nils,

Today I can't start 0.8.4b. It has been running (I think) before.
I see this in the error log:

Code:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Comparison method violates its general contract!

Win7 64, Java 8 Update 66 (64-bit)

[Nils Schmidt]

Hi,

as a response to Magnus Forsbergs post, I did release a bugfix version.


You can download LPE from this page:
http://nilsschmidt1337.github.io/ldparteditor/

Changelog:

With the release of 0.8.4c the following issues are fixed:

• Fixed a critical bug within the primitive sorting algorithm (crash on start!)
  
• Fixed a bug which disabled the possibility to split a condline.
  
• Fixed a bug which could trigger an exception when the "Single Vertex Manipulation" (aka 'SyncEdit') was active
  
• Fixed a bug for "Merge to nearest line" / "TJunctionFinder". They did not ignore control point lines from condlines.
  
• Leading spaces from the file header stopped the header validation.
  
• It was possible to modify read-only files with the functions from the "Selection:" tab.
  

The program was tested intensively with "real world" files. Especially, "Undo" and "Redo" should work now fine.

Make sure that you choose the right architecture for your OS and Java Virtual Machine (JVM) (64bit or 32bit).
A short guide how to check if a 64bit JVM is installed on your system is located at the bottom of this message.

1. Download the zip-Archive
   
2. Extract the archive content to the location of your choice
   
3. On windows, double-click "run.bat" to start LPE.
   
4. On linux/mac, you have to excecute the shell script "run.sh" to start LPE.
   

Please note that this software is in the beta stage. Although, LPE 0.8.4 was carefully tested and developed, there are already known issues for this release. There is a potential risk of data loss.
Something can go wrong in about 100.000 lines of code.

You can search for updates if you do the following steps:

1. On windows, double-click "update.bat" to search for updates.
   
2. On linux/mac, you have to excecute the shell script "update.sh".
   

LPE is a 3D CAD application: The overall system requirements are higher. While I recommend to use a powerful 64-bit multicore system, it could be possible, to run LPE on older machines as well.

System Requirements:

Minimum System Requirements:

• Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.7
  
• OpenGL 2.1 compatible Graphics Card
  
• Operating System (32/64bit): Windows [XP; Vista; 7 or newer], Mac OS X [>=10.6], Linux [e.g. Ubuntu Linux >=10.4]
  
• CPU: Multicore-Processor e.g. Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon II (>2.0Ghz)
  
• RAM: 2.5GB
  
• Video-Memory: 512 MB
  
• Free Disk Space: 100 MB
  

Recommended Requirements:

• Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.8
  
• Operating System (64bit): Windows 7, Mac OS X [>=10.6], Linux [e.g. Ubuntu Linux >=10.4]
  
• CPU: Multicore-Processor with 4 cores (or more)
  
• RAM: >4 GB
  
• Video-Memory: >512 MB
  
• Free Disk Space: 512 MB
  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How to check your JVM version (32- or 64-bit):
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can try on the command line:

Code:

java -d64 version

If it's not a 64-bit version, you'll get a message that looks like:

Code:

This Java instance does not support a 64-bit JVM. Please install the desired version.

In general, I recommend to install the 64-bit version of the JVM for Java 8.

[Magnus Forsberg]

Hi Nils,

I had great fun preparing these.

1.)
Is it posible to turn of the internal Rectifier?
Everytime I hit Save, in the text editor, it creates rect-prims I don't want.

2.)
The internal Rectifier creates rect-prims that are scaled in three dimensions.

3.)
How do I create a subfile?
I want to select all in same colour, then move them to a subfile.
The Selector from Philo does a neat trick: Select all in the same colour, and move selection to the end of the file.

4.)
Why doesn't the Save button in the viewer do the same thing as the Save button in the text editor?
Save button in the viewer wants to create/save a project and starts to create a number of folders when I use it.
Save button in the editor simply saves my file.

