[LDPE] 1.8.55 Beta Released (bugfixes / invisible subparts / usability)

[Nils Schmidt]

Hey,

this version fixes many bugs and supports "invisible subparts".
It is not required to uninstall the previous LDPartEditor version, before installing version 1.8.55.

LDPE uses now a very modern technology stack and does not need a Java installation anymore.



As always, you can download LDPE from this page:

http://nilsschmidt1337.github.io/ldparteditor/

Changelog:

(3 new features and 9 bug fixes)

With this release you will be able to...

• ...to see a warning for subpart references with no content. You can also transform empty subparts and "see" them as a single vertex in the 3D editor.
  
• ...use "Show Selection in Text Editor" to show the first line that uses that vertex, when you selected a vertex (or the next lines when you repeat the function).
  
• ...benefit from a better contrast of hidden lines in the text editor.
  

The following critical issues were fixed:

1. Empty primitives couldn't be selected/rotated (e.g. 1-16chrd's)
   
2. The zoom value for newly created files was not the default value (3D Editor)
   
3. When the user did not wanted to save the file in the text editor it was still displayed in the 3D editor.
   
4. "Show selection in 3D View" did not select the vertices from subfiles.
   
5. When you used separate text and 3D windows and created a new file, a new text window was opened, instead of using a new tab in the already opened text window.
   
6. If you used "save as", a new file was created, but no text window or tab was created, although the sync tabs button was active.
   
7. "Sync. 3D Editor Tabs with Text Editor" setting was sometimes deactivated.
   
8. (back-ported to 1.8.54) LDPartEditor 1.8.54 won't start on Linux (because of a classpath error)
   
9. Minor IO error regarding the "(no file selected)" tab.
   

---

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.

Installation on Windows:

1. Download and extract LDPartEditor_win32_x64.zip
   
2. Run LDPartEditor-1.8.55.msi
   
3. Start LDPartEditor from the start menu
   

Installation on Linux:

1. Download and extract LDPartEditor_linux_x64.zip
   
2. Install ldparteditor_1.8.55-1_amd64.deb
   
3. Start LDPartEditor from the menu or via launcher
   

Installation on Mac OS X:

1. Download and extract LDPartEditor_mac_x64.zip
   
2. Mount LDPartEditor-1.8.55.dmg
   
3. Drag LDPartEditor.app to the Applications folder
   
4. Copy ldparteditor.sh to your home folder
       4a. Open a Terminal.app and run ./ldparteditor.sh
       4b. Or open a Terminal.app and run /Applications/LDPartEditor.app/Contents/MacOS/LDPartEditor
   

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.

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:

• 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.
  

[Philippe Hurbain]

Thanks Nils,

• ...to see a warning for subpart references with no content. You can also transform empty subparts and "see" them as a single vertex in the 3D editor.
  
• ...use "Show Selection in Text Editor" to show the first line that uses that vertex, when you selected a vertex (or the next lines when you repeat the function).
  
• ...benefit from a better contrast of hidden lines in the text editor.
  

Related problems I noticed:
- "empty" subfiles are reported as scaled in X, Y and Z directions. If I inadvertently fix errors in X or Z directions the underlying geometry gets scaled/distorted.
- Hidden "empty" subfiles are not marked empty in text editor, even though the materialization vertex in 3D editor is properly hidden.

The following critical issues were fixed:

Thanks for that too!

...and completely unrelated: is it possible to assign a keyboard shortcut to line to condline and condline to line conversion functions?

[Nils Schmidt]

- "empty" subfiles are reported as scaled in X, Y and Z directions. If I inadvertently fix errors in X or Z directions the underlying geometry gets scaled/distorted.

I created issue #897 for the next release.

- Hidden "empty" subfiles are not marked empty in text editor, even though the materialization vertex in 3D editor is properly hidden.

That is actually a feature. If you select a single vertex, it will activate "Single Vertex Modification" and show everything in text editor while it is active (regardless if it is hidden).
The idea behind this is that the user might want to see where the vertex is used, even if that usage is hidden in the 3D view.

...and completely unrelated: is it possible to assign a keyboard shortcut to line to condline and condline to line conversion functions?

What keyboard shortcut do you want to have? :) (it is not possible yet)

[Philippe Hurbain]

That is actually a feature. If you select a single vertex, it will activate "Single Vertex Modification" and show everything in text editor while it is active (regardless if it is hidden).
The idea behind this is that the user might want to see where the vertex is used, even if that usage is hidden in the 3D view.

I reckon that. But I was in subpart selection mode, not in vertex selection mode!

What keyboard shortcut do you want to have? (it is not possible yet)

let's say shift+C for C2L and shift+L for L2C. I guess it will be possible to personalize afterwards

[Max Murtazin]

I reckon that. But I was in subpart selection mode, not in vertex selection mode!

let's say shift+C for C2L and shift+L for L2C. I guess it will be possible to personalize afterwards

I think it should be reversed. Makes a bit more sense when key stands for result, not for target

[Philippe Hurbain]

I think it should be reversed. Makes a bit more sense when key stands for result, not for target

...I am "directionally challenged"