[LDPartEditor] 0.8.44 Beta Released (Vertex-Window)

[Nils Schmidt]

Hey,

after all these business trips I found some time for a new release :D


As always, you can download LDPE from this page:
http://nilsschmidt1337.github.io/ldparteditor/

Changelog:
(4 new features and 1 bug fixes)

With this release you will be able to...

• ...translate the 3D view by just moving the cursor to the border of the 3D view (open the options menu to enable this).
  
• ...use a vertex window in the top right corner to show/modify the x, y, z values of a single selected vertex.
  
• ...see the transformation delta info placed right after the cursor coordinates on the status bar.
  
• ...benefit from an enhanced "BFC + TEXMAP / Materials" render mode (OpenGL 3.3 only)
  

The following critical issues were fixed:

1. The context menu button was invisible when rulers were shown on the 3D view.
   

What will the next release 0.8.45 deliver? Usability improvements, more toolbars and shortkeys.

---

The program was tested intensively with "real world" files.
However, it is still a beta version and something can go wrong in about 140.000 lines of code.

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 "LDPartEditor.exe" to start LDPE.
   
4. On linux/mac, you have to excecute the shell script "run.sh" to start LDPE.
   

Alternatively, you can download a setup file to install LDPE on Windows.
When you install/extract LDPE on Windows you will find your LDPE configuration files under
{drive}\Users\{user}\AppData\Roaming\LDPartEditor
It is not recommended to use the "update.bat" script when you installed LDPE via the setup file.
Manually install the new version instead.

Please note that this software is in the beta stage. Although, this version was tested, there are already known issues  for this release. There is a potential risk of data loss.

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".
   

It is not recommended to use the "update.bat" script when you installed LDPE via the setup file.
Manually install the new version instead.

I listen carefully to your requests and possible complaints. Please leave me a message, with your thoughts and wishes to further improve the software.

LDPE 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 LDPE on older machines as well.

System Requirements:


Minimum System Requirements:

• 64-bit Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.8
  
• OpenGL 2.1 compatible Graphics Card
  
• Operating System (64-bit): Windows [7 or newer], Linux [e.g. Ubuntu Linux >=14.4], Mac OS X [>=10.6]
  
• CPU: Multicore-Processor e.g. Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon II (>2.0Ghz)
  
• RAM: 4GB
  
• Video-Memory: 1 GB
  
• Free Disk Space: 100 MB
  

Recommended Requirements:

• Operating System (64bit): Windows 7,8,10, Linux [e.g. Ubuntu Linux >=14.4], Mac OS X [>=10.6]
  
• OpenGL 3.3 compatible Graphics Card
  
• CPU: Multicore-Processor with 4 cores (or more)
  
• RAM: >4 GB
  
• Video-Memory: >1 GB
  
• Free Disk Space: 512 MB
  
• For a faster start, LDPartEditor and the LDraw™ library should be installed on an SSD.
  

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

[Philippe Hurbain]

after all these business trips I found some time for a new release

• ...translate the 3D view by just moving the cursor to the border of the 3D view (open the options menu to enable this).
  

Works smoothly (though I'm not sure I'll use it)

• ...use a vertex window in the top right corner to show/modify the x, y, z values of a single selected vertex.
  

Little glitches/questions:
- if I switch to another application covering vertex window, vertex window remains on top.
- What does the field "merge to existing vertex"?
- Copy/Paste button seems inopperant (though I don't mind since i always use keyboard shortcuts)

• ...see the transformation delta info placed right after the cursor coordinates on the status bar.
  

Wasn't this already available in previous version?

[Nils Schmidt]

Wasn't this already available in previous version?

I just changed the order of this information in the status bar.

Little glitches/questions:
- if I switch to another application covering vertex window, vertex window remains on top.
- What does the field "merge to existing vertex"?
- Copy/Paste button seems inopperant (though I don't mind since i always use keyboard shortcuts)

"Merge to existing vertex": If you change a value in the vertex window it will be applied instantly to the selected vertex. But there is a special case. When the target coordinates are already occupied by another vertex then you have to click the merge button. Otherwise, the vertices would automatically glue together and that is a problem in some situations.

The next release includes small bug-fixes for the new vertex window :) All in all, it should be usable with this release. I just didn't want to wait longer for version 0.8.44.

[Philippe Hurbain]

Hi Nils,
Looks like that clicking on the tabs in 3D view no longer change view

[Nils Schmidt]

Hi Nils,
Looks like that clicking on the tabs in 3D view no longer change view

Hi Philo,

I was able to reproduce this issue on my machine.
Not only the tabs in the 3D view are affected. Also the tabs from the text editor won't change the 3D view anymore.
It was my fault.

edit: I found the root cause and fixed the issue (#698). I will release 0.8.44b tomorrow.
It was caused by some refactoring work which I did on SelectionListeners (SWT).

Best,
Nils

[Magnus Forsberg]

Hi Nils,
Looks like that clicking on the tabs in 3D view no longer change view

Confirmed.