5.)
Where and when can I read a manual on how to use LPE?

6.)
Is it possible to change the position of the light source?
When I zoom in close, the interesting area sometimes end up being shaded, or to dark to work with.

[Willy Tschager]

4.)
Why doesn't the Save button in the viewer do the same thing as the Save button in the text editor?
Save button in the viewer wants to create/save a project and starts to create a number of folders when I use it.
Save button in the editor simply saves my file.

And is there a trick to "Save as..."?

w.

[Gerald Lasser]

6.)
Is it possible to change the position of the light source?
When I zoom in close, the interesting area sometimes end up being shaded, or to dark to work with.

The light source is reset if you double click the left mouse button.

Found it out with when Nils advised the double click to center the manipulator to a primitive.

[Nils Schmidt]

Hello Magnus,

I will try to answer your questions:

Is it possible to turn of the internal Rectifier?
Everytime I hit Save, in the text editor, it creates rect-prims I don't want.

This is a bug! LPE 0.8.4c does not rectify on save. Rectifier creates accidentally rect#.dat primitives on the whole file when "Split" and "Slicerpro" were used. It will be fixed with the release of 0.8.4d. I fixed and tested it already in my developer version.

The internal Rectifier creates rect-prims that are scaled in three dimensions.

This is a bug, too... I will try to fix it with the next release.


How do I create a subfile?
I want to select all in same colour, then move them to a subfile.
The Selector from Philo does a neat trick: Select all in the same colour, and move selection to the end of the file.

This is a new feature, which is easy to implement. You can already sort by colour with the text editor window as a temporary workaround. Regarding the subfile creation, you can create a subpart by clicking on "New Part File" (text- or 3D-editor) and choose the "S" folder as a target location. The philosophy of LDPE is to represent each project as a fraction of the real LDraw library structure. A project has its own "P","8","48", "PARTS" and "S" folders to be compliant with the library structure.

Why doesn't the Save button in the viewer do the same thing as the Save button in the text editor?
Save button in the viewer wants to create/save a project and starts to create a number of folders when I use it.
Save button in the editor simply saves my file.

This is a GUI issue. The program needs a better GUI design to distinguish between "Projects" and "Part Files"... and it needs also a "Save As..." feature.

Where and when can I read a manual on how to use LPE?

You can read a manual on JC's page and here is my official wiki. Both are WIP.

6.)
Is it possible to change the position of the light source?
When I zoom in close, the interesting area sometimes end up being shaded, or to dark to work with.[/quote]

You can either turn off the lights (View Actions -> Lights) or reset the light source with a double click (LMB) on a location in the 3D space. The double click sets also the center of rotation and the manipulator to this location.

Leg godt

Nils

[Willy Tschager]

You can read a manual on JC's page

It would be awesome if one of our French friends could translate this thing - or at least revise Mr. Google's work:

https://translate.google.com/translate?s...&edit-text=

w.

[Gerald Lasser]

I really like JC's tutorials. At least Mr. Google can be used as a starting point. Shall we start to add this to the wiki?

[Nils Schmidt]

Hello,

with a little help from Willy Tschager, I discovered a critical issue regarding the parser for the !HISTORY meta command.
This affects any LDPartEditor version up to 0.8.4c. Just delete the trailing chars (and at least one more) after "0 !HISTORY YYYY-MM-DD".

An example: Transform this line

Code:

0 !HISTORY 1998-05-21 [PTadmin] Official Update 1998-05

into

Code:

0 !HISTORY 1998-05-2

and the error will silently occur. As a result, LDPE won't open the file anymore and some other strange things can happen.

Code:

0 !HISTORY Foo

will lead to the same issue, since the correct format is 0 !HISTORY YYYY-MM-DD
But what happened here? Under the hood an index-out-of-bound-exception was thrown. The parser tried to evaluate a full history String object, but the end index from the method String.substring(startIndex, endIndex) was larger than the length of this String object.
I will fix it with the release of version 0.8.5 Beta...

