Complex Figures (Duplo/Technic/Fabuland)

[Chris Böhnke]

I came across this while trying to look for colour errors in the Fabuland Figures.

How shall complex figures be handled in the library?
Note that this is not something exclusive to a much older age, since the Duplo figures are still current. Also I am aware that many examples have not yet been done (and are unlikely to appear soon), but we do have examples already.

To explain what I mean with "complex figure", here's a (probably incomplete) list:
-in general, not meant to be disassembled; more than 5 (?) subparts
-Fabuland figures (1979-1989; including those 1986 Basic odd ones)
-Technic figures (1986-2000)
-Duplo Figures (2004-now)
-Duplo Figures (1983-2003)
-Belville, Scala etc.

Technically, these are "assemblies" yet not "true shortcuts", since they come as one single piece outside a sealed box.

A few issues here:

1. File Number - usually this should be the Element Number, but not all of the older ones are known. The xxc0y format likely shouldnt apply here
   
2. Base Colour - which to pick? This is often not that easy to determine, since some have every part coloured differently and an "official" version is not known
   
3. Assemblies not always the same - Duplo hats/Fabuland heads - should these get the same "Shortcut Link", so you see all Duplo figures listed there?
   
4. Some Fabuland figures are currently listed as "Physical Colour Shortcut" which feels wrong
   
5. A few issues with the Duplo figures seem present as well
   

Any thoughts on this?

[Rene Rechthaler]

What about the simple 2x2 square duplo figs?
https://rebrickable.com/parts/dupfig0009...les-print/
https://rebrickable.com/parts/2327c01pr0...ose-print/
are these parallel to the normal figs? how are the normal figs separated? (early/late or Type1/Type2?)

There is now exactly 1 Technic fig assembly (uncolored/unprinted): https://library.ldraw.org/parts/2971
should we also include the "most common" figs which can be done from the existing parts?
https://rebrickable.com/parts/2698c01pr0...rms-skier/
https://rebrickable.com/parts/2698c01pr0...lack-hair/
https://rebrickable.com/parts/2698c01pr0...rown-hair/

For the coloring, I would set the torso as base color (like the minifig torso shortcuts)

[Magnus Forsberg]

Any thoughts on this?

We made all the Fabuland figures because it was fun to have a complete set of the all characters, but when we started adding the Friends characters it pretty soon became impossible to keep up with all the releases of figures/clothes/pattern. 

This burst of complete figures lead to the decition to stop making complete figures and eventually abandon all the physical coloured parts.

However, it is still possible to make one complete shortcut, only using the uncoloured base parts. See it as a template. 
Inline it, to add the prefered patterns, and reshape it into the position you want.

[Hageta]

Maybe a meta command for remapping colours could help in some cases. Instead of creating a new file everytime you need a new colour combo, you could have a command that remaps colours. But this could get complicated if you allow nesting.

[Orion Pobursky]

Maybe a meta command for remapping colours could help in some cases. Instead of creating a new file everytime you need a new colour combo, you could have a command that remaps colours. But this could get complicated if you allow nesting.

While new commands seem tempting, they are effectively useless unless the major LDraw editors (including Studio) supported. Getting the Studio team to do anything community minded (even officially communicating with the community) is effectively impossible