Subject:
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LDD Feedback (Was: LDD Introductions)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.cad, lugnet.lego.direct
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Date:
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Sat, 14 Jun 2003 06:25:40 GMT
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Viewed:
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1710 times
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> The ancient legends from our Dreamtime tell of our people travelling in • the
> stomach of the giant white bird Goorgoorgaga to distant shores. Could • these
> stories really be true?
More seriously ...
Feedback from a computer-literate 43 y-o using a laptop configured primarily
for work purposes rather than for gaming or graphics-intensive apps (mobile
AMD Athlon XP1800 with 256M RAM, 40G hard drive, 14 inch screen, 1024x768
screen resolution with 16-bit colour). I have limited experience with CAD in
general, apart from occasional use of MLCAD.
I downloaded and installed the LDD beta without any problems -- a complete
no-brainer -- 10 out of 10 here.
Without bothering to read any documentation first (i.e. what the average
customer won't bother reading either), I launched into using it and pretty
much figured it all out by myself, occasionally using the "hover help" to
tell me what the various buttons did. The only thing I could not work out by
this method was how to rotate a brick; reading the quick start information
gave me the answer. This revealed one inconsistency in the user interface --
a situation where the keyboard appeared to the only means to effect the
desired operation (as distinct from other keyboard uses which were
alternatives to a mouse action); I would have expected a rotate-the-brick
icon on the action menu bar (I assumed the greyed-out one is intended for
hinge swinging and not general brick rotation?).
It did not take much building before I was wishing that my brick selection
was "sticky", so I could repeatedly place the same brick type/colour with
each click without re-selecting it (as you want to do when laying down a
line of bricks). Cloning is not the answer as it still requires selection of
a brick, albeit from the model and not the brick selection menu. I found
myself automatically pressing SHIFT as I selected bricks (either from the
menu or as clones in the model) with the expectation that this would make
the selection sticky. Similarly I found myself spontaneously right-clicking
to rotate my brick, which again does not work. I'm not sure off-hand what
program has taught me to expect these behaviours (MLCAD?) but I was
frustrated when they didn't work.
The brick selection menu is a little bit confusing. I was bothered at first
by the exaggerated perspective of the brick shape; I was expecting a more
rectangular look corresponding to the appearance of the brick in the model.
However, a more significant problem was the difficulty of selecting larger
bricks as all bricks are shown in the same size and thus it was impossible
to see the studs of the 2x6 or 2x10 brick to determine what exactly they
were. I assume this problem would become even more confusing when all the
brick shapes are present. I can appreciate that it is not easy to show each
brick in its correct proportions within the menu, but I think the larger
bricks need to look at least a bit bigger than the smaller ones. Or perhaps
for the larger bricks/plates, writing 1x8, 2x10, 4x8 beside them would make
selection easier. The colour menu was very strange in appearance, all the
colours on my screen looked very faded. It looked like a palette of pastel
shades, yet the bricks themselves appeared in much brighter colours than the
palette suggested -- the brick colours weren't quite the "true colours" of
Lego even so. I tried using 32-bit colour but it made no difference.
When switching between build mode and view mode, I found it confusing that
the bottom menu bar used the same icons but with different semantics.
Indeed, the first time I entered view mode, I initially could not figure out
how to return to build mode because I assumed that the "out the door" icon
meant exit-program as it does in build mode. If the command is different,
then it should have a different icon, e.g. a "U-turn arrow" would have been
more likely to convey to me the semantics of returning to build mode.
I was irritated by the amount of screen taken up by the menus (left for
actions with their "pull-outs", lower-left for view, bottom for
meta-actions, top-right for brick type/colour) as it made it hard to get a
good look at the model (other than zooming right out which made placement
difficult). Yes, it is possible to close up the brick-selection menu (the
worst offender) but the small bar is still on top of the model window. I
would much prefer to have a single menu bar (on just one edge) from which
sub-menus can be pulled-out/closed-up, leaving a much larger space for
viewing the model. Yes, I am using a laptop but its screen resolution is
comparable with many older desktops (such as the ones passed down from
parent to children).
I notice that the baseplate in the beta is 20x20. I assume the final version
will allow a much larger footprint to be chosen (my MOCs generally have a
footprint of about 96x32).
I *do* like the way that placing a brick connects it to the brick below (in
MLCAD I am always leaving "air gaps" when I don't intend to) and I was
*very* impressed at being able to connect a brick under another brick (I had
assumed that the "build up from the base plate" paradigm meant that it was
only possible to build "up" and not "down" -- i.e. it would not be possible
to place a brick that relied on clutch power). However, I sometimes found it
difficult to see exactly where my brick would connect, especially when
working with transparent colours. However, I found that rotating the view
could make it easier to see where the bricks were going to connect. Although
it is possible to "build down", I can foresee problems with models like
spaceships/cars where construction typically starts in the middle (and may
involve turning the model upside down at times) and then at the end the
model is placed onto a baseplate with only a few struts/wheels to support
it. Personally this is not an issue for me as I build buildings which fit
the "up from the baseplate" paradigm.
The program was very reliable. It did not crash or do anything too wierd. It
did get a little bit slow when I started building towers that cantilevered
up and "over the edge" of the baseplate, but by adjusting the viewpoint, I
managed to go up a long way, but did occasionally get some "ghost bricks"
appearing (a re-draw button would have been useful).
All-in-all, it is looking pretty good for a first beta release. Keep up the
good work!
Kerry
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: LDD Feedback (Was: LDD Introductions)
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| (...) I definitely agree. (...) BlockCAD? (...) Ditto. (...) Definite usability problem there. (...) You can edit the file ...\LEGO Digital Designer\database\ui...onment.xml to change the baseplate size. (...) All-in-all, I agree with everything (...) (21 years ago, 14-Jun-03, to lugnet.cad, lugnet.lego.direct)
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