[Willy Tschager]

Great idea!

w.

[Gerald Lasser]

I cannot use the LDRAW login for the wiki? Do I need a separate one?

[Orion Pobursky]

Yes

[Gerald Lasser]

A minor issue of concern if you don't know it...

When doing a Sync Edit in the Test-Window and you select a part of a vertex e.g. "12345 " of "11.12345" and you delete or type anything instead e.g. "1", the cursor will remain there were the "5" was. When you are not aware of this behavior, and keep on typing, you are typing in another vertex.

e.g. ("^" marks the cursor position)

Code:

4 9 -15.2189 15.4138 -7.2 -17.7169 13.7447 -7.1 -17.7169 13.7447 -3 -15.2189 15.4138 -3
                    ^                                                  

select "4138"
4 9 -15.2189 15.[b][i][color=#FF0000]4138[/color][/i][/b] -7.2 -17.7169 13.7447 -7.1 -17.7169 13.7447 -3 -15.2189 15.4138 -3
                     ^  

type "4", "4138" is deleted correctly
4 9 -15.2189 15.[b][i][color=#FF0000]4[/color][/i][/b] -7.2 -17.7169 13.7447 -7.1 -17.7169 13.7447 -3 -15.2189 15.4138 -3
                    ^  

type "5", this ends up at the cursor position
4 9 -15.2189 15.4 -7.[i][b][color=#FF0000]5[/color][/b][/i]2 -17.7169 13.7447 -7.1 -17.7169 13.7447 -3 -15.2189 15.4138 -3
                    ^

It seems to me that the position of the cursor is not re-calculated correctly (following the "4")

[Nils Schmidt]

Thanks, Gerald! I was able to fix it quickly

[Willy Tschager]

You can already sort by colour with the text editor window as a temporary workaround.

Anybody experiencing that there is no sorting if the selection comprises a "0 // comment"?

w.

[Nils Schmidt]

With the release of 0.8.5 there will be

1. a "Save As..." button for *.dat files, which saves and opens a copy of the file (Text Editor)
   
2. a "SyncEdit" button, to switch SyncEdit on/off with a button (the corresponding shortkeys Alt+Shift+R and ESC will continue to work)
   

* not included is the "clock button" between undo/redo, since this function is only for debug tasks.

[Nils Schmidt]

Anybody experiencing that there is no sorting if the selection comprises a "0 // comment"?

w.

LPE's sort algorithm does not destroy the parts structure. Comments between geometry are recognised as a start marker of the next section within the part structure.

Imagine a structure like this

Code:

0 // Front Faces
3 16 ...
3 16 ...
...
0 // Back Faces
3 16 ...
3 16 ...

Sorting will not mix front faces with back faces.

I could make this behaviour optional later on (e.g. with a checkbox).

[Willy Tschager]

Feature request:

* Copy, Paste, Cut, in right-click contextual menu in the text and 3D editor
* It's still hard to spot when a button is pressed so making the light blue a bit darker would help
* I'm somehow lost on the project, dat-file loading saving, save the new file thing. Any help is appreciated
* Have an equivalent of the "Show selection in 3D View" button in the 3D editor. The "Show selection in Text Editor" is too many clicks/howerings away
* A button the restore the default settings for the coarse, middle, fine grid in the snapping tap
* Inliner in 3D editor

w.

PS. THIS IS A GREAT PIECE OF CODE!

[Gerald Lasser]

Thanks for fixing the cursor-error. Saves me some cursing... :-)

One note, when I want to start a new project and I use the "New Project" button, LDPE tells me the file/directory already exists. What I do then is I create the directory structure manually (e.g. 22888/P, 22888/Parts, etc) and use the "Open Project" button.

Did anybody else experience this?


