Part orientation mismatch

[Jetro de Château]

I can feel a facepalm coming, but I'm going to ask anyway....

I'm having lots of "issues" while building models (mainly using LDCad) with parts being in the wrong direction.
I understand that in LDCad the part I add from the library is oriented in the same way as the part that is currently active in the build, but still the orientation is often wrong between different part types. 

If I am working with a Technic Brick I would expect a pin or an axle to be placed in the same direction as the holes in that beam. 
If I am working with an axle, I'd expect a bush to be in the same direction as the axle.

For some strange reason that eludes me they normally are not. How can I change this behaviour?

[Philippe Hurbain]

If I am working with a Technic Brick I would expect a pin or an axle to be placed in the same direction as the holes in that beam. 
If I am working with an axle, I'd expect a bush to be in the same direction as the axle.

For some strange reason that eludes me they normally are not. How can I change this behaviour?

Unfortunately no (*). Many parts have orientation set a long time ago in a not so clever way... Since they are official, changing the parts is impossible (that would break all existing models in the field!). When we encounter a part whose origin/orientation is really, really bad, we correct this as a variant of the part, and make the old version "obsolete". It does no longer appear in sorted parts so it should be not used anymore, but its code still exists so old models using it are not broken. But this remains an exceptionnal procedure as it clobbers library and creates "pseudo variants" that complicate inventories.

(*) Maybe a clever software (hint, hint, LDCad...) could receive a new meta in its shadow library, changing default initial orientation and origin of those parts. I think this matters mainly for technic parts, but I agree that having default orientation of pins ready to be plugged in Technic bricks, beam holes in the same direction as those of Technic bricks, bushes and gears aligned with axles and tow ball pins origin in the middle of ball... yes, that would make life MUCH easier

[Jetro de Château]

Unfortunately no (*). ...


(*) Maybe a clever software (hint, hint, LDCad...) could receive a new meta in its shadow library, changing default initial orientation and origin of those parts. I think this matters mainly for technic parts, but I agree that having default orientation of pins ready to be plugged in Technic bricks, beam holes in the same direction as those of Technic bricks, bushes and gears aligned with axles and tow ball pins origin in the middle of ball... yes, that would make life MUCH easier

Thanks Philoo. And there I thought I was being dumb. 
I thought there would be as there is (and again the name/place eludes me) a file that sets default orientation for PLI parts, so I had hoped something equally simple was available here. Let's hope something like this can one day be implemented in e.g LDCad 2.0

[Roland Melkert]

Let's hope something like this can one day be implemented in e.g LDCad 2.0

I could add something like

Code:

0 !LDCAD OVERRIDE [pos=0 0 0] [ori=1 0 0  0 1 0  0 0 1] [color=16]

(*) Maybe a clever software (hint, hint, LDCad...) could receive a new meta in its shadow library

The meta shouldn't be that much work so I'll put it on the 1.7 todo list, adding the meta to all needed parts is a different story though.

[Philippe Hurbain]

Not sure so many part would need the override, but it would definitely be useful for a bunch of them!

[Roland Melkert]

Not sure so many part would need the override, but it would definitely be useful for a bunch of them!

I have also been thinking about a meta to define the realworld colors for a part, e.g. red, grey, black for a technic 3l bush pin. These colors would then show in a special color bin group.

[Merlijn Wissink]

Not sure so many part would need the override, but it would definitely be useful for a bunch of them!

I have also been thinking about a meta to define the realworld colors for a part, e.g. red, grey, black for a technic 3l bush pin. These colors would then show in a special color bin group.

Well, wouldn't it be kinda cool if you could (optionally) use the Rebrickable API to dynamically get all available colors for a part? 
I've recently used the API for some scripts to improve the part and set information (I'm an admin there) and it's quite a simple API to use. Granted, it's not perfect and has a few rough edges, but it works pretty nice.