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Subject: 
Mac LDraw Viewer comments
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.cad.dev.mac
Date: 
Sat, 21 Dec 2002 02:00:04 GMT
Viewed: 
1535 times
  
Well, I am useless when it comes to prgraming, but I can pretend that I
am performing a valuable service by reporting my findings for beta
software.

I started up LDraw Viewer 0.3.1 on a PowerBook G3 (FireWire), ATI(AGP)
128 bit Rage Mobility with 8 MB VRAM, 640 MB RAM and made the following
observations:

First Experiences
Windows and doors render differently in Carbon and Classic applications.
In carbon, window frames of 1x2x2 windows are darker than they should be.
In classic, window frames are the same color as regular bricks.
In carbon, 1x4x5 solid door with 4 pane window is darker than it should
be.
In classic, 1x4x5 solid door with 4 pane window the same color as
regular bricks.
In carbon, blue with white suit stencil minifig top is darker than other
blue bricks.
Transparent elements, trans clear windshield and trans red 1x1 round
plate, look gray.

In LDViewer classic, a 1x3x3 door that is set at a 45° angle sticks out
the side of the model, which it would do if it was set at a 90° angle.



1st attempt drawing with LDraw Viewer.
Double clicked application icon.
Selected a ³.dat² file (mini.dat) when dialogue box appeared.
A window named ³mini.dat² containing a view of my model opened.
Created a new document by pressing ³command + n²
The contents of the window named ³mini.dat² changed to a gray 2x4 brick.
Selected ³Save² from the file menu while trying to select ³Save as...²
Oops, I think I have a back-up of the model I just erased.
Clicked on the gray 2x4 brick and selected ³Select Part Name...² from
the ³Piece² menu.
   Part number dialogue box appeared.
Entered 3005 and hit return.
   A 1x1 brick appeared.
Selected ³Colour² then ³White² from the ³Piece² menu.
   Brick turned white.
Pressed ³command + i".
   A new white 1x1 brick appeared in the same spot as the old one.
However, there is no visual clue that anything happened. This might
confuse a new user.
Pressed the arrow key several times to move one part off of the other.
   Part moved up.
Selected ³Select Part Name...² from the ³Piece² menu.
   Part number dialogue box appeared.
Entered 3010 and hit return.
   White 1x1 turned into a white 1x4 brick.
Selected ³Colour² then ³Black² from ³Piece² menu.
   Application crashed.

Double clicked application icon.
Selected cancel when presented with initial open file dialogue box.
   An empty window named ³untitled² appeared.
Pressed ³command + i"
   Application crashed.

Since I didn¹t have to restart my machine, and since I had heard good
things about LDraw Viewer I decided to try again.

Double clicked application icon.
Selected a ³.dat² file (mini.dat) when dialogue box appeared.
A window named ³mini.dat² containing a view of a 2x4 gray brick (that
used to be my model) opened.
Created a new document by pressing ³command + n²
The contents of the window named ³mini.dat² did not change.
Selected ³Save as...² and entered test.dat.
Clicked on the gray 2x4 brick and selected ³Select Part Name...² from
the ³Piece² menu.
   Part number dialogue box appeared.
Entered 3005 and hit return.
   A 1x1 brick appeared.
Selected ³Colour² then ³White² from the ³Piece² menu.
   Brick turned white.
Pressed ³command + i".
   A new white 1x1 brick appeared in the same spot as the old one.
Pressed the arrow key several times to move one part off of the other.
   Part moved up.
Selected ³Select Part Name...² from the ³Piece² menu.
   Part number dialogue box appeared.
Entered 3010 and hit return.
   White 1x1 turned into a white 1x4 brick.
Selected ³Colour² then ³Black² from ³Piece² menu.
   White 1x4 brick turned into a black 1x4 brick.
Pressed ³command + s².
   Changes were saved.
Quit program.

Just to check previous misbehavior...
Double clicked application icon.
   Initial open dialogue box popped up.
Clicked cancel
   Dialogue box went away and an empty window called untitled appeared.
Pressed ³command + i²
   Application crashed.

Never thought I would do that huh? :)



Bugs
Pressing (command + D) in ³Save as...² dialogue box does not change
location to desktop. The edit menu lights up instead (trying to do a
delete?)

Application crashes if an empty untitled window is created by clicking
cancel at the initial open file dialogue box.

Must click to the left of the x in ³axis² to switch axes in the
³Orientation² dialogue box.

Crashed on changing a magenta 1x4 brick to a magenta 1.3 brick (3622).
Opened file, moved white 1x1, moved black 1x4, added back 1x4, moved new
black 1x4, changed color to blue, added blue 1x4, moved blue 1x4,
changed brick to 1x1, selected blue 1x4, added blue 1x4, moved new blue
1x4, changed color to red, added red 1x4, moved new red 1x4, changed
brick to 1x2, added new red 1x2, moved new red 1x2, changed brick to
1x4, changed color to magenta, added new magenta 1x4, moved new magenta
1x4, changed brick to 1x3, crash.

Not reproducible


Bad Form
New documents should open with a new name, not the old documents name.
Parts are listed ³.dat² file based on the part from which they came but
in reverse chronological order. This is going to be a compatibility
problem, or do(will) steps get inserted in the right order?

1 1 10 -24 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3005.DAT  1st brick made from 3rd brick
1 5 230 -24 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3622.DAT  made from 6th brick
1 5 240 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3010.DAT  made from 5th brick
1 4 120 -24 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3004.DAT  made from 4th brick
1 4 140 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3010.DAT  2nd brick made from 3rd brick
1 1 40 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3010.DAT   made from 2nd brick
1 0 -60 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3010.DAT  made from 1st brick
1 15 -140 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3005.DAT 1st brick

Feature requests
Change default to ³.ldr²? Is LDraw.org campaining for this?
Command keys for opening color dialogue box and selecting colors.
Command keys for opening part number dialog box.
Command keys for part orientation.
Selecting multiple bricks simultaneously.
Individual white bricks are very difficult to see. Different color
backgrounds, or better lighting.
Get Mac OS X to recognize files created by LDraw Viewer as files that
should be opened by LDraw Viewer. (Or is this Mac OS X 10.2.2
misbehaving since I cannot seem to get the ³Change All², in the ³Get
Info² window, option for all dat files to work.
Multiple windows open at the same time?
Better looking transparent brick rendering?


Thanks!
Chris



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Mac LDraw Viewer comments
 
Christopher, Excellent feedback, keep it comming. This way I can improve the software more easily. Otherwise I develop using mushroom theory (working in the dark). (...) Which OS are you using? (...) Both versions use the same code to display the (...) (22 years ago, 21-Dec-02, to lugnet.cad.dev.mac)

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