Regarding Rounding:

While I noticed that 3 decimals for the position are sometimes not enough, I usually work with 5 or 6 when having to cut into curved parts. LDPE sometimes, when rotating, is extending the decimals up to 20+ or so (well above 10) which, in my opinion are not really necessary, would it be possible to limit those decimals either hard-coded or, alternatively have a setting in the rounding-dialog box to chose an automatic rounding when operations in the 3D view are done?


Regarding the Built-In Rectifier:

To my shame I only used it the first time last week. I was not aware that it transforms quads into rect-prims..., but, very useful.
I have some cases when I select the lines and quads I want to combine, the rectifier does not do it.
e.g. this is a snippet of code which it does not like

Code:

2 24 37.930301 4 -30.301603 36.033784 4 -26.786536
2 24 36.0338 8 -26.7865 37.9303 8 -30.3016
4 16 36.033784 4 -26.786536 36.0338 8 -26.7865 37.9303 8 -30.3016 37.930329 4 -30.301603

There are differences after the 5th decimal (I know, I use up to 5 or 6 as well), may be the Rectifier could prompt such cases or in the dialogue I can select the accuracy (currently only degrees can be changed)

[Philippe Hurbain]

PS. THIS IS A GREAT PIECE OF CODE!

I guess it is, but... tried again to use it, and feel like a cow in front of a smartphone. Is there somewhere a startup tutorial showing how to create a simple part with LDPE?

I have watched this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_6hx10kwZU but it tells little to me, as we don't see the actions performed.

Philo, feeling dumb and frustrated.

[Willy Tschager]

Instead of creating a part from scratch I suggest starting with fixing them. You've already a structure to work with and moving, scaling, drawing triangles, quads or condlines comes more natural.

w.

[Merlijn Wissink]

Or get some more parts done from here

[Philippe Hurbain]

Yes, that's more or less what I did, editing a LDD mesh (minifig snowboard). At least I was able to do a few things. But many remain completely mysterious. Eg. how do I change the orientation of 3D view??? A few things are wonderful, such as building a quad by selecting 4 vertices... but when I tried to do the same thing in a place where I had aligned vertices I was unable to select the correct one. Maybe it would have worked on 3D view, but as said above I was unable to change its orientation...
Finding the primitive you need is also a nightmare on those super tiny thumbnails. I dream of a possibility to switch to text mode instead! Actually that's what I did, slowly moving the mouse one by one on the pesky thumbnails till I found the right description... I noticed that there is a toolbar button saying "insert one subpart (part tree selection)" and briefly hoped that would help, but it seems to do nothing at all?

Philo, feeling a tad less dumb, but even more frustrated...

[Merlijn Wissink]

Changing the 3d orientation took me a while to figure out too: you can change it by pressing the mouswheel and dragging the mouse.

Other than that, I know very little from LDPE.
I've looked into it a bit, but haven't really done anything with it.

[Magnus Forsberg]

Yes, that was a hard one to find out. Press middle mouse button (scroll wheel) and drag it into position.

I even had to buy a new mouse since my old one had a very hard button.
It hurt my finger tip and it broke down after some weeks intence use.

* Copy, Paste, Cut, in right-click contextual menu in the text and 3D editor
* It's still hard to spot when a button is pressed so making the light blue a bit darker would help
* I'm somehow lost on the project, dat-file loading saving, save the new file thing. Any help is appreciated
* Have an equivalent of the "Show selection in 3D View" button in the 3D editor. The "Show selection in Text Editor" is too many clicks/howerings away
* A button the restore the default settings for the coarse, middle, fine grid in the snapping tap
* Inliner in 3D editor

I agree on all of the above.

I too struggle to understand the file management idea. All I wanna do is inline a file/prim/sub or select code, and make a new subfile. The project manager doesn't seem to recognice any other file or folder outside the official/unofficial parts folder. If I choose to open a part in a folder that is not scanned by LPE, it simply ignores or doesn't find my allready existing, good file structure.

