[Software] SR 3D Builder Lego simulator

[Calabar]

Maybe a video could help to focus both the problem and the solution?

[xSergio74]

Let me put apart suspended issues to announce the latest new release of my application.

Official web site: http://sr3dbuilder.altervista.org/

Here is a pair of videos to show what I'm talking about:

A lot of fixes and some major addiction are available. Here is a list of changes.

Please read carefully for what pneumatic parts are currently supported. More to come...

Fix

- Drawbrickmode: Slope parts are only partially displayed

- Extra unuseful connection added to Axleholes

- Picking a brick can cause wrong group assignment

- A lot of Pneumatic parts fixed and technic parts cleanup

- Some unwanted parts keep sliding in animation

- Pin with bush was incorrectly managed causing wasting time in animation computation

- The ClearConsole button has no way to cancel the operation

- The Bump Mode option in Animation Console was not saved in model

- Application crashes when loading a model if it has a switch ring (part 6539) not connected to an control handle used in AnimationConsole

- Restoring group view in big models can cause crash when hovering with mouse over model

- Starting an animation AnimationConsole without starting a classic animation before causes nothing to happen or application crash

- Locked Block in Animation Console was not correctly loaded from a saved model

- In animation, all parallel translation keep moving together

- Resetting animations does not reset flexible parts

- If you try to save model in the application folder you can fall into an infinite loop

- Towbar steering has a little wrong movement when used with shock absorber

- Towbar steering could hanging when mixing steer and shock absorber

- Sloped shock absorber were not having correct slide length

Added

- Major addiction: management of some pneumatic parts

. flexible tubes and air splitters

. switches (input from central and exit from lateral connections only)

. small, medium and big pump (not connected to motor)

. small pistons only

Pistons speed is still not correctly managed. Be patient...

- Hinge solve now can connect pneumatic pistons

- A marker showing where DrawBrickMode starts

- Alt + mouse wheel moves selection a whole brick up/down (24 instead of 8)

Changes

- to easily connect a piston to engine cylinder do the following:

Enable Alternative UI (by pressing <U> key)

align piston to cylinder moving mouse and holding LMB pressed and then release it

correct orientation by pressing keys (you cannot click the pivot arrows while in UI) to rotate piston (don't mind if piston will move following your cursor)

hoove to the ball over the rod to connect the piston

Easyer to do than to explain. Try it!

Edited February 8, 2013 by xSergio74

[Alasdair Ryan]

Great work as always Sergio.

[legolijntje]

No dll for DirectX 11 I'll install 9 then...

Anyway, that looks great. I looks so cool that the Crane Truck is almost working 100% on an computer without difficult animation software, but just by building the set :thumbup:

One thing that the crane truck reminded me though;could you please add ropes. It shouldn't be that difficult, since you already have the bezier generator...

However, your software is great and powerful already. I can't wait to try out the new and improved things

Keep up the great work!

[Alasdair Ryan]

One thing that the crane truck reminded me though;could you please add ropes. It shouldn't be that difficult, since you already have the bezier generator...

Keep up the great work!

If I may add on to that,if you can add rope/string to SR3D could the rope be readable with the Lsynth version? (LS04 - string)

Just so we don't need to add rope again, if we want to make instructions.

Edited February 8, 2013 by Alasdair Ryan

[Carsten Svendsen]

Those fixes and changes, you've made are totally awesome! I love it

Here's a video of the problems I'm having with axles and half studded elements:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5Rjs1dry3A&feature=youtu.be

As you can see it's not working quite as expected and tends to get annoying really fast. Also, the blue circle with a yellow dot in it - what does it do? It seems to do nothing but to annoy me even more so I can't rotate the object if you click the arrow when the circle thing is behind it.

[Alasdair Ryan]

Edited because the video now works.

Edited February 8, 2013 by Alasdair Ryan

[Carsten Svendsen]

Nah, the video is uploaded but still processing

I can't believe none of you other guys are having these problems, or even experienced them. It's easy to replicate though.

[xSergio74]

Those fixes and changes, you've made are totally awesome! I love it

Here's a video of the problems I'm having with axles and half studded elements:

Link

As you can see it's not working quite as expected and tends to get annoying really fast. Also, the blue circle with a yellow dot in it - what does it do? It seems to do nothing but to annoy me even more so I can't rotate the object if you click the arrow when the circle thing is behind it.

Hi,

I really have not that kind of artifact.

Yes, I have some kind of flickers when using the half bush, but, with a bit of patience it is not too difficult to align them to the correct position.

