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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: 
537 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 (...) (21 years ago, 21-Feb-03, to lugnet.cad)

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