* I'm able to have many files open in the text editor, but how do I switch between them in the 3D editor?
* I want LPE to remember the last visited folder.

[Willy Tschager]

Changing the 3d orientation took me a while to figure out too: you can change it by pressing the mouswheel and dragging the mouse.

Since it didn't work out for my mouse I assigned a new shortkey. Select the arrow near "Merge/Split... -> Customize shortkeys".
I assigned the blank bar to the "Alternative Right Mouse Bar". Now all I have to do is pressing the blank bar and moving the mouse.

w.

[Willy Tschager]

* I'm able to have many files open in the text editor, but how do I switch between them in the 3D editor?

Also this was a tough one. Select them in the center parts box on the left side in the 3D window.

w.

[Gerald Lasser]

I too struggle to understand the file management idea. All I wanna do is inline a file/prim/sub or select code, and make a new subfile. The project manager doesn't seem to recognice any other file or folder outside the official/unofficial parts folder. If I choose to open a part in a folder that is not scanned by LPE, it simply ignores or doesn't find my allready existing, good file structure.

I do it like this, open the file from somewhere, create a new .dat in the "sub-structure" under the relevant directory e.g. /parts/sub and copy the content there.

If you want to use your existing file structure try setting the "Unofficial" dir to the root of your LDraw unofficial file structure

* I'm able to have many files open in the text editor, but how do I switch between them in the 3D editor?

On the left panel, middle section you have the file browser for your project.
- Right Click on the file you want to display
- Select Open in 3D Editor

* I want LPE to remember the last visited folder.

Second left icon in the top row "Last Opened Files/Projects"

You can hover over the buttons then the help bubble appears.

[Gerald Lasser]

we definitely need to start the tutorial for LDPE...

[Magnus Forsberg]

create a new .dat in the "sub-structure" under the relevant directory e.g. /parts/sub and copy the content there.

Seems to work only if you first create a project folder. All I get if I try is a message "This feature is not available for the current selection."

try setting the "Unofficial" dir to the root of your LDraw unofficial file structure

If I do that, I can't use any of the files in the "real" unofficial folder. It doesn't get scanned when I start LPE.

On the left panel, middle section you have the file browser for your project.

It only works if I create a project. If I open many files using the Open Part File-button in the text editor, only the first file is visible in the file manager. I want to select a file in the text editor by clicking on its tab, right click someware, or use a button, to Show File (not selection) in 3D Editor. Please remember, most of us are accustomed to LDDP. Just a single click on Start LDView-button.

Second left icon in the top row "Last Opened Files/Projects"

Ok, it does remember were I have been before, but not when I want to open a second file using the Open Part File-button. Then I have to navigate all the way from some default Project folder in the program folder.

[Nils Schmidt]

I just want to say this: I will publish tutorial videos with audio commentary after 0.8.5 was released and I'll update the wiki.
The upcoming 0.8.5 beta includes at least 8 bug fixes and 3 new features.
It is going to be the most stable release since the start of development in 2012.

[Philippe Hurbain]

I just want to say this: I will publish tutorial videos with audio commentary

Great! Subtitles are welcome too

and I'll update the wiki.

Is there already something on any wiki?

[Gerald Lasser]

create a new .dat in the "sub-structure" under the relevant directory e.g. /parts/sub and copy the content there.

Seems to work only if you first create a project folder. All I get if I try is a message "This feature is not available for the current selection."

That's right, I pointed this out earlier this week as well, and I am happy to know that I am not the only one. I hope Nils can fix this in one of the upcoming versions.

On the left panel, middle section you have the file browser for your project.

It only works if I create a project. If I open many files using the Open Part File-button in the text editor, only the first file is visible in the file manager. I want to select a file in the text editor by clicking on its tab, right click someware, or use a button, to Show File (not selection) in 3D Editor. Please remember, most of us are accustomed to LDDP. Just a single click on Start LDView-button.

