Subject:
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MLCad Suggestions
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.cad.mlcad
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Date:
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Sat, 19 Feb 2000 08:13:07 GMT
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Viewed:
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1733 times
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I've been using MLCad and having a lot of fun with it. It's a great program.
I do have a number of suggestions that could (IMHO!) make it even better.
- Part selection: Put a text entry field between the available parts and the
preview area that accepts LCAD part numbers and then inserts the part,
similar to when you hit "OK" in the parts selection dialog. This would be
quicker than using the Find or Add Parts dialogs.
- Add an option to display only the last "N" parts (or steps) in the model,
or the N previous parts/steps to the currently selected, or some variation
of that. This would give enough context to continue to add pieces to the
model, without the expense of redrawing the entire model. This is similar
to "draw to selected part only" but I think it would be even more useful for
creating instructions.
- Make MLCad as mode-less as possible. It should be possible to pan
(translate) and zoom (scale) the view without switching modes. A single
mouse button can control both operations using a gestural approach: when the
user clicks the button and begins dragging, if the drag starts out being
vertical, the program enters zooming mode; if the drag starts out being
horizontal, the program enters panning mode. (Once the mode is established,
the mouse can move horizontally and vertically as usual in either mode). It
would be great to be able to pan/zoom without changing modes all the time.
You can still leave the current pan/zoom modes as they are too - this would
just be a nice shortcut.
Since the interface already uses two mouse buttons, this could be done using
a modifier key (shift/ctrl/etc.).
I don't see a good way to get rid of the construction vs. instruction step
modes.
- In instruction step mode, tie the model part listing to the currently
displayed instruction step. It is very useful to be able to see the LDRAW
commands that correspond to the currently displayed step, and it would be
nice not to have to find them manually. Perhaps the LDRAW STEP command for
the step just drawn could be highlighted to show the correspondence even
more clearly.
- In instruction step mode, make it possible to skip ahead (for example) ten
steps, or to jump to a specific step number. Ideally the up/down arrow keys
would move forward/backward one step and pageup/pagedown would move forward/
backward ten (or whatever) steps.
- When switching between construction and instruction step mode, make the
model part list stay in the same place! After stepping through the
instruction steps and finding a spot that needs fixing, users shouldn't have
to start over and re-locate the position in the model part list.
- Add more selection options, such as the ability to add all the parts in
a step to the current selection, and the ability to do "inside" and
"crossing" window selections like "real world" CAD programs.
- The "help" option results in "Online help is not available because MSIE4.0
or higher was not found". Just tying it to the default browser would be
nice.
- A wish that applies to the LCAD community in general: make a DAT->PostScript
converter so that really high-quality printed output is possible.
- And finally, the ultimate wish: rewrite MLCad using OpenGL and Tk (or a
similar toolkit) so it is portable between Windows, Unix, and Macs. Then I
wouldn't have to boot into Windows to use it (it's the only thing I use
Windows for) and many other people would also be able to use it more easily.
Again, MLCad is already very useful and a lot of fun to use. I hope that
you continue to develop it and realize its full potential!
Best regards,
Steve
--
Barb & Steve Demlow | demlow@visi.com | www.visi.com/~demlow/
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Message has 3 Replies:
 | | Re: MLCad Suggestions
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| On Sat, 19 Feb 2000 08:13:07 GMT, Steve Demlow <demlow@visi.com> wrote: My suggestion, I want to be able to take a submodel and change the center of rotation so I can build a space ship door and be able to rotate it along the hing joint. ^_^ (25 years ago, 19-Feb-00, to lugnet.cad.mlcad)
| | | Re: MLCad Suggestions
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| (...) I agree with this - it's one of the fundamental user interface design guidelines, and something that has tripped me up when using MLCad. (...) Ugh, you said to remove the modes and then put them back in! (with an alternate means of (...) (25 years ago, 20-Feb-00, to lugnet.cad.mlcad)
| | | Re: MLCad Suggestions
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| Please find below my comments .... (...) This should not be a problem, will try to make it ... (...) This is generally possible, but keep in mind that this might be a slower thing. (...) I will try something to make it better, and which works into (...) (25 years ago, 21-Feb-00, to lugnet.cad.mlcad)
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