Technic 8854 Power Crane

[Stefan Frenz]

Hi there,

next model I'd like to contribute is 8854 Power Crane of 1989.

Done with LDCad 1.6c (Linux64).
Known issues: none.

The file should be OMR compliant, but it is very large - the rope and pneumatic hoses are very expensive in terms of LDraw-lines.
Please see the updated versions below, this one here is kept for discussion history reasons only.

As always all suggestions are warmly welcome.

Best regards
Stefan

[Philippe Hurbain]

The file should be OMR compliant, but it is very large - the rope and pneumatic hoses are very expensive in terms of LDraw-lines.

Hi Stefan,
Nice model! 1.3Mb is not that huge nowadays... but here it's easy to reduce file size drastically (down to 100K) by using LQ version of pneumatic hoses. Visually, it makes no difference for this model since the hoses are not tightly bent. Attached the converted version!

[Stefan Frenz]

Attached the converted version!

Hi Philippe,

thanks a lot!   How (technically) did you replace the hoses? Did you "convert" the hoses or did you remove the old ones and inserted new ones? With your hint I tried to "just replace" the old ones with the LQ ones in my original file but did not succeed (LDCad said: "Templates can not be used to replace existing parts.").

Thanks again, I'm so happy with your feedback!
Regards
Stefan

[Philippe Hurbain]

I used a brute force method: a text editor! I replaced all pneumatic hose skin lines

Code:

0 !LDCAD PATH_SKIN [donCol=16] [donOri=1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1] [donPart=ldcPnuHoseSeg.dat] [donYSize=400%] [donCen=absCen] [donCenYOfs=0] [donFinScale=fitDon2Seg] [donPlace=deform] [donYAlign=0] [donInline=false] [segSize=100%] [segSizeTol=5%] [segsCnt=0] [segsGrp=0] [segsMaxMerge=10] [segsMrgAng=0] [segsMrgRollAng=0] [segsEdgeDelKind=keepFirstLeft]

with LQ skin line version

Code:

0 !LDCAD PATH_SKIN [donCol=16] [donOri=1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1] [donPart=166.dat] [donYSize=400%] [donCen=absCen] [donCenYOfs=0] [donFinScale=segMerge] [donPlace=refsStat] [donYAlign=0] [donInline=false] [segSize=75%] [segSizeTol=5%] [segsCnt=0] [segsGrp=0] [segsMaxMerge=0] [segsMrgAng=0] [segsMrgRollAng=0] [segsEdgeDelKind=keepFirstLeft]

Then, open the model in LDCad and force regeneration of dynamic content (Ctrl+Shift+F5) and save it.

[Stefan Frenz]

Thank you for explaining! Looking at the file differences with meld I suspected this is the way to go.

I'm not quite sure what "donFinScale" (changed from "fitDon2Seg" to "segMerge") and "donPlace" (changed from "deform" to "refsStat") mean, so I will play around with it as with "segSize" (changed from "100%" to "75%") and segsMaxMerge (changed from "10" to "0"). With your excellently converted file I always have a reference that I can rely on.

[Philippe Hurbain]

Thank you for explaining! Looking at the file differences with meld I suspected this is the way to go.

I'm not quite sure what "donFinScale" (changed from "fitDon2Seg" to "segMerge") and "donPlace" (changed from "deform" to "refsStat") mean, so I will play around with it as with "segSize" (changed from "100%" to "75%") and segsMaxMerge (changed from "10" to "0"). With your excellently converted file I always have a reference that I can rely on.

Yes, there are a lot of parameters to play with... Eg. if you want to render your file with Studio photorealistic renderer, you have to set segsMaxMerge to 1. Otherwise the longer generated segments are shortened by the renderer (it's a bug!) and the hose becomes discontinuous!

[Stefan Frenz]

Is there a thank-you-Philippe-button here?   Again I would to use ++ there: Thank you again, Philippe!

I played around and ended with your configuration and segSize=25% (I hope i did nothing wrong with that?), this seems to be nice even in the "corner-like" splines. Additionally, 4 sub-models (invented for the HQ-paths) are not needed any more, and I beautified a sub-models file name. So attached is the updated version based on Philippes suggestions.