In my version I can see all the files I open in the Text-Editor in the File-Manager and I can open them in the 3D-View from there.
I agree, that a right click on the Text-Editor tab to open a file in 3D would ease the workflow. That's a good suggestion.

Second left icon in the top row "Last Opened Files/Projects"

Ok, it does remember were I have been before, but not when I want to open a second file using the Open Part File-button. Then I have to navigate all the way from some default Project folder in the program folder.

[/quote]
I see what you mean, it shall remember the path that you selected where you opened your first file from. Correct, that yould be better as well. I see all the previous opened files with the button but LDPE does not use the path from the "last file opened" if you open the next file.

[Willy Tschager]

and I'll update the wiki.

Is there already something on any wiki?

Now there is (at least a stub):

http://wiki.ldraw.org/index.php?title=LD_Part_Editor

Your French will come very handy for this:

http://forums.ldraw.org/showthread.php?t...5#pid20765 ;-)

w.

[Philippe Hurbain]

Your French will come very handy for this:
http://forums.ldraw.org/showthread.php?t...5#pid20765 ;-)

Yeah, seen this... but I need to get more used to LDPE before to do something sensible!

[Nils Schmidt]

* Is there a way to move the Manipolator icons to a toolbar?

I just created a showcase of the feature which was requested by Willy Tschager here.

The gui is a little bit too much populated with buttons for my personal taste.

Second variant.

[Nils Schmidt]

...just for your information and for my documentation. I have to keep track of these requests somehow.
You can find all these "issues" here:
https://github.com/nilsschmidt1337/ldparteditor/issues
Tasks with high-priority are earlier implemented than others.

[Willy Tschager]

I'm fine with it, but if the toolbars were movable like in MLCad one could place them on the sides ;-)



w.

[Philippe Hurbain]

I am slowly progressing... and so stupid questions start to come:
- is there a way to graphically move a vertex belonging to a line/triangle/quad?
Found this one when I accidentally hovered on "move adjacent data" icon. Toolbar icons are nice when you are used to, but menus are MUCH easier for self discovery of a new software!
- is there a way to merge a vertex with another one?

[Magnus Forsberg]

Yes, same as in LPC. Click on Ctrl + E.

[Philippe Hurbain]

Ah - yes, now I see it in under the merge/split button.
Other question: is there a way to modify visibility of lines? I'd like to:
- be able to hide triangle/quads sides
- show all condlines (without control points except if selected)

Another wish: be able to close a file, in order to allow to modify it externally. At the moment it seems you need to close LDPE, and since its startup is rather lengthy...

[Gerald Lasser]

Other question: is there a way to modify visibility of lines? I'd like to:
- be able to hide triangle/quads sides
- show all condlines (without control points except if selected)

Another wish: be able to close a file, in order to allow to modify it externally. At the moment it seems you need to close LDPE, and since its startup is rather lengthy...

Philo, you need to play around with the right mouse-button in the 3D view :-)
Have a look at the "View Actions" and the "Render Mode" settings, those offer a lot of possibilities:

ad 1: I am not sure if this is what you meant, but you can un-tick "View Actions" -> "Mesh Lines"

ad 2: Use "Render Mode" -> "Special Con. Line Mode" you will see all the Cond Line as you wish.

ad 3: I tried the following:
- Open the project and open a file in 3D view
- Open the file also in LDDP
- Add a line in LDDP (and save)
- Open the File in the LDPE Text Editor
-> New line is now visible in 3D View as well
- make changes again in LDDP (and try to save, this will nownot work)
- Close the file in the LDPE Text Editor
- make changes again in LDDP (and try to save, this time it works)
- you can open it in LDPE Text Editor again and you see the changes there

unfortunately youget no prompt in LDPE if therre were external changes but it looks you can do it as long as the file is closed in the Text Editor of LDPE.

