Parts Tree Amendment

[Nathan S]

LEGO continues to put out more decorated pieces, and LDraw has put a lot of efforts into creating them for the library.  And of course, this is happening while overall new pieces are also being added.  Given the increase then in the parts library, I was curious if there was any thought given to separating out those decorated parts in the part three.  For example: Brick, Bricks Decorated, Tile, Tile Decorated.  BrickLink has done this with their catalog, and it has been a great help for navigation.

[Magnus Forsberg]

What part tree are you refering to?
We have always had them separated.  "Brick ... with ... Pattern"  or "Part ... with ... Sticker"
Are you perhaps refering to any of the model editors,  like LDCad or LeoCad?

[Orion Pobursky]

The writing's on the wall for our pattern suffix definitions. We've already bumped into its limitations in some areas.

[Nathan S]

What part tree are you refering to?
We have always had them separated.  "Brick ... with ... Pattern"  or "Part ... with ... Sticker"
Are you perhaps refering to any of the model editors,  like LDCad or LeoCad?

Yes, I should have clarified.  I use MLCad.

Is that beyond the LDraw side? I forget who authors what.

[Manfred Schaefer]

The writing's on the wall for our pattern suffix definitions. We've already bumped into its limitations in some areas.

Wouldn't now be a good time to redefine these extensions, e.g. generally four characters.
In doing so, the "problem" I addressed in the following post could also be fixed.

https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-27175.ht...ern+suffix

Additionally, elements that are similar like the round tile 2x2, 14769 and 4150, would be grouped together for printing and would have the same suffix for the same printing.
If the reference to e.g. BrickLink was mandatory, it would be relatively easy to check if the imprint is already used.
The page "Paterned Part Summary" could also be extended regarding the groups.

Regards

Manfred