Subject:
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Re: Need LDD 2.0 Help from the Experts on Making Instructions
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.cad.ldd
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Date:
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Tue, 3 Apr 2007 19:08:53 GMT
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Reply-To:
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CJMASI@*NOGARBAGEPLEASE*VERIZON.NETspamcake
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Viewed:
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28452 times
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Tim Gould wrote:
> In lugnet.cad.ldd, Paul S. D'Urbano wrote:
> > How do you control building instruction steps with LDD 2.0? It doesn't seem to
> > preserve them when you upgrade 1.6 models or import LDraw models. I assume
> > there must be a way because the 10183 hobby train models have organized
> > instructions. Does anyone know how this works, or how it was done for 10183?
> >
> > Thanks!
> > -Paul D.
>
> I think 10183 instructions were done by hand. I believe the system follows the
> order you add your pieces but it will not preserve step statements in LDraw
> files any more :(
>
> Tim
Because automatic building instructions are less then optimal, I have
started uploading subassemblies of models to my gallery. Hopefully, if
someone buys one of my models, they'll check my gallery for the
subassemblies. In the descriptions for my models I have started
including a note to alert users to the subassemblies they can find in my
gallery.
After having said that, a little investigation into the LEGO Hobby Train
files downloaded from the Factory web site reveals that they have nested
steps in the building instructions. These nested steps are the keys to
subassemblies.
I tested my hypothesis using my son's "little robot" model. I unzipped
the lxf archive, and opened the "IMAGE100.LXFML" that I found inside
with a text editor. Then I scrolled to the bottom where I found a
section that started with the heading
<BuildingInstructions>
<BuildingInstruction>
and changed
<Step name="">
<PartRef partRefID="8"/>
</Step>
<Step name="">
<PartRef partRefID="9"/>
<Step name="">
</Step>
<PartRef partRefID="10"/>
</Step>
to
<Step name="">
<Step name="">
<PartRef partRefID="8"/>
<PartRef partRefID="9"/>
<PartRef partRefID="10"/>
</Step>
</Step>
I saved the file, double clicked the "IMAGE100.LXFML", and went to the
instruction screen of LDD. Low and behold, the "head" of the robot was
assembled as a subassembly and then placed on top of the robot.
Also, the following structure
<Step name="">
<Step name="">
<PartRef partRefID="8"/>
<PartRef partRefID="9"/>
</Step>
<Step name="">
<PartRef partRefID="10"/>
</Step>
</Step>
allows for multi-step subassemblies. In the sequence above, in the first
substep one eye is placed on the head. The second eye is placed on the
head during the second substep.
LDD 2.0 will read the edited "LXFML" file, but Factory doesn't treat the
LXFML files as a valid LDD file. However, if you perform a "Save as" LDD
will save the file as a valid LDD file that contains the improved
instructions.
There are a lot of other things still to be discovered in the Building
instruction section. For example, I wonder what all these variable do?
exploded="true" angle="0" ax="0" ay="1" az="0" tx="0"
ty="9.9999990463256836" tz="0"
By the way, the "Step" command is case sensitive. It won't work if you
put in <step> and </step>.
For small models using a text editor might be a workable solution, but
for larger models this would be way too tedious. Nevertheless, it seems
that there are capabilities built into the file format that could be
exploited.
Chris
--
http://mysite.verizon.net/cjmasi/lego/
Learn about brittle bone disease
http://www.oif.org/
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