[Philippe Hurbain]

Philo, you need to play around with the right mouse-button in the 3D view :-)

Clealy yes... I knew I had seen something somewhere but couldn't find it again when needed

ad 1: I am not sure if this is what you meant, but you can un-tick "View Actions" -> "Mesh Lines"

Exactly that, thanks!

ad 2: Use "Render Mode" -> "Special Con. Line Mode" you will see all the Cond Line as you wish.

Spot on too. I had some trouble figuring out the meaning of orange/purple condlines, as far as I can tell condlines are are orange in the beginning and become purple when triggered after rotation of the model. Condlines between coplanar elements stay orange.

ad 3: I tried the following:
- Open the project and open a file in 3D view... (snip)

Mmhhh... behaviour is not completely clear. Today I was able to edit the same file with LDDP and LDPE (3d+text). Then I saved LDDP version (seems that file was not locked today, why was it last time I tried that?). No message from LDPE. Modified file in LDPE and tried to save. THEN I got a message telling that the file was modified externally!

Otherwise I am still completely hermetic to LDDP project logic. I guess it will come with time (and documentation?) but LDDP managed to erase the .dat file I saved yesterday - and yes, I saved it, its name is still in my LDView history. Hate that.

[Philippe Hurbain]

More questions and suggestions...
- is it possible to add a part or subpart from current project (or from library!) in a more user friendly way than typing the whole LDraw line in text editor?
- Usage of really precise calculations is great, but some 60 or more digits render text editor completely illegible. Of course rounding is not an option because all benefit would be lost... but perhaps numbers could be _displayed_ with some rounding?
- Speaking of rounding, is there a way to define rounding tool precision?

[Gerald Lasser]

- is it possible to add a part or subpart from current project (or from library!) in a more user friendly way than typing the whole LDraw line in text editor?

I don't know of another possibility

- Usage of really precise calculations is great, but some 60 or more digits render text editor completely illegible. Of course rounding is not an option because all benefit would be lost... but perhaps numbers could be _displayed_ with some rounding?

I mentioned this before, but I did not see an issue created by Nils here: https://github.com/nilsschmidt1337/ldparteditor/issues

- Speaking of rounding, is there a way to define rounding tool precision?

In the Text Editor hold [Ctrl] and click the rounding Menu Button. You can choose now.
I would prefer if I can go to 6 in the coordinate precision as well as sometimes 4 is not enough while you are building a part.

[Nils Schmidt]

The GUI framework offers something what is called a "CoolBar" class. All toolbars located within the coolbar container can be rearranged with the mouse and some drag & drop. However, the coolbar component is rather faulty at the moment, so I don't implement it yet. I will investigate further...

[Nils Schmidt]

First things first: I will publish version 0.8.5 Beta tonight (5 new features + 8 bug fixes).

- is it possible to add a part or subpart from current project (or from library!) in a more user friendly way than typing the whole LDraw line in text editor?

No, not yet. I created a ticket for this enhancement.

- Usage of really precise calculations is great, but some 60 or more digits render text editor completely illegible. Of course rounding is not an option because all benefit would be lost... but perhaps numbers could be _displayed_ with some rounding?

There is no trivial solution to this. LDPE can't simply display the number with some roundings. To clarify this, I have to give you more information on how LDPE works:

• The data representation is an exact object model of the part file
  
• Each line of the part file is an immutable object
  
• The 3D editor and the text editor are synchronised by default (with a little delay to reduce the CPU workload; synchronisation costs are high)
  

Every time, you edit a line in the text editor (or 3 lines, 1.000 lines, it doesn't matter)

• All the old line data gets deleted.
  
• The edited line will be parsed in realtime...
  
• ...with instant error detection...
  
• ...and a single new object is generated for this line...
  
• The new line is then linked to the object structure.
  

Which means that all information from the old object is lost.
The whole process is unfortunately a lot more complex!

- Speaking of rounding, is there a way to define rounding tool precision?

Just hold CTRL and press the rounding button to customise the settings.