.ldr part dependancies for LPub and MLCAD?

[Neil P]

Hi,

I was wondering what would happen if I saved a .ldr file, and passed it to a computer which didn't have the parts definitions that I had?

I wouldn't expect it to work properly in MLCAD, but how about if I loaded it in LPub?

does LPub rely on the parts libraries on the computer when rendering (or does POV-ray?) or can it work with only the .ldr and default parts.

Thanks in advance

[Travis Cobbs]

If LPub is configured to use LDView as its renderer, and LDView is configured to automatically download unofficial parts, then the file should load fine on the new computer as long as all of the unofficial parts you use are on the Parts Tracker.

However, if LPub is configured to use POV-Ray as its renderer, then I believe it will only work if L3P can find the parts, and L3P doesn't automatically download unofficial parts. (This presupposes that LPub uses L3P to generate POV-Ray output, but I'm pretty sure it does.) If you open the file in LDView, LDView will download the unofficial files needed for you automatically, then L3P should be useable.

Having said all that, L3P (1.4 Beta) may or may not automatically support the Unofficial directory that LDView downloads parts into. I think it does, but I could be wrong about that. If it doesn't, you should be able to still get it to work by creating a properly formatted ldraw.ini file, but I'm not going to go into details about that unless it doesn't work automatically. So, if you load the file in LDView on the computer and all the parts display, but then some are missing when rendered in LPub using POV-Ray, let me know, and I'll attempt to provide instructions for an ldraw.ini file with Unofficial directory support.

[Neil P]

Thank you very much Travis,

My main concern was how I should go about storing my drawings. I wanted to avoid the situation where my .ldr files get broken if the parts library gets updated.

I use the Lpub that came with the 2006 q3 all in one install release, and these compatibility questions were raised in my head after seeing the new 2011 version up now. I like the prev version of Lpub and was comfortable with the workflow. I think it uses POV-Ray to render the images, but I'll look again closer to see L3p's role in it all.

For now, I think I will poke around more with Lpub and L3P and will try to stick with parts libraries that are under the Parts Tracker (I didn't know about this feature yet~). I like my current workflow but, if I like what I see, I'll adjust it a bit to ensure the use of Tracked Parts.

Thanks again~

[Travis Cobbs]

Updates to official parts will never break backwards compatibility. However, updates to unofficial parts occasionally do that (when the origin gets moved, for example). The only way to guarantee that a model that uses unofficial parts won't break in the future is to package all of the unofficial parts along with the model itself into an MPD. That's why OMR files are required to do this. I believe that there is a tool that can do this, but I don't know what it is.

[Steffen]

I'm using "mpdwizard.exe" for this purpose.
I fear that it currently is not available for download anymore somewhere,
if you need it, let me know.
It's not perfect, but does what it promises.
It packs a file plus all unofficial files together into a mpd,
so a model becomes fully self-contained.

[Philippe Hurbain]

Yes it's available here!

[Neil P]

Thanks! But, I'm not quite sure how I'm supposed to use it~

[Neil P]

oh wait, turns out the Lpub I use (v2.3.0.10) has this functionality. I can "save as MPD"... i guess this will work OK for me. It can load an MPD through the "open LDRAW File" as well... great I hope this can protect my drawing from being broken in the long run~

Thanks for the help guys, cheers,

[Steffen]

Well, you give it a *.ldr file and let it create a *.mpd from it, with all files that are not found in PARTS or P inside.
As simple as that.