Subject:
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Re: Instructions for new fire truck - Ladder 110
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.inst, lugnet.town
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Date:
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Sun, 3 Aug 2003 15:43:41 GMT
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Viewed:
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5915 times
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In lugnet.inst, Allan Bedford wrote:
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In lugnet.inst, Kevin L. Clague wrote:
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In lugnet.inst, Allan Bedford wrote:
snip
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However, I did notice something in your picture above. You have the parts
list for that step as part of the instruction image. Are you doing that
manually? Or is there an option in LPub that combines the two
automagically? :)
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I’m not at my LPub computer right now, so I can’t tell you, but it is a
*menu* item just below the one you use to generate images.
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LAYOUTS is the menu item.
And yes, it does work! I’m guessing it didn’t work for me earlier, because
it needs the parts and the step .jpg’s already created... is that right? And
my guess is that I tried using it as a first step, not a second process.
Or.... I just screwed it up somehow. :)
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Layout can’t do anything unless you’ve generated everything.
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I was able to create a nice set of instructions last night, and then ran the
LAYOUTS command, which worked very well.
I’m curious to know why LPub sends two versions of the full model to POV-Ray.
One “full size” and one much smaller, using c as part of the file name.
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This is related to sub-model usage. LPub uses a depth first search algorithm
for processing sub-models. So it looks for all the sub-models in a model and
creates their construction images’ before creating the top level model’s.
Same is true during the Part List Image phase. When LPub creates PLIs for the
top level model, it uses the small image of the sub-model as a part image for
that model.
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Also, am I crazy or does LPub sometimes create the pieces for the BOM first
and other times it creates the step images first? To be honest, I try so
many configurations and variations that I sometimes loose track of what
setting did what to which program. But even last night, I’m sure I saw this
behaviour. :)
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It always creates the construction images first, then the part images and part
list images, then the BOM.
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For the instructions I did last night, I pushed the scroll bar all the way to
the left. The model is mostly yellow and light grey, and having the previous
bricks at full intensity worked very well. I’m quite pleased with the
results.
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That is why there is a scroll bar. You can select one extreme or the other,
orany place in between.
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Is there a benefit to changing this number from its default of 3000? I think
the BOM’s come out great... with a reasonable quality at a very economical
.jpg size.
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If the scale works well for you, great! I made a lot of things optional,
because others might find better settings than I have, or have preferences that
are different than mine.
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If I were to offer a gentle suggestion... it might be that some of the
documentation that accompanies these programs could be geared more to LEGO
builders, rather than graphics junkies. For example: I knew zero about an
app like POV-Ray before I started using it. I now know 1.73625 % of all
there is to know about it. In other words, I’m still a graphics idiot.
But I find their documentation to be heavily slanted towards folks who are
very graphics savy.
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I might recommend a book “LEGO Software Power Tools” (shameless plug) that
does this. It talks about MLCad, LSynth, L3P, POV-Ray, LPub.... The
POV-Ray part is pretty thin.
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Nothing wrong with a shameless plug... look at what started this thread. :)
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Now, POV isn’t a LEGO program... of course. So why should LEGO be in their
documentation? It shouldn’t. But what I find hard to grasp sometimes is
that people might offer the suggestion to “read the POV-Ray help files and
you’ll find your answer.” Which normally I would agree with, but because
their documentation is so thick with graphics terminology I don’t
understand, it’s of little help. I have always used this example when
describing that type of documentation. It’s as though they are saying:
“A shovel is a tool used to shovel.”
It’s a very accurate statement, but not very helpful if it’s the shovel
that you’re trying to understand. In the case of ray tracing, it’s the
shovel part that I don’t understand and that’s why I get frustrated with
their docs.
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I hear ya. Maybe it’s one of those “I suffered through it, you should too”
kind of deals. I’ve had to slog my way through some of that stuff, and I
know a fair amount about computer graphics and I get overwhelmed.
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Your last comment makes me feel better. :)
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;^) When I’m immersed technically in things I tend to think in layers and take
the lowest level layers as givens and as single concepts. If you flatten
it all out it just makes things hard to comprehend. Taking each and every
layer and explaining it in excruciating detail is laborious and *boring*
:^)
snip
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Sometimes it can be a *lot* of work trying to translate something like POV
documentation into English that can be read by mere mortals ;^) I know this
after having co-authored in a few books. I like my editors, but computer
saavy they are not, much less technical about LEGO. Getting so they could
understand it was a tiresome, but neccessary effort.
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I can appreciate that. Part of my job is sometimes writing about technical
issues, but for a non-technical (i.e. management) type audience. I actually
don’t mind it, but it can be tedious to make sure you’ve over-explained
everything.
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Yup, and then it is extra annoying if they can’t even get that version...
Fortunatly in my profession most of the managerial types I work with are
technical.
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One comment to go back to something earlier in the thread:
I mentioned that I couldn’t find a way to rotate the entire model in LeoCAD.
Well, it’s not that hard. I do a SELECT ALL from the EDIT menu to make sure
I’m affecting the entire model. Then I just used SHIFT + PAGE UP (or DOWN)
to rotate the model in space, leaving the camera as is. Since the options
allow you to set your rotation amount in degrees, you can point the model any
way you want. I’d used this function for single pieces before, but hadn’t
for some reason thought it could work on the entire model. It does. :)
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Also you mentioned that LeoCAD doesn’t support sub-models. I’d guess that you
just don’t know how to do it.
I’d guess that you can create a DAT file that has your ladder in it as a file
and write it out. Then you can create the top-level model and add the ladder as
a part. In the LDraw file format a model, sub-model and part library parts all
use exactly the same file format. If you can add a library part you might be
able to add a custom part (i.e. sub-model).
Kevin
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Instructions for new fire truck - Ladder 110
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| (...) LAYOUTS is the menu item. And yes, it does work! I'm guessing it didn't work for me earlier, because it needs the parts and the step .jpg's already created... is that right? And my guess is that I tried using it as a first step, not a second (...) (21 years ago, 3-Aug-03, to lugnet.inst, lugnet.town, FTX)
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