Subject:
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Re: Challenge/Request for the CAD gurus
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.cad
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Date:
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Mon, 12 Nov 2001 23:48:23 GMT
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Viewed:
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962 times
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In lugnet.cad, Richard Marchetti writes:
> Bram has hit it squarely, as has Jake. Put the two voices together and you
> get three main ideas...
>
> Ldraw should be:
> 1. Simple to Download
> 2. Simple to install
I found Ldraw/Ledit to be easy to download and install. I would say that I
was middle level computer user, I am quite experienced but have no
programming/DOS software experience. I now use MLCad which is much more user
friendly for the average user and installs as simply as any other software.
> 3. Simple to understand (i.e. DOCUMENTATION)
I would say that there is a big difference in the technical and perceptual
level of ease of understanding between the base level Ldraw/Ledit and the
various add-on packages. Having said that I found Ldraw/Ledit easy to use
once i had the parts list on hard copy, however it looks very daunting and
to the average computer user far too technical.
MLCad was so intuiative that I needed no documentation but i do still use
the hardcopy parts list and its newer version the Printable visual Partslist
from http://moon.pr.erau.edu/~sayrew/lego.html, partly because my computer
is only a P100 so it is quicker to type a number than look throught the
graphic menus.
It was when I came to rendering that I found problems. I use L3P and L3PAO
with POVray but it took me ages to get L3P to produce .POV files with any
content (partly due to my mistakes) because the need to set DOS paths is not
part of the standard range of tasks for the average user. This is where we
come back to point 2. the installation, an Installsheild type thing would
solve this problem.
My other main problem when I was a newbie was which software to use. Because
of the group nature of development there are different packages to do
different tasks but also some seem to be repeated, e.g. I do not know what
LDLite or LGEO are like because the repeat (as far as I know what MLCad does).
I feel that some users, used to the convergence exhibitedby Microsoft Office
type software may struggle to cope with the chain of software required e.g.
I use MLCAD (which requires LDraw/LEdit) - L3PAO (Which requires L3P and
would also like LGEO and its parts library) - POVray - Photoshop just to
produce a JPeg to post on the net. This is where clear step by step
documentation and possibly a 'cover-all' instal could work wonders.
>
> I would pull back from Jake's request to the degree that perhaps full blown
> animation is something best left to the TRULY obsessed -- not that a slick
<snip>
I am currently doing a course in 3D studio Max and most of the concepts of
animation are actually fairly simple. I would say that POV is not the place
to create animations, just where to render the individual frames. If someone
can come up with a way to animate DATs and create the multiple .POV file
required then that would be cool.
Tim
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Challenge/Request for the CAD gurus
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| Bram has hit it squarely, as has Jake. Put the two voices together and you get three main ideas... Ldraw should be: 1. Simple to Download 2. Simple to install 3. Simple to understand (i.e. DOCUMENTATION) I would pull back from Jake's request to the (...) (23 years ago, 11-Nov-01, to lugnet.cad)
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