NEW LEGO CAD SOFTWARE
Michael Lachmann
On my home-page http://www.user.xpoint.at/m.lachmann you can get a powerful CAD
system for creating Lego models.
It's called MLCAD. The current version 1.0 has the following features:
- View all available Lego elements within the program in a preview area
- Add elements to you models with simple drag & drop mechanism
- Move and rotate elements by pressing a button
- Move elements using the mouse
- View your model from four different angles
- Print your model, or create pictures of every building step
- Supports STEP command, and a new ROTATE STEP command
- Requires the LDRAW part library
- Works under Windows 95, 98 and NT4.0
Use it for free!
But please send me comments about how you like it, suggestion and bug reports,
that I have the chance to make it better ;-)
Mike
medw...@ukonline.co.uk
http://www.user.xpoint.at/m.lachmann/lego.htm
That Works
--
Please reply on
Home of the UK Technic Club Magazine
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143 models and going up
Michael Lachmann <m.lac...@xpoint.at> wrote in message
news:7mho06$bo9$1...@news.netway.at...
medw...@ukonline.co.uk
John D
Your program sounds pretty cool, but I couldn't find it. Let me know
when its available, please!
--
Have fun!
John
AUCTION Page (Technic, and Town)
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/2-many-toys/
TRADE Page http://www114.pair.com/ig88/lego/index.htm
MOC,CA[cl,bf,cr,fm,bk+++ wp,dm,rk,df++ fk-]++++(6035)
SW,TR,old(456)+++ TO++ PI,SP+ DU-- #+++++
ig888...@stlnet.com & IG88888888 on AOL
Michael Lachmann wrote in message <7mho06$bo9$1...@news.netway.at>...
Robert Wallace
> Try this instead
> http://www.user.xpoint.at/m.lachmann/lego.htm
> That Works
No, it didn't for me and my Netscape browser.
It appears that the pages are generated by Microsoft Frontpage
Express and that there should be some buttons that appear
to guide you around the site.
None of that seems to show up on my Netscape 4.6 browser.
For those interested, try this URL:
http://www.user.xpoint.at/m.lachmann/mlcad/mlcad.htm
Robert Wallace
rob...@netcom.com
John VanZwieten
been asking for.
Michael, how long have you been working on this? Have you checked out the
Lego CAD discussion groups on LUGNET? See http://www.lugnet.com/cad/, and I
would suggest posting your message there.
Back to the software. . .
Some things I really like:
-Ability to select views for all four view panes.
-Wireframed piece shows through even pieces closer to the viewer.
Some suggestions:
-A word of caution: in the Help menu, the software is named Lego CAD, which
could cause trouble with lawyer stuff. I'm guessing that's why you called the
program file MLCAD?
-A setting to switch between fine, medium, and coarse movement modes. I
realize that you can hit the move button to move exactly 3 LDU, but being able
to actually move these increments would be much better.
-Can you let the user adjust the width of the leftmost panes? I'd like more
drawing room.
-A button to center the view panes on the current piece.
-A way to set the center of rotation for rotating parts. This is pretty
crucial for doing things like minifigs.
-Use of keystrokes to move and rotate parts (like LEdit).
-Way to enter a part# directly.
Well, back to kick this proggy around some more.
-John Van
Michael Lachmann <m.lac...@xpoint.at> wrote in message
news:7mho06$bo9$1...@news.netway.at...
John VanZwieten
The Rotate Step command is great!
The way you click to step through the model is cool, but wasn't obvious from
anything on the main screen. (Like most people, I jumped right in without
reading instructions, which probably explain this.)
More suggestions:
Import/Export Ldraw files. Some files imported fine, but others gave me an
"Error in Lego file" error. Would this be caused by file length? Is there a
length limitation in your program?
Use of subfiles--ability to move and rotate them.
Line-as-stud, especially in wireframe mode. This really helps when lining up
parts.
More wows!
-John Van
Jeremiah Gold-Hopton
do I need to download in order to use MLCAD?
Thanks
Calvin Walton
--Calvin
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| Calvin Walton
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| cwa...@istar.ca
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|___________________________|
Anders Isaksson
>Hello to all who create Lego models.
>
>On my home-page http://www.user.xpoint.at/m.lachmann you can get a powerful
CAD
>system for creating Lego models.
>
As one CAD-programmer to another:
It sure looks nice! Are you aware of any obvious limitations (size/speed seems
to be a problem...)?
A couple of things I noted on my first try:
- Is it possible to set the default color, so I don't have to change it on
every piece added?
- On larger models the redrawing is (reaaaaally) slow :-( - and I have a 450
MHz PII. Perhaps it's not slow, it just has a lot to do? Would it be possible
to eliminate the 4-view and have just one, to make it quicker?
(I know my BlockCAD does not have the same functionality, but it can rotate a
1000 piece model in (almost) real-time)
- I'm missing the functionality to click on pieces in the drawing to select
them for modification.
(It might be easy to add, feel free to contact me, if you want to know how I
do it in BlockCAD)
- Is the rendering engine based on Paul Gyugyi's LDLite?
http://www.gyugyi.com/
If so, is it possible to incorporate the 'pseudo shading' too? (Even if it's
all yours, perhaps you could take a look at LDLite, and how the shading is
done there, it's quite easy, and not too expensive speed-wise)
Once again - it looks very promising!
More comments when I have really tried it to build something...
Play well,
--
Anders Isaksson, Sweden
BlockCAD: http://user.tninet.se/~hbh828t/proglego.htm
Gallery: http://user.tninet.se/~hbh828t/gallery.htm
John D
downloaded the complete parts update. You also need the LDraw exe file.
After you install the program and put the parts in the parts folder, you
have to run the makelist.exe and then in LegoCAD, you need to make sure the
program is going to the right folder for the parts (i.e. C:\LDRAW - assuming
thats where you installed LDraw). Tell me if it works, it took me about 15
minutes to do it.
--
Have fun!
John
AUCTION Page (Technic, and Town)
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/2-many-toys/
TRADE Page http://www114.pair.com/ig88/lego/index.htm
MOC,CA[cl,bf,cr,fm,bk+++ wp,dm,rk,df++ fk-]++++(6035)
SW,TR,old(456)+++ TO++ PI,SP+ DU-- #+++++
ig888...@stlnet.com & IG88888888 on AOL
Jeremiah Gold-Hopton wrote in message <378D059E...@emory.edu>...
Robert Wallace
> In my Netscape (4.61) browser the buttons showed up fine.
It wasn't working (and still doesn't) for my Netscape 4.61 browser
running under NT 4.0 (at work).
However, for the same browser under Win95, it works just fine.
Just another reason why I don't like NT :(
Robert Wallace
rob...@netcom.com
Michael Lachmann
Kind regards,
Michael