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Subject: 
Re: Converting AutoCAD/3D Studio/etc. to .dat with 3DWin
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.cad
Date: 
Fri, 21 Feb 2003 21:22:26 GMT
Viewed: 
1551 times
  
Hi Darrell -
Sorry I haven't been of much help via email. This is good discussion, but
since I'm not a programmer, I can't be of that much value right now. I've
got a few suggestions, though.

In lugnet.cad, Darrell Urbien writes:
> I've been talking with both Thomas Baier at TB Software and Steve Bliss at the
> Ldraw parts library about getting these two applications to work better with
> each other, but the more people we get on this the better, so I'm appealing to
> the LUGNET CAD community for help. If you have a copy of a commercial 3D
> software program and already have some Lego parts created try converting them
> using 3DWin and see if they can come up in MLCAD. I'm mainly thinking
> about new/strange/wacky parts that aren't already in the LDraw parts library
> (Bionicle? Pull-back motors? HP? etc.).

I suggest testing the parts converted using L3Lab and it's diagnostic tools
for parts authors.

> 3DWin is a shareware product available from TB Software at the following url:
> 
> http://www.tb-software.com/
> 
> You can download a demo version of this application for free; the only
> limitations are it can only convert one file at a time and there is no preview
> of the converted part (you'll have to open it in MLCAD and see if it worked).
> 
> The fully authorized version costs about $85 (79 Euros) and comes with preview
> and batch file processing.

Yeouch! Miguel was right. I was thinking the program cost around USD 30... I
can see how this would be prohibitive for some.

> If you are a MLCAD parts author who would be interested in troubleshooting
> these new parts, or if you had any ideas on how to make this process work
> better, it would be great if you could help too.

FYI - People use more than just MLCad to author parts. I know several who
use L3Lab (even multiple instances of it) plus a text editor, or LDDP to
write parts. Steve's expressed to me a few times on the phone 'I don't know
why people use MLCad to write parts...' ;-)

And they're LDraw parts, a part of the LDraw parts library, which MLCad can
use. ;-) (sorry, had to get that one in)

> This project is very close to my heart (I teach a 3D AutoCAD class that uses
> LEGO kits as a project), so I would really appreciate any help the LUGNET
> community could provide.

I'm glad you're taking this on -- it sounds like it will be very useful once
the conversion process is refined. And I do look forward to the time when I
can spend some time with you to learn more about your AutoCAD classes. I'll
be back in your area in the summer, we should talk more via email about that.

-Tim



Message is in Reply To:
  Converting AutoCAD/3D Studio/etc. to .dat with 3DWin
 
Hello all, While this certainly hasn't been a secret, I'm not sure anyone else has noticed: the latest version of TB Software's 3DWin can EXPORT .dat/.ldr files! Theoretically, this means you can now model a part in a commercial 3D CAD application (...) (24 years ago, 21-Feb-03, to lugnet.cad)

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