Subject:
|
Re: Instructions for new fire truck - Ladder 110
|
Newsgroups:
|
lugnet.inst, lugnet.town
|
Date:
|
Sun, 3 Aug 2003 14:27:13 GMT
|
Viewed:
|
75 times
|
| |
|
|
In lugnet.inst, Kevin L. Clague wrote:
| |
In lugnet.inst, Allan Bedford wrote:
snip
| |
However, I did notice something in your picture above. You have the parts
list for that step as part of the instruction image. Are you doing that
manually? Or is there an option in LPub that combines the two automagically?
:)
|
I’m not at my LPub computer right now, so I can’t tell you, but it is a
*menu* item just below the one you use to generate images.
|
LAYOUTS is the menu item.
And yes, it does work! I’m guessing it didn’t work for me earlier, because it
needs the parts and the step .jpg’s already created... is that right? And my
guess is that I tried using it as a first step, not a second process. Or.... I
just screwed it up somehow. :)
I was able to create a nice set of instructions last night, and then ran the
LAYOUTS command, which worked very well.
I’m curious to know why LPub sends two versions of the full model to POV-Ray.
One “full size” and one much smaller, using c as part of the file name.
Also, am I crazy or does LPub sometimes create the pieces for the BOM first and
other times it creates the step images first? To be honest, I try so many
configurations and variations that I sometimes loose track of what setting did
what to which program. But even last night, I’m sure I saw this behaviour. :)
| |
| |
| |
Larry’s expressed this opinion before, so I know it well.
You can choose some other color than white, or just mix a little white with
the brick color to give a similar but less drastic effect. See “Previous
Parts Color Scaling” scrollbar.
|
I’m completely split on this issue. I think, for me, it will be a decision
I’ll make on a model by model basis. I did use the technique you describe
above when I did the instructions for a small train station recently. It
worked fairly well, though I may have pushed the scrollbar a bit far. Some
of the previous steps ended up dithering the existing bricks a bit much.
|
|
For the instructions I did last night, I pushed the scroll bar all the way to
the left. The model is mostly yellow and light grey, and having the previous
bricks at full intensity worked very well. I’m quite pleased with the results.
| |
| |
| |
LPub added “Minimum Camera Distance” to dramatically reduce this issue and
eliminate need for manual shrinkage.
|
You have Minimum Distance on both the STEPS and the PARTS IMAGES tabs, under
BUILDING INSTRUCTIONS. Is there some quick way to describe the difference?
I typically am only changing the STEPS distance (usually lowering it from
the default) in order to have my models fill the screen more.
|
The STEPS one is the one you are changing and it affect the first image
generation phase: construction images.
The PARTS IMAGES one controls the rendering of individual part images that
are then composited together to make Part List Images (PLIs) and BOMs.
|
Is there a benefit to changing this number from its default of 3000? I think
the BOM’s come out great... with a reasonable quality at a very economical .jpg
size.
| |
| |
If I were to offer a gentle suggestion... it might be that some of the
documentation that accompanies these programs could be geared more to LEGO
builders, rather than graphics junkies. For example: I knew zero about an
app like POV-Ray before I started using it. I now know 1.73625 % of all
there is to know about it. In other words, I’m still a graphics idiot. But
I find their documentation to be heavily slanted towards folks who are very
graphics savy.
|
I might recommend a book “LEGO Software Power Tools” (shameless plug) that
does this. It talks about MLCad, LSynth, L3P, POV-Ray, LPub.... The POV-Ray
part is pretty thin.
|
Nothing wrong with a shameless plug... look at what started this thread. :)
| |
| |
Now, POV isn’t a LEGO program... of course. So why should LEGO be in their
documentation? It shouldn’t. But what I find hard to grasp sometimes is
that people might offer the suggestion to “read the POV-Ray help files and
you’ll find your answer.” Which normally I would agree with, but because
their documentation is so thick with graphics terminology I don’t
understand, it’s of little help. I have always used this example when
describing that type of documentation. It’s as though they are saying:
“A shovel is a tool used to shovel.”
It’s a very accurate statement, but not very helpful if it’s the shovel that
you’re trying to understand. In the case of ray tracing, it’s the shovel
part that I don’t understand and that’s why I get frustrated with their
docs.
|
I hear ya. Maybe it’s one of those “I suffered through it, you should too”
kind of deals. I’ve had to slog my way through some of that stuff, and I
know a fair amount about computer graphics and I get overwhelmed.
|
Your last comment makes me feel better. :)
| |
| |
All that said, I have found some wonderful suggestions being offered by the
LUGNET gang. Surprise? No, this is what I would have expected. But again,
I sometimes found it hard to even understand the question I wanted to ask.
Luckily, thanks to lighting and other tips provided by people here, I’m at
the stage where I think I can do most of what I want to do with this
software.
|
Sometimes it can be a *lot* of work trying to translate something like POV
documentation into English that can be read by mere mortals ;^) I know this
after having co-authored in a few books. I like my editors, but computer
saavy they are not, much less technical about LEGO. Getting so they could
understand it was a tiresome, but neccessary effort.
|
I can appreciate that. Part of my job is sometimes writing about technical
issues, but for a non-technical (i.e. management) type audience. I actually
don’t mind it, but it can be tedious to make sure you’ve over-explained
everything.
One comment to go back to something earlier in the thread:
I mentioned that I couldn’t find a way to rotate the entire model in LeoCAD.
Well, it’s not that hard. I do a SELECT ALL from the EDIT menu to make sure I’m
affecting the entire model. Then I just used SHIFT + PAGE UP (or DOWN) to
rotate the model in space, leaving the camera as is. Since the options allow
you to set your rotation amount in degrees, you can point the model any way you
want. I’d used this function for single pieces before, but hadn’t for some
reason thought it could work on the entire model. It does. :)
All the best,
Allan B.
|
|
Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Instructions for new fire truck - Ladder 110
|
| (...) Layout can't do anything unless you've generated everything. (...) This is related to sub-model usage. LPub uses a depth first search algorithm for processing sub-models. So it looks for all the sub-models in a model and creates their (...) (21 years ago, 3-Aug-03, to lugnet.inst, lugnet.town, FTX)
|
Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Instructions for new fire truck - Ladder 110
|
| In lugnet.inst, Allan Bedford wrote: <snip> (...) I'm not at my LPub computer right now, so I can't tell you, but it is a *menu* item just below the one you use to generate images. (...) In the extra procesing step via the extra menu I just (...) (21 years ago, 2-Aug-03, to lugnet.inst, lugnet.town, FTX)
|
11 Messages in This Thread:
 
 
- Entire Thread on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
This Message and its Replies on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
|
|
|
|