Using the dense connections option solves in case of horizontal axles, while working in vertical the only things that really saves is the use of the "Alternate UI" option.

You can turn it on and of by simply pressing the U key. It is quite useful in many cases, so give it a more appropriate chance and take a bit of time to get used with it. You won't regret...

Sergio

Edited February 8, 2013 by Calabar
: Video removed from quote.

[Carsten Svendsen]

I just watched it now, and it appears that there are many times where the objects appear and disappear. This is not happening to me, not even when recording. It has got to be something that the recorder software made.

What are the specific changes that the alternate UI has got instead of the normal UI?

[xSergio74]

What are the specific changes that the alternate UI has got instead of the normal UI?

The Alternative UI allows a part placement a bit more similar to what LDD does. Your current selection follow the mouse on every connection already present in the model (without pressing any mouse buttons) and it tries to connect to it if there is a connection properly oriented.

Pressing the LeftMouseButton suspends the A-UI and get back to standard UI where the selection is oriented according to the connection coming in contact and moves when the mouse moves. Releasing mouse button the A-UI get on again and let you position parts now with the correct orientation.

Notice that mouse wheel is not needed to rise/lower selection while in A-UI (but you can use it if you want) since selection will move to any connection in any position under the mouse.

You, and anyone want to try, just need a bit of practice to get used with it. It worth at least a try of 1hour !

[Carsten Svendsen]

I have some problems with part placements. I tried building the 42004 B-model to make a testrun of the updated application.

I have attached the file, and here is a pic with explanations:

Blue ring: Rotating the 12T bevel gear, won't make the wheels turn, instead, the whole model rotates. Is this a problem similar to my tail posted some time ago with moving connection points?

Brown ring: This 5L beam was nearly impossible to connect to the 6L axle. Connection solver didn't work and I had to do it manually - what a hassle! Is this because there are too many connection points for the connection solver to solve? Perhaps you could add a few more variables?

When trying to rotate the axle on the side, controlling the worm gear, I get a dialog box saying: "Unusual animation schema detected. Unpredictable results may appear". After pressing OK, the animation rotation points are A-ok, but the mouse is locked even after selecting another selection mode, meaning that this is also a "loop" bug.

Green ring: Same problem as the brown ring, however, this beam won't connect at all. Nothing works. - Actually, it can connect with connection solver, but it won't stay like that when rotating the bucket.

Red ring: Please ignore, I couldn't find the right steering wheel.

Furthermore, I tried having Alternate UI on most of the time, but very often as I progressed in the construction, I found it too cumbersome to use. IMO, it seems as though the A-UI works best for bricks and not so much for technic. You can't even rotate the part on the XYZ axis

No matter what I tried I couldn't make the any of the half studded pieces (including bushes and beams) connect on the axles with proper spacings. I really don't see the big problem in copying the "pin snap" variables to the "axle snap" variables. If you need more precise placements you could just use "dense connections"or hold down the shift key. I don't know how you made these actions or variables but I would assume it's extremely easy to fix/adjust. Changing the detection range in preferences seems to mess up things instead of correcting them.

And don't tell me to place all connections on a horizontal axle first and then rotate it to be vertical. That's even more annoying/stupid.

Addition: Is it possible for you to make the program remember how the check boxes in the top are? I prefer not to use drawbrick mode as default (also not good with technic)

42004 B.zip

Edited February 11, 2013 by Carsten Svendsen

[xSergio74]

I have some problems with part placements. I tried building the 42004 B-model to make a testrun of the updated application.

I have attached the file, and here is a pic with explanations:

Blue ring: Rotating the 12T bevel gear, won't make the wheels turn, instead, the whole model rotates. Is this a problem similar to my tail posted some time ago with moving connection points?

Brown ring: This 5L beam was nearly impossible to connect to the 6L axle. Connection solver didn't work and I had to do it manually - what a hassle! Is this because there are too many connection points for the connection solver to solve? Perhaps you could add a few more variables?

When trying to rotate the axle on the side, controlling the worm gear, I get a dialog box saying: "Unusual animation schema detected. Unpredictable results may appear". After pressing OK, the animation rotation points are A-ok, but the mouse is locked even after selecting another selection mode, meaning that this is also a "loop" bug.

Green ring: Same problem as the brown ring, however, this beam won't connect at all. Nothing works. - Actually, it can connect with connection solver, but it won't stay like that when rotating the bucket.

Red ring: Please ignore, I couldn't find the right steering wheel.

