If you can't see this image (PNG) see the JPEG version
Here's the DAT file for this 6040 Blacksmith Shop
|
BrickDraw3D BrickDraw3D is my LDRAW-compatible program for Macintosh. Please understand that it is a work in progress. Try it out to see how much you can do with it.
Send comments to me,
Erik Olson
|
About BrickDraw3D
BrickDraw3D lets you use your Mac to view Lego brick models stored in the international LDRAW "DAT" format. What you need
1. Using the links at the top of the page, download BrickDraw3D, then download the parts files (the LDRAW folder) . The first time you run BrickDraw3D you will see a file dialog asking you to point to the LDRAW folder.
2. You run the program on a Mac which must have at least Mac OS 8.6. I use it on Mac OS 9 and under Classic/Mac OS X. It's not Carbonized. You must have OpenGL and QuickTime installed - but you already have these in Mac OS 9.
3. You can use BrickDraw3D to build models or to view other people's models. Browse LUGNET.cad.dat.models. There are many websites where you can find models. Also, become familiar with the official website of LDRAW which has a Mac section too.
Details
When you have unstuffed the parts archive file, you should have a folder named LDRAW. Inside it are 2 subfolders P and PARTS, like so:
LDRAW
LDRAW:P
LDRAW:PARTS
The MODELS subfolder is optional. Inside are some test models. With version 0.4 these are listed on the "Test" menu.
|
|
What's New
Centurion.dat - Burkhard Schloemer (LEGO MechCommander)
http://www.muenster.de/~bus1503/
|
|
Version 0.4 lets you drag parts from the parts list into a model. You can drag parts lists from a text editor and they will appear in the model too. You can save models.
|
shmv.dat - Jacob Sparre Andersen
part of his Circus Maximus
|
|
Notes
Using BrickDraw3D on the Internet
You can use BrickDraw3D as a helper program in Netscape or Explorer, so that it will automatically open DAT files posted to LUGNET. Here's how:
Go into Netscape Preferences (Explorer is similar...) In Applications, set up a new file type with MIME type application/x-ldraw and file extension .DAT to be handled by the BrickDraw3D.debug program.
If you need to know: the BrickDraw3D creator code is BrD3 and the file type is just TEXT.
Preferences File
BrickDraw3D saves preferences to a file "BrickDraw3D Preferences" in the Preferences folder of the System Folder. Right now the only preference is an alias to the LDRAW path. Because that is kept as an alias, you can move the LDRAW folder and BrickDraw3D will still find it.
Dragging parts
What happens when you click on a part? First, selection handles appear around the part and you see the part's name in the window corner. Second, if you are holding down the mouse button and moving the mouse, the part slides around to follow the mouse.
There are two dragging modes. The most obvious is when you drag the part around on the baseplate it sits on.
If you hold down the Option or Control keys, movement is constrained in useful ways...
Odd things happen when you control-click on a round surface like a stud. Since the drag direction is figured out by the slope where you first clicked, you could be dragging in a diagonal direction. Fortunately, the part will only move by steps and always aligns with the general grid. You get interesting, but useful behavior if you click on a sloped or round part!
Transparent parts
Any G3 Mac or later should show transparent parts.
Transparency seems to stop working if memory gets tight, like with big models. If you open the same model twice, the second window might not show transparency.
Try CAR.DAT from the LDRAW/MODELS directory, or SavannahMaster.dat-
Plug-in Renderers
BrickDraw3D supports plug-in renderers. Here are two samples:
DAT file features (and bugs)
Multi-file models as well as MPD style (concatenated into one file) are supported. The FILE or NAME keyword is used to rename the file if it has an extension of ".cgi" like you just downloaded it.
I wrote the DAT translation code. It's not perfect but it's getting pretty good. The edge lines around parts tend to disappear into the part surface. There are occasional problems with curvy parts. Odd lighting occurs especially with Interactive renderer. For problematic models, I recommend that you try MacLDGLite.
Links
