Subject:
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Re: getting started making pieces
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.cad.dev
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Date:
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Thu, 6 Jan 2000 14:11:43 GMT
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Viewed:
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862 times
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In lugnet.cad.dev, Richard Harris writes:
> A naive question perhaps, but I can't find the answer anywhere...
>
> I want to try my hand at making parts for ldraw, specifically I want to make
> minifig faces and torsos that haven't been done yet.
>
> What program(s) do you wizard-types use to make the parts in the first place?
>
> Any help or a pointer to a faq or something would be much appreciated! Also,
> is there a text list or something with all the pieces currently in development
> since the current database is down.
>
> Thanks in advance
>
> -Richard
Welcome - new part authors are always welcome. The following is my preferred
method of doing decorated parts as is a good grounding if you go on to author
complete parts - others have had some success with BMP2DAT for decorated parts.
1. Acquaint yourself with the DAT file commands (see the LDraw FAQ at
http://www.ldraw.org/memorial/archive/FAQ/) and the available primitives
(http://www.ldraw.org/memorial/archive/FAQ/Primitives_Reference).
2. Start small and work up - choose an easy part first. Take things slowly and
don't expect to achieve too much too quickly. Concentrate on quality rather
than quantity. Torsos are a good start since the decoration is two-dimensional.
3. For decorated parts (such as torsos) acquaint yourself with the existing
subparts (in the \s directory), since these contain all the commands except
those to define the decorated surface(s). Look at how similar parts have been
constructed, stepping through the DAT file one line at a time (LDAO has a
useful stop at cursor option). Beware that the decorated surface for the torsos
is an irregular octagon, so the cordinates of any polygon vertices on the
sloped sides need to be calculated carefully.
4. Draw out the part or the decoration on graph paper. For Torsos I use
20mm/2mm graph paper and draw at 4mm=1 LDraw unit (LDu). For most practical
purposes you can equate 1Ldu to 1/64 inch (ducking to avoid the metric vs.
imperial debate again).
5. Using type 3 (triangle) and type 4 (quad) commands build up the definition
of the whole of the decorated surface - the actual printing in the appropiate
colours and the background in colour 16. Don't add the subpart into the DAT
file until you are almost done - that way you can see any holes in your design
- it must fill the whole surface. I use LDAO
(http://home.att.net/~blisses/ldao/ldaddon.html) for the convenience of seeing
the part in an LDLite window as work progresses, but your favourite text editor
would be sufficient.
6. If you get stuck ask here, but try to ask specific (rather than general)
questions.
That's the basics - now here's some more advanced stuff
Don't use type 2 (line) commands to represent fine patterning, since these are
designed to represent edges between adjoining surfaces and are not scaled up by
the renderers as the magnification increases. However, to ensure that fine
patterns do not disappear completely at low mag, there is a technique (not
documented in the FAQ I believe) whereby type 2 lines may be defined along the
centres of narrow quads.
If you need to use the dithered colours be aware that LDraw only represents
these colours correctly via type 1 commands, so you need to move the commands
for each dithered colour out to a subfile (eg 973p34a.dat), change the colour
of each command to 16 and call this subfile with a type 1 command using the
dithered colour code.
Heads are more tricky, since the pattern needs to be projected onto the 16-agon
which LDraw uses to represent cylinders, and you need to take into account the
optional- (more correctly conditional-) lines that ensure that edges show up on
such pseudo-curved surfaces.
Not sure what to do about the non-availability of the Parts Tracker - I've got
a few torsos on the "drawing board" - what were you thinking of doing - I may
be able to help you get started?
Good luck - Chris
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | getting started making pieces
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| A naive question perhaps, but I can't find the answer anywhere... I want to try my hand at making parts for ldraw, specifically I want to make minifig faces and torsos that haven't been done yet. What program(s) do you wizard-types use to make the (...) (25 years ago, 6-Jan-00, to lugnet.cad.dev)
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