Questions for the ortho (2D) editing mode users

[Roland Melkert]

Hello all,

I've been working on LDCad 1.1's 'ortho' mode implementation the last couple of weeks, and I think I now have a solid basic handling running.

But because I personally don't use Ortho much (hence the perspective only view in 1.0) I would love to get some feedback from the people who do prefer the ortho views over a single 3D one.

The current implementation allows for 24! different ortho views using the compass.

A short (8MB) avi can be viewed to get the picture.

http://www.melkert.net/action/download/orthoTest.avi

Basically the ortho view will follow the current editing plane (xy, yz, xz) but on top of that allows for 8 different orientations per plane. It also takes in account the grid orientation (so if you have tilled grid, the ortho views will also tilt.).

The 't', 's', 'f' keys will also work but they restore the last orientation for the plane used in the compass.

In practice you probably set the view only once per window. But by using the compass you could alternatively use a single view for more space convenience.

Any feed back is welcome, cause I'm at the point at which changes can be made 'easily'.

[Steffen]

Hello Roland, I've been playing around with LCad the first time,
and I've some improvement suggestions, albeit not regarding the orthoview:

(a)
Different than MLCad, LCad seems to not look into my LDRAW\MODELS folder to find files.
My files organization is like this:
LDRAW\PARTS
LDRAW\PARTS\S
LDRAW\P
are the official files.
LDRAW\MODELS
is abused as the place where I put unofficial files. This way, also old tools
can deal with the separation into official and unofficial files.
In a totally separate folder, say
C:\Users\XYZ\My Documents\My LEGO Models\1985\Train
, I have put my assembled scenes, using files from the above folders, including MODELS.
When I open such a file in LCad, it will only find the PARTS and P files,
but not the ones from MODELS. That's a loss, because even the historic LDRAW tools do.
Maybe you could add this search order:
1. search current folder
2. search MODELS folder (takes priority over PARTS)
3. search PARTS folder (takes priority over P)
4. search P folder

EDIT: I just found your configuration dialog where I can configure search folders.
That has solved my problem.

(b)
there is a typo "mettallic" in your GUI, should be "metallic"

©
I do not like the black background of the 3D window(s), can I get an option to configure that color?
I like a light background better.

(d)
I have trouble using the mouse to rotate the 3D view of a model.
I am used to LDView's mouse operation,
and have learned MLCad's mouse mode oddities.
But LCad should not introduce yet another one, is there a chance
to get a "LDView compatibility mode" for the rotation of the model?

(e)
The fixed-spaced font GUI looks a little strange to me at first sight,
I would like the font to not have so many gaps, but that may just be me.

(f)
I would very much like to be able to supply LCad a file to open on the command line.
Currently, I can not easily open files from the Windows Explorer via "Open with..." or
a custom context menu entry. LCad simply shows me an error message in that case
that it does not take a filename argument :-((((

These are the first impressions I had from the tool, I also liked many things in it:

(a)
Very good is the part selection principle. All 3D previews automagically are shown
in the currently selected color. Awesome.

(b)
Also the 3D editing capabilities in the 3D window are nice, although I yet have to master them.
The method to rotate a part in the model is just awesome. Never it has been so easy.

©
Keyboard support is good.

Please excuse that I just casted a quick glance on the tool...

[Allen Smith]

LDRAW\MODELS
is abused as the place where I put unofficial files. This way, also old tools
can deal with the separation into official and unofficial files.

Most modern programs support LDraw\Unofficial for this purpose. (LDView, MLCad, Bricksmith, hopefully others.)

Does LDCad support LDraw\Unofficial? If it doesn't, I hope Roland adds it.

Allen

[Roland Melkert]

A:

I think you've found it already, but you can add additional search locations using the options menu. A location can ether be a plain folder (like most software handles e.g. "models") or a library location (e.g. the official or unofficial one). When all are added you can arrange the order so it finds stuff like you described above. Also LDCad doesn't look in the models folder by default, you could add it as a user location though.

B:
Thanks, I've corrected that in my dev version. You could correct it your self for now by editing the "metallic.cbg" file in the "colorBin" folder.

C:
You can change just about any color in the "main.gui" file inside the "gui\default" folder. the one of your interest is the rgb value on the "editor_BG=" line. Just be careful not to make some other thing 'invisible' by using e.g. white. I might add a more accessible way of changing the background in a future version though.

D:
I used to have fights with rotating in mlcad etc too, this is why I made sure to use a 'better' solution in both LDCad and LD4DStudio. In them the rotation is controlled by a 'virtual trackball' this should be much more natural then zy rotation like most use. The trackball approach also prevents "Gimbal lock". I might add some more customization options in a future version though.

E:
Yes the font is somewhat limited due to it being an OpenGL rendering (using texture maps) I'm looking into better solutions but it's not high on my to do list, cause all better solutions take up more management (and performance hits).

F:
There no integration jet, I have to find a comfortable cross platform way of doing things for that first.



Thanks for the feedback.