Subject:
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Re: MLCAD introductory info
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.cad.mlcad
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Date:
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Sat, 9 Jun 2001 00:07:34 GMT
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Viewed:
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2308 times
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In lugnet.cad.mlcad, Jake McKee writes:
> OK, well after months of using MLCAD to look at other people's creations, I
> have finally been bitten by the bug to make CAD models of my own stuff.
Great! I'm glad to hear the Wonderful World of MLCAD has converted another
LEGO head!
> However, as I get into MLCAD I have come up with a few things that I need
> some info on, as the Help section of my install is not working.
>
> - If I click and drag on the center point of a part, it doesn't move the
> part, but rather, moves a funny little dot. What's going on?
As numerous others have pointed out, this is a rotation point. It has
caused me problems occasionally as well. Either hide it (by clicking on the
brick icon with a small red circle on one corner, and deselecting the "show
rotation point" checkbox), or take care to click a selected part between the
edge and the center before dragging (as I do).
> - Is there a way to edit Favorites list? If so, how?
I didn't know anything about this until I read Heather Patey's post. Thanx,
Heather!
> - Is there a method for me to re-organize the way the parts listing is laid out?
Somebody beat me to this one, too.
> - Is there a way (or another program) to create single .dat file out of .mpd
> with multiple models?
I don't know of any.
> - Is there a way to create seperate .dat files out each step of a single
> .dat file?
Not that I know of.
> - What is ghosting?
Aha! Finally one I can share some knowledge on! Ghosting is a function
which is misunderstood by many. If you "Ghost" a part, this is what happens
to it: It is still in the .dat file, but is marked as a "comment" line as
far as most ldraw "dat" related programs are concerned. This means you can
"ghost" parts and save, ray-trace your model as a cutaway, and then
"un-ghost" the parts (and save) with no harm done to the file. As far as I
know, only MLCAD recognizes "ghosted" parts or can "un-ghost" them. All
other programs see these as comments.
> - What is BFC?
Back Face Culling is -- or was -- a project to speed up rendering times.
The principle of it being that if you only render the "faces" (individual
facets of a surface) that are on the camera-side of an object, you cut down
rendering time by roughly half. The way it was to be accomplished was by
the individual points of each face being placed in such an order that they
are "clockwise" (in CW compliant parts) in sequence as seen from the outer
side of the face. When rendering, the program checks to see if the points
for a given face appear in clockwise order (again, for CW compliant parts);
if so, it renders the face. If not, it doesn't.
This project was a cool idea, in my opinion, but appeared too late in the
game to be of much use to the ldraw community. It depends on every single
part and primitive in your library being "CW compliant", or "CCW compliant"
to work properly. Most of the library I have complies to no known format,
since it is composed of a jillion files from many, many sources and part
authors, many of which had never even heard of Back Face Culling. Too bad.
> - Why help is not working?
Thanx to Dan Crichton for answering this one for you (and everyone else who
wanted to know. Like me)
> - What is line/triangle/quad commands?
These are the most basic building blocks of the ldraw "dat" file system.
Every single part in your ldraw directory is composed of these, though they
are often nested at the primitive and/or sub-part level. An interesting
aside here is that MLCAD (version 1.99r1)is the only program I know of that
allows you to create and manipulate these basic elements in a Graphic User
Interface, Instead of a text editor. Because of this feature, MLCAD allows
average "non-programmers" like me to author parts. :oD
> - What is "clear buffer command"?
No clue whatsoever. Sorry.
> - What are Picture Model and Fractal Generator?
Already answered by someone else smarter than me.
> Thanks for your help with any of these. Wow! What a program!!
I couldn't agree more! Thanks Michael Lachman! Take good care of your wife
and baby!
Hope some of this helped, Jake!
Dirtman
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | MLCAD introductory info
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| OK, well after months of using MLCAD to look at other people's creations, I have finally been bitten by the bug to make CAD models of my own stuff. However, as I get into MLCAD I have come up with a few things that I need some info on, as the Help (...) (23 years ago, 8-Jun-01, to lugnet.cad.mlcad)
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