Subject:
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More information on LEGO Digital Designer and other things
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.cad, lugnet.lego.direct
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Date:
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Thu, 1 May 2003 20:21:18 GMT
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Highlighted:
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!!
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Wow! What a week for LEGO CAD!
LPub going open source, another Java viewer underway, a Mac editor hits
alpha, new version of LD4D, the LSC, MLCad on Linux, all this Digital
Designers stuff... and I know I am missing something!
Sorry for the delay in getting answers. I know that I promised follow-up
yesterday, but am just now getting all the feedback I need to give you
better answers.
OK, so some answers on the many many questions that have been posed. We will
continue to answer things as we get answers back from colleagues. Plus
something's that have been brought up need to be discussed internally before
we can give an answer. I will do my best to collect questions and post
answers in a timely fashion, hopefully once at week. Bear with me though...
I'm not sure how fast we can get all the questions that come up answered.
But first things first. What are we actually talking about?
== Digital Designer ==
We created the Digital Designer software for kids. This software uses the
LXF format, which was designed based on many months (many!) of development,
a desire to bring CAD to kids in a usable format, consumer/fan feedback,
business issues and more. The software itself is closed and proprietary,
just like MLCad is at this point, for instance. You can freely download and
run MLCad, but you don't have access to the source code. Our plan is no
different.
== The LXF file format ==
LXF is an open, (and soon to be) well documented format. This format can be
used by anyone for parts, models, or something else you might come up with.
There will be some amount of restriction on the usage, just like the LDraw
parts have (can't be used for commercial purposes, for instance). Which
means if you want to make MEGAbloks parts, or anything else, then you are
welcomed. If you wanted to make a part that looked like a birthday cake, you
can. You just can't sell parts made in our format or incorporate them in
commercial applications. (I know there are several "exceptions" that may be
asked about, and I am already working on getting those questions answered. I
will be back with answers as soon as I can)
3+ years in the making, we consulted the fans as both a large group and as
individual conversations. The format is both a binary format and a text
(human-readable) format. LXF is an improved file format that can be used by
the fans and by the company. We are committed to this format for the long
term, which means we will continue to develop it, and both of us will
benefit by that progress. (To answer Todd's question about why to bother) It
will also allow for community input in it's direction (see "Standards Body"
below), and we want the community to take an active role.
Someone had asked why we don't have the entire brick library in LXF yet. As
strange as this may sound, we don't have every part in the historical and
current library in a usable digital format. Many of the parts are digitized
in a format that is closer to our engineering drawings than a portable 3D
file. As different projects, applications, "gaming" software, and more was
created, it created a mish-mosh of file formats. As one of my colleagues
said, there is no big vault of 3D LEGO pieces inside the company just
waiting to be opened. There are 100 little disconnected non-compatible
vaults. Moving towards LXF helps to create that master vault. Of course,
translating files, creating new ones when needed, and other considerations
mean it will take time.
The answer to that is quite simple, the brick library is very large and LXF
is brand new. The translation process from what we are using now to LXF is a
fairly manual process, so it is going to take some time. To give a very
brief amount of history, the format that we are currently using for our
parts is not terribly portable. They are very high quality, but not easily
shared or distributed. Plus, some of the real old parts weren't even digitized!
Past that, I don't have (but couldn't share if I did, not quite yet) any
more details on this. I am very clear that you all want more information
ASAP, and I am working to get that. Hang tight until I can get it, and we
can release it.
== The SDK ==
The SDK is a by-product of the DD efforts, and since we are only building DD
for Windows, the SDK we release will only be Windows. That being said, there
is no reason it can't be ported, since the SDK will be well documented.
Really all the SDK is going to be is a set of Windows DLLs. Now before
anyone strings me up from my toes, please understand that with such a very
small percentage of our LEGO.com users being non-Windows users, it just
doesn't make financial sense for use to develop DD for Linux or Mac.
I hope to be able to release the source code to these DLLs, but haven't
gotten final approval for that yet. I would love to release DD for every
platform, which would then allow us to develop an SDK for every platform
too. But simply put, we can't afford to develop SDKs for platforms we aren't
supporting. However, if we can get the approval to release the source code,
then the community (if interested) could develop their own SDKs for other
platforms.
== The "Standards Body" and "Certification" ==
As far as the "certification process", there are still some details to work
out on how widely distributed the SDK is. So for the immediate term, let's
assume that we are taking about a undefined group of people. [Note: This is
for discussion only at this point, and may change later]. We will come back
to this later.
My hope is that there is a standards committee in place that can "certify"
software, extensions to the format, etc. And like with Web browsers, for
instance, there is an advantage for being certified as "compliant". Whether
a software carries the "certified" moniker is up to the "guidelines" of the
Standards Body, as well as the software developer.
Think W3C for a minute. The .html standard is open to anyone to check out.
The standards for what .html is or isn't is decided on by a board of
interested parties (the W3C). Some W3C members are commercial, some
non-commercial. This committee works out what is best for the overall
format, and then works to encourage software creators (commercial or
non-commercial) to implement those standards. If I wanted to develop a Web
browser that wasn't standards compliant and call it that, then I can. Of
course, I may get hammered later on by my users.
I hope that it is clear that the only thing that is totally close and
proprietary is the DD software. Using the Adobe example again, imagine if
Adobe released the source to Photoshop! Yikes!
A couple of answers for random questions from this thread:
- "Would LEGO like to see LXF replace LDraw someday? " - Only if you want it
to. For what it's worth, that's where we are putting our energies, and if
you like it then hop on. But if you (you meaning the community) doesn't like
it, then just ignore it and carry on with the LDraw file format. We know LXF
is a new unproven format, and that the LDraw file format has many strengths,
and may continue to have some advantages over LXF. We also know there are
some some shortcomings with the LDraw file format, which is why we are
attempting to create a next generation format. We're not trying to have a
battle of formats, just put our own new internal format out there for others
to use and if you like it, great! If you want to tell us what you don't like
about it or think should be changed, great!
- "I expect we'll see a press release this summer touting the fact that
AFOLs have embraced the LXF format" - Only if you actually embrace it!
- "Will the documentation be complete enough that I can write, say, a C
program that converts LDraw parts into LXF parts?" - Yes. Past that, we can
discuss more in detail soon.
- "And in 2002, we will begin a program where LEGO builders will be able to
build any three dimensional creation..." - You know that incident we all
have in our past. Dancing on the tables at a party, tripping on the stairs
in front of a supermodel, we all have them. We meant well, it just took us a
lot longer to do what we wanted to do. But we figured delayed and quality
was better than on time and crap.
- "How can I get on the list of people that will be evaluating the SDK?" -
The initial evaluation will be by invite only. We had to select a small
group of people, otherwise we would spiral out of control with conversation.
Since we are requiring NDAs for the initial evaluations and discussions, it
is easier to work with a smaller group of people. This will open up soon
enough. We had to draw the line somewhere, and if you weren't included you
can blame me! jacob.mckee@america.lego.com :)
- "I would *love* to be proven wrong" - Todd, hopefully I have helped you
out! Ha Ha!
Please let me know if you have additional questions/concerns!
Jake
---
Jake McKee
Community Development Manager - N. America
LEGO Direct
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