Subject:
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Re: Ldraw Viewer Update
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.cad.dev.mac
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Date:
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Fri, 29 Nov 2002 08:35:19 GMT
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Viewed:
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1620 times
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I have some more comments/feature requests for the LDraw editors (inspired
by Ldraw Viewer, but I think these would be good to have in any editor).
I would like to have a parts list much like ledit does (and ldglite when
running ledit emulation). Clicking on a part there is exactly the same as
clicking a part in the window. However, dragging a part in the parts list
will change its order in the parts list.
It might be interesting to be able to open the part in the parts list as
well. LCX (the Cocoa LDraw viewer that was used to demo one of the features
of Quartz Extreme at WWDC this year--which was never publicly released) did
this. It did this because the author wanted to be able to fix BFC
non-compliant parts. He would open up the sub parts until he found non BFC
compliant polygons, and then he had a button that would switch the points so
that they were BFC compliant. I think the BFC thing is why LCX was never
finished (hint, search for BFC and Apple under lugnet.cad.dev and you might
find the author's email).
Then I was thinking that it would be cool to shift/command click parts to
select multiple parts and move/rotate/delete them all at once.
I would also very much like to be able to "hide" parts. This is where a
parts list would be very useful since I would have to "unhide" them from the
parts list.
About my comment in the last email about a palette with buttons. 4 buttons
would be: "x", "y", "z", and "other". These buttons would refer to the
plane that all actions are done in. Instead of 6 arrow keys, why not have 4
arrow keys per plane. So, < v ^ > would move the part(s) in whatever plane
is selected.
The "x", "y", and "z" buttons could also apply to the rotation. For
example. If I am looking straight at a model, how do I get it to roll,
instead of tilt? Buttons could give me control to do that.
Another thing that would help rotations and movements is if there was a
transparent wall that showed the current plane.
Also, maybe the way rotation is figured out could be calculated by the
current view. For example, if a model is upside down, I have to click and
drag it right when I want to rotate it left. Perhaps that could be changed
so that the "front" of model is always what is pointing at me.
Another button could be "Rotate part", which will rotate the selected part
instead of the model. Then click and drag would just rotate the selected part.
Also, in order to aid animation. One thing I really wanted to add to the
Lani thing I did was a "pivot" location. That is, many parts have a very
specific spot that they connect with and rotate with other parts. The
minifigs is a perfect example. The arms always connect at the same spot and
rotate on the same plane. Since Ldraw Viewer is predefining parts (which I
think is a cool idea--but maybe it would be nice to be able to turn it
off...?), perhaps it could also predefine "pivot" points and rotation axises.
Finally, the "other" button mentioned along side the "x", "y", and "z"
buttons could represent "any" plane. For example, say I have a hinge and I
have a huge amount of parts on that hinge. Instead of doing weird stuff to
get the parts all lined up, why not just *shift* everything.
I'm not sure how best to define a custom plane, but one option is to "use
plane of part x". So, if I have 2 parts that have a defined pivot, and one
of them is at a weird angle, then I could just say "use the plane of the
weird part". Clicking "other" and "x" would be the x plane of that part.
Clicking "other" and "y" would be the "y" plane. Etc.,. Maybe this could
be done by first clicking "other" on, then I have to click the part to use.
Then the transparent wall shows me my new plane.
I have lots of ideas, I just lack time and programming knowledge/experience
to do anything with them but tell you guys....
James
In lugnet.cad.dev.mac, Andrew Allan writes:
> A quick note, after a delay and vacation, I have posted an update to Ldraw
> Viewer on my .Mac site.
>
> homepage.mac.com/aallan/LdGLite
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Ldraw Viewer Update
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| I wasn't clear in the purpose of a pivot point. If a part has a pivot point, it would be cool if the user could rotate the part around the pivot point instead of the part's internal 0,0,0. In fact, it would be cool to rotate a part (or group of (...) (22 years ago, 29-Nov-02, to lugnet.cad.dev.mac)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Ldraw Viewer Update
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| Awesome! The mouse behavior is very intuitive. Click on part to select. Click and drag to rotate model. If no part is selected then the arrow keys pan. If a part is selected then the arrow keys move the part. All it needs is a parts palette. Need to (...) (22 years ago, 28-Nov-02, to lugnet.cad.dev.mac)
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