Subject:
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Site change suggestion
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw
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Date:
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Wed, 28 Jun 2000 07:02:07 GMT
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Viewed:
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776 times
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Despite the fact that ldraw.org is a site about ldraw, the fact is that any
new user trying to build models would almost certainly be better off running
MLCad than LEdit. It's user-friendly, and Michael keeps adding more cool
new features. It's my personal feeling that the Getting Started section of
the site should note that most new users will most likely want to use MLCad
to do their modeling (or some other brick-based modeling program: MLCad is
the only one I have used at all yet).
As it stands, new users are left with the impression that the community at
large uses LDraw and LEdit as their primary tools. MLCad is listed on the
software page which is linked at the bottom of the getting started page, but
for people who are in a hurry to get started, it's easy to overlook
initially. While I personally have only recently started to pursue my
interest in LDraw, it has certainly seemed to me based on postings to these
newsgroups that MLCad is the preferred modeling software, not LEdit. Am I
way off base, here? Are these views heretical? :-)
I'm posting this message partially based on posts I have seen made by
newbies eager to get started who are diving into LEdit head first. To all
but the most tech-savvy, this can be akin to diving into an empty swimming
pool head first. It's a very powerful program, and it (along with LDraw)
has spawned great things, but it's hard enough to use that most users will
feel highly frustrated. The excellent article by Jonathan Knudsen titled
"Drawing Lego Models" seems to echo the views I have presented here (quoted
from the article):
LEdit and LDraw are good tools, but it takes some time to learn how to use
them. LEdit, in particular, has a pretty steep learning curve.
The important legacy of LEdit and LDraw is their file format, which we'll
examine next.
It then goes on to recommend using MLCad for modeling and L3P/POV for
renderings, but once again, people (especially new users) can easily
overlook this article.
Is this just an oversight, do other people disagree with my claim that new
users can easily overlook MLCad, or have I somehow missed something
important?
--Travis Cobbs (tcobbs@san.REMOVE.rr.com)
(Remove .REMOVE from address to send me e-mail.)
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Message has 4 Replies:
 | | Re: Site change suggestion
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| (...) Good thoughts. (...) I am behind you here. The thought has crossed my mind a little to change the site's focus to more of MLCad, but I haven't had the time to impliment it. After Kidvention, I plan on inserting the site entirely into (...) (24 years ago, 28-Jun-00, to lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw)
| | | Re: Site change suggestion
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| (...) I use LEdit as my primary modeling tool, L3Lab for explorative viewing and LDLITE for final high quality rendering. I've never used a CAD style modeling tool because I sincerely believe that a keyboard interface is more efficient. Especially (...) (24 years ago, 29-Jun-00, to lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw)
| | | Re: Site change suggestion
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| In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Travis Cobbs writes: <snip> Great thread. A few points off the top of my head, no order... <user hat on> Fred Gloeckner's comments aside (let's face it, he's way smarter than most of us at using these tools) LEdit is (...) (24 years ago, 29-Jun-00, to lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw)
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