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Subject: 
Re: Lego Digital Designer
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.cad
Date: 
Fri, 6 Jun 2003 13:02:57 GMT
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"Orion Pobursky" <orion@dontaddthis.pobursky.com> wrote in message
news:HFxnxx.1q2y@lugnet.com...
In lugnet.cad, John Henry Kruer wrote:

I'm glad to see that they finally released a public beta.  I am • disappointed
that the program requires an internet connection to download the pieces • and then
deletes them when you exit.  I wanted to see the new LXF format.  Also, I • lothe
programs that force full screen mode.  There's also the usual gripe about • exe
vs. zip installation, but I'll never win that one.

I'm not sure I understand.  I didn't do the "setup install" over the
Internet - I instead opted to download the full installation and install
locally.

In my database\bricks folder, I have the following two files:

5/29/2003   7:38a        296,925  4000makeandcreate.lxf
5/28/2003  10:24a          7,891  4000makeandcreate.xml

The XML appears to be just a basic parts listing, here's an example entry:

     <Object_235723>
      <SetID>4000MakeAndCreate</SetID>
      <DesignID>2357</DesignID>
      <ColourCode>23</ColourCode>
      <MainGroup>201</MainGroup>
      <MainGroupIcon>false</MainGroupIcon>
      <Quantity>1</Quantity>
    </Object_235723>

The lxf file is actually a standard ZIP file, and unzips to the following:

8/30/1994   7:00p         10,392  BRICK1.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         24,872  BRICK2357.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         21,416  BRICK2420.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         26,484  BRICK2431.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         93,088  BRICK2445.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         38,656  BRICK3001.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         28,288  BRICK3002.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         17,920  BRICK3003.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         10,132  BRICK30039.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p        100,864  BRICK3006.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         30,880  BRICK3020.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         23,104  BRICK3021.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         15,328  BRICK3022.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         21,028  BRICK30244.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         61,984  BRICK3034.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         14,176  BRICK3048.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         20,556  Brick3049.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         57,412  BRICK30602.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         18,708  BRICK3068.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         10,132  BRICK3069.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         20,972  BRICK3300.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         78,444  BRICK3709.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         46,432  BRICK3795.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         77,536  BRICK3832.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         69,972  BRICK4032.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         47,220  BRICK4162.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p        165,220  BRICK4282.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         87,028  BRICK44237.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p          8,508  BRICK4865.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         81,916  BRICK6143.CHUNK
8/30/1994   7:00p         28,012  BRICK6231.CHUNK

These correspond to each entry in the XML.  Each of the chunk files,
however, appears to be pure binary.  An example from BRICK1.CHUNK:

0000 0000 1C 27 6A 09 7B 4B 4B 0C  A8 8D 36 08 3C 35 51 54
0000 0010 00 00 00 00 94 BE 2C 17  A1 DC 42 E7 A9 64 4C 68
0000 0020 AC C0 B3 E2 7C 20 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 E4 D4 77
0000 0030 E8 28 38 AA D5 26 43 1E  87 1B 8A 37 FB DD F9 A6
0000 0040 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 E4 D4 77 01 00 00 00
0000 0050 76 87 F1 27 A8 D0 42 16  AF 10 A4 F5 50 84 04 5C
0000 0060 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 E4 D4 77 01 00 00 00
0000 0070 86 A0 F7 6B 74 0E 4F 96  A1 17 96 1E 1F 48 7B 2F

I can't make much out of that.  Anyone done further research?

With all due respect to LEGO, while I think this might be a fun diversion
for children for a few hours, I don't see this as a product I would purchase
as a modeling adult.  The LDRAW system continues to be a win for several
reasons:

- Open, (relatively) easily understood architecture
- Somewhat large support/fan base with multiple contributors and good
information available
- A wealth of various modeling/support/render tools, fostering "competition"
and a great deal of choice
- Far more flexibility with respect to part layout and orientation
- Ability to manipulate visual output through several types of rendering, 3D
display tools, etc.
- Submodels (those who have ever worked on larger projects know how
essential this has become)

Does anyone know what LEGO's intended market is for this product?  Perhaps
they will consider an 'advanced' version at some point.  Of course, the big
win would be to have interoperability with the CHUNK format parts, where we
could mix and match DAT parts with CHUNK parts in a single model, but I
shudder to even consider the technical difficulty of such a feat.

Just my thoughts...

Rodney



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Lego Digital Designer
 
(...) My understanding is that it doesn't have a target market, it has a target audience. Based on posts made here on Lugnet by Jake McKee, I don't believe they plan to charge money for it (although I could have misinterpreted what he said, and I'm (...) (21 years ago, 6-Jun-03, to lugnet.cad)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Lego Digital Designer
 
(...) Actually there were two, quite lengthy discussions about this program: (URL) glad to see that they finally released a public beta. I am disappointed that the program requires an internet connection to download the pieces and then deletes them (...) (21 years ago, 4-Jun-03, to lugnet.cad)

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