Furthermore, I tried having Alternate UI on most of the time, but very often as I progressed in the construction, I found it too cumbersome to use. IMO, it seems as though the A-UI works best for bricks and not so much for technic. You can't even rotate the part on the XYZ axis

No matter what I tried I couldn't make the any of the half studded pieces (including bushes and beams) connect on the axles with proper spacings. I really don't see the big problem in copying the "pin snap" variables to the "axle snap" variables. If you need more precise placements you could just use "dense connections"or hold down the shift key. I don't know how you made these actions or variables but I would assume it's extremely easy to fix/adjust. Changing the detection range in preferences seems to mess up things instead of correcting them.

And don't tell me to place all connections on a horizontal axle first and then rotate it to be vertical. That's even more annoying/stupid.

Addition: Is it possible for you to make the program remember how the check boxes in the top are? I prefer not to use drawbrick mode as default (also not good with technic)

Hi,

your model was containing a lot of not correctly positioned parts. If a model contains a lot of parts with some decimals in their positions (ie a part is at 20.0002, 12,99996, 14.00034 instead of 20,13,14) then concatenated operation with decimal are going to cause wrong number rounding and difficult or impossibility to perform connections or use connection solver.

This kind of problem is also well known to LDD users...

A way for solving this problem when model is not too big, is to select the whole model and perform an "Align to Grid" operation. This will cause the clicked part be repositioned at origin (point 0,0,0) and the whole model reassembled around it with while part positioning is recomputed trying to remove possible wrong decimals.

In your specific case the operation is a total success allowing the model working fine except for the steering system. It is an unusual style one and need a more specific algorithm to solve. Have to work around it

About your A-UI considerations:

- Yes, it works by far better with standard bricks then with technic ones

- It is anyway a good aid when placing at least the following technic parts: axles, pins, gears, bushes, pistons

- You can always rotate parts using keyboard

- It is useful to turn it on and off when need to position a part at a specific height

- Finally don't forget that my application can be used to build also NON TECHNIC models. That's why the DrawBrickMode has been started.

And yes, I'm going to allow saving preference setting of the UI.

Attached you can find your model fixed

Sergio

42004 B Fixed.zip

Edited February 11, 2013 by xSergio74

[TotalyWicked]

Sergio, great work keep it up!!!!

Would it be possible for you program to remember last directory being used??

[Carsten Svendsen]

Hi,

your model was containing a lot of not correctly positioned parts. If a model contains a lot of parts with some decimals in their positions (ie a part is at 20.0002, 12,99996, 14.00034 instead of 20,13,14) then concatenated operation with decimal are going to cause wrong number rounding and difficult or impossibility to perform connections or use connection solver.

This kind of problem is also well known to LDD users...

A way for solving this problem when model is not too big, is to select the whole model and perform an "Align to Grid" operation. This will cause the clicked part be repositioned at origin (point 0,0,0) and the whole model reassembled around it with while part positioning is recomputed trying to remove possible wrong decimals.

In your specific case the operation is a total success allowing the model working fine except for the steering system. It is an unusual style one and need a more specific algorithm to solve. Have to work around it

Attached you can find your model fixed

Sergio

I didn't know such small things could make other things not work correctly. I'll remember to only work with correct alignments next time

[legolijntje]

Some things I would like to have fixed/added in a new version of SR3D Builder:

Important/very very useful:

• I can't use the animation console if a motor is attached to an axle. So, if I want to "play" with a model, I have to remove the motors. Please add some code to ignore the motor, or (for a future release?? add support for motors in the animation console. At least a little fix in the meantime would be very appreciated. (i've only tested this with PF motors)
  

Would be nice:

• If I use a selector (except the single brick one) to select multiple bricks, the PF battery box isn't selected as 1 part. I always have to manually add the sides and the button. EDIT: it seems this doesn't work is for other multiparts too (some do work, some don't).
  
• Since the last update, the "page up" and "page down" keyboard buttons will lower or higer the part with 1 brick instead of 1/3 brick (like last versions). Could you add an option to change this?
  
• Something I want for a long time now, is a selector to select ALL parts in the model (something like CTRL+A in Word).
  
• There is such a dropdown menu to select the type of building you're building (so the parts assortment will change). It would be nice if one can make a customized list with what which categories should be shown in the toolbox.
  

Anyway, thanks for the already great and powerful program :thumbup:

[xSergio74]

Some things I would like to have fixed/added in a new version of SR3D Builder:

Important/very very useful:

• I can't use the animation console if a motor is attached to an axle. So, if I want to "play" with a model, I have to remove the motors. Please add some code to ignore the motor, or (for a future release?? add support for motors in the animation console. At least a little fix in the meantime would be very appreciated. (i've only tested this with PF motors)
  

Would be nice:

• If I use a selector (except the single brick one) to select multiple bricks, the PF battery box isn't selected as 1 part. I always have to manually add the sides and the button. EDIT: it seems this doesn't work is for other multiparts too (some do work, some don't).
  
• Since the last update, the "page up" and "page down" keyboard buttons will lower or higer the part with 1 brick instead of 1/3 brick (like last versions). Could you add an option to change this?
  
• Something I want for a long time now, is a selector to select ALL parts in the model (something like CTRL+A in Word).
  
• There is such a dropdown menu to select the type of building you're building (so the parts assortment will change). It would be nice if one can make a customized list with what which categories should be shown in the toolbox.
  

Anyway, thanks for the already great and powerful program :thumbup:

Hi,

- PF motors should work fine with animator console. As shown in my last video, the 8258 has a PF Large motor connected and it is working. Be sure to use the last part definition in your model. Try removing current motors in your saved model and replace with a newly added one. It should work... but not totally sure.

- The battery pack is still not patched. Be patient...

- To select the whole model, you can use the GROUP tab, Right click on the "model" entry in the tree view window and click on the select group and subgroup. I can quite easily add that function, but it is going to be a bit dangerous for application stability in a BIG model

- The Category list personalization is on my TO-DO list...

Sergio

[legolijntje]

Hi,

- PF motors should work fine with animator console. As shown in my last video, the 8258 has a PF Large motor connected and it is working. Be sure to use the last part definition in your model. Try removing current motors in your saved model and replace with a newly added one. It should work... but not totally sure.

- The battery pack is still not patched. Be patient...

- To select the whole model, you can use the GROUP tab, Right click on the "model" entry in the tree view window and click on the select group and subgroup. I can quite easily add that function, but it is going to be a bit dangerous for application stability in a BIG model

- The Category list personalization is on my TO-DO list...

Sergio

Well, I just installed SR3D Builder on a complete new clean Windows 7, so I assume I have the newest version of the parts. To check, how can I download the newest parts? Or do you just mean the newest normal LDraw parts? And thanks for the tip about group selecting, I haven't got really into groups yet (but I like the idea very much).

[xSergio74]

Well, I just installed SR3D Builder on a complete new clean Windows 7, so I assume I have the newest version of the parts. To check, how can I download the newest parts? Or do you just mean the newest normal LDraw parts? And thanks for the tip about group selecting, I haven't got really into groups yet (but I like the idea very much).

The problem with part update is the following: due to compatibility with previous version of part definition, if you have created a model using PF motor partID "1" it may be it has been replaced by PF motor partID "2" with the same visual behavior, but with different behavior management: the partID "2" recognize the correct PF motor assembly.

For this reason it is convenient at least to try to remove a possible buggy part and replace with the same part currently offered by the part selection toolbox and check if it is working...

[legolijntje]

Oh, I forgot to mention that the model I created was brand new too (so not from a previous version)

I found another bug. Or at least, there is a bug, but I can't find exactly what the problem is. It has something to do with the alternative UI and mirror building (and maybe also color selecting while having the brick already selected). It isn't working very good. You should try it yourself to see what I mean

[xSergio74]

Hi everybody,

I was trying to write a LDD model import function to add to my program, but, unfortunately, the LDraw.xml file used for part conversion is drastically out of date making this tool producing ridiculous results.

Due to that, this functionality is actually abandoned.

For the ones interested in converting their models to a SR3DBuilder compatible file format, the LDD Export function (exporting to .LDR) can be used, but, most often the same bad result will be gained.

So nothing to do at the moment in this direction...

Edited February 22, 2013 by xSergio74

[xSergio74]

Oh, I forgot to mention that the model I created was brand new too (so not from a previous version)

I found another bug. Or at least, there is a bug, but I can't find exactly what the problem is. It has something to do with the alternative UI and mirror building (and maybe also color selecting while having the brick already selected). It isn't working very good. You should try it yourself to see what I mean

I tried and you are definitively right about PF medium size motor. I've fixed the issue and will be available in next release... very soon.

In the while, as a workaround, you can edit the c:\LDraw\PartsNew.lis file using a normal texteditor and replace the line with 58120.DAT at the beginning with the following line

58120.DAT Electric Power Functions Medium Motor 1 -1 0 0 -1 0 3 0 -1

(each field is separated by a TAB: not sure it is maintained using a copy/paste from this message)

It must be done while the application is not running or restart it after the editing.

[legolijntje]

Yep, it's working now. Thanks!

[efferman]

i have installed the actual SR3d version from the sr3d homepage. After installing and starting SR3d i get this information.

See the end of this message for details on invoking

just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************

Error in the application.

-2005530518 (D3DERR_NOTAVAILABLE)

at Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D.Manager.GetDeviceCaps(Int32 adapter, DeviceType deviceType)

at an.l()

at an.a(Rectangle A_0)

at g.b1(Object A_0, EventArgs A_1)

at System.EventHandler.Invoke(Object sender, EventArgs e)

at System.Windows.Forms.Form.onload(EventArgs e)

at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnCreateControl()

at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl(Boolean fIgnoreVisible)

at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl()

at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmShowWindow(Message& m)

at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)

at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)

at System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.WndProc(Message& m)

at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WmShowWindow(Message& m)

at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WndProc(Message& m)

at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativewindow.OnMessage(Message& m)

at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativewindow.WndProc(Message& m)

at System.Windows.Forms.Nativewindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

************** Loaded Assemblies **************

mscorlib

Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0

Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5466 (Win7SP1GDR.050727-5400)

CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v2.0.50727/mscorlib.dll

----------------------------------------

SR3DBuilder

Assembly Version: 0.8.3.18

Win32 Version: 0.8.3.18

CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files%20(x86)/SR%203D%20Builder/SR3DBuilder.exe

----------------------------------------

Microsoft.VisualBasic

Assembly Version: 8.0.0.0

Win32 Version: 8.0.50727.5420 (Win7SP1.050727-5400)

CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Microsoft.VisualBasic/8.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll

----------------------------------------

System

Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0

Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5467 (Win7SP1GDR.050727-5400)

CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll

----------------------------------------

System.Windows.Forms

Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0

Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5468 (Win7SP1GDR.050727-5400)

CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll

----------------------------------------

System.Drawing

Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0

Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5467 (Win7SP1GDR.050727-5400)

CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll

----------------------------------------

System.Runtime.Remoting

Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0

Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5420 (Win7SP1.050727-5400)

CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Runtime.Remoting/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Runtime.Remoting.dll

----------------------------------------

Microsoft.DirectX

Assembly Version: 1.0.2902.0

Win32 Version: 5.04.00.2904

CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC/Microsoft.DirectX/1.0.2902.0__31bf3856ad364e35/Microsoft.DirectX.dll

----------------------------------------

Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D

Assembly Version: 1.0.2902.0

Win32 Version: 9.05.132.0000

CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC/Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D/1.0.2902.0__31bf3856ad364e35/Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D.dll

----------------------------------------

Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3DX

Assembly Version: 1.0.2911.0

Win32 Version: 9.12.589.0000

CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC/Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3DX/1.0.2911.0__31bf3856ad364e35/Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3DX.dll

----------------------------------------

System.Xml

Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0

Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5420 (Win7SP1.050727-5400)

CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Xml/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Xml.dll

----------------------------------------

ImageCombo

Assembly Version: 1.1.2991.21158

Win32 Version: 1.1.2991.21158

CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files%20(x86)/SR%203D%20Builder/ImageCombo.DLL

----------------------------------------

Microsoft.VisualBasic.PowerPacks.Vs

Assembly Version: 10.0.0.0

Win32 Version: 11.0.50727.1

CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files%20(x86)/SR%203D%20Builder/Microsoft.VisualBasic.PowerPacks.Vs.DLL

----------------------------------------

************** JIT Debugging **************

To enable just-in-time (JIT) debugging, the .config file for this

application or computer (machine.config) must have the

jitDebugging value set in the system.windows.forms section.

The application must also be compiled with debugging

enabled.

For example:

<configuration>

<system.windows.forms jitDebugging="true" />

</configuration>

When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhandled exception

will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the computer

rather than be handled by this dialog box.

after pressing "ignore" or "quit" i can do nothing with sr3d and to close the program i need the taskmanager.

My PC has the newest official drivers, .net framework 4.5 and the actual direct X version.

does anyone has an idea what is going wrong?

[xSergio74]

Hi,

as suggested on my application download page, you need to download the DirectX update by following the recommended link. Even if you have the latest available version of the operating system and/or directx installed on your PC

Sergio

(Author of the program)