Subject:
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Re: The future of LDraw?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.cad
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Date:
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Sat, 20 Mar 2010 15:28:16 GMT
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Viewed:
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21278 times
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In lugnet.cad, Timothy Gould wrote:
> In lugnet.cad, Dave Schuler wrote:
> > You may dismiss it as a non-issue if you wish.
>
> I shall continue to do so I'm afraid until I understand why it's an issue. As I
> said above I just don't understand why a few lines in a header make such a big
> difference. And I'm honestly not being obtuse here either. I'm ready to change
> my opinion if I understand and agree with what you're saying. I feel I must be
> missing something.
>
> Tim
It is an issue IMO. Probably a small one compared to other ones, but it's the
sum of real or subjective obstacles that makes me worried about recruiting new
LDraw authors.
What I believe is the biggest issue is nobody's fault: All the easy, "basic"
parts are already made, and the new parts LEGO makes are very hard to LDraw. One
of my first parts, maybe the very first one, was 31.dat, Classic Window 3x2. I
looked at the 2x2 I believe, manipulted it a little here and a little there and
noticed the changes it made. That was a challange in the just right level for me
as a newbie.
When my first LDraw parts were officialized, I think it was by JJ himself(?), it
was probably too fast and too easy. There were obvious flaws that was either
overlooked with or missed. But we only had original LDraw to review them in, and
they looked ok there, so...
Today it is the opposite way. Parts are held hostage in the Tracker for years
and I have been both annoyed and discouraged from the reasons that my and other
authors' parts are being held.
On top of everything, the growing part headers have a highly psychlogical
impact. No matter if there is a DatHeader utility to support me as an author. If
I as an "LDraw veteran" get the feeling that this is impossible, I can never
write a header that complies to all those rules - how much more would a newbie
be discouraged? No matter what the crew who has added the rules, one by one and
after discussions, think: it really is repellant. I can imagine a newbie wanting
to become a part author. He or she will not get to business at once with the
line types that makes something happen in the renderer, but will likely try to
understand the meaning of the header lines first.
One thing that strikes me is that all header lines are cheerfully ignored by the
LCad programs except the BFC Certify line. They are in a sense "useless" for the
output image. I mean that the picture would look exactly the same without all
the header lines. I'm *not* saying that we should ban all header lines to make
newbies feel better to join the part author's guild. It's just a thought worth
having in mind. Maybe worth mentioning early in a part authoring tutorial. A
part or model file would work just as well if the first line was a type 1 ~ 5.
It's not a really big issue. But it is an issue, on top of others.
/Tore
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: The future of LDraw?
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| In lugnet.cad, Tore Eriksson wrote: ***snip*** I'd like to mention at this point that Tore Eriksson is personally responsible for my first forays into apocryphal parts-authoring. I found his small handful of Tyco-based half-height elements, and I (...) (15 years ago, 20-Mar-10, to lugnet.cad)
| | | Re: The future of LDraw?
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| (...) I think you are completely right here! I have done some starts in part authoring, but given up on 'the real thing' as there are no easy parts left to do. Of course this makes it much harder for a budding part author. The quality which is (...) (15 years ago, 20-Mar-10, to lugnet.cad)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: The future of LDraw?
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| (...) Possibly so but I'm of the opinion that those that make and share the parts are entitled to some narcissism. And I speak having done minimal part authoring in quite some time (due to laziness) so it's not self-interest at work. --snip-- Your (...) (15 years ago, 20-Mar-10, to lugnet.cad)
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