First sneek peak at LDD 4.0

[BrickWild]

I'm looking forward...

Maybe it will come out on my birthday, 'cause tomorrow, it's farewell to August & welcome to September!

[Randal]

I started to get excited today because LDD took FOREVER to load... but then it loaded up regular... Talk about your build up to a let down. I guess my 'puter was just slow this morning.

[djo]

awesome, i'm very excited and can't wait until this program really launched.

the advanced rendering looks very interesting.

any date of launch?

[Aanchir]

awesome, i'm very excited and can't wait until this program really launched.

the advanced rendering looks very interesting.

any date of launch?

All we've been told is "September". So tomorrow's when we can really start to work up our anticipation. Could be any time of the month, for all we know.

[private_lego]

Odd thing about second video, is, it has LDD 3.0 interface

This is odd indeed.

Still I can't wait to try the new version

[JopieK]

Well this version looks very nice indeed. First vid is very promising, better building instructions I hope (with all the others here). Nice to see it is done on a Mac ;)

[alienwar9]

well, its september...when when when?! I need this update to try and put my model together. otherwise I'm stuck with trying to find someone with a supercomputer lol

[SpiderSpaceman]

well, its september...when when when?! I need this update to try and put my model together. otherwise I'm stuck with trying to find someone with a supercomputer lol

Hahaha, I was expecting to be that impatient, but I've let other things distract me. Things like college, beautiful college girls , anticipating the new iPod Touch (I do know when that comes out ), bit of gridiron, discovered an old comic book I wanna read (Legends of the Dark Claw. it's batman fused with wolverine, you can't do better ). But believe me, I can't wait either. How many days in are we? ... Haha okay: 2 down, 28 possible release dates to go: but I'll bet we get it within 2 weeks (total guess).

If it's not confidential, what kinda huge project are you working on?

[Praiter Yed]

I've not really got much to add - it all looks very exciting. However, I've just downloaded the installer for version 3.1.3 just in case... Hope for the best but expect the worst - that's my motto.

BTW I'm sure the kid in the 1st video was pictured on the box of my Connect 4 way back in 1978 - he hasn't aged a bit.

[BrickWild]

Also, the music in the first video sounds similar to this:

[M'Kyuun]

Looks good. I'm in favor of any upgrades to this program, as I MOC more with LDD than with real bricks (b/c I'm too lazy to sort my collection). I hope, along with the improved aesthetic, the part to part interaction will be fixed (certain parts do not connect to other pieces the same as they do in reality, as well as axles do not travel into certain technic parts as far as they do in reality negating or limiting their use on virtual models) Looking forward to trying it out this month.

Will the Universe pallette be standard? If not, will a previously unlocked Universe pallette remain viable when upgraded to v4, or will we have to unlock it again? Since unlocking it, I can't imagine taking a step back to the limited pallette of regular LDD.

[Zerobricks]

Here is a reply I got about relase day and LU mode:

Hi,

We're working hard to get LDD 4.0 ready.

We hope to release within the next few months.

As soon as we know the more exact date this will be posed on our site.

LU mode will not be enabled in this release unfortunately but let's see what upcoming updates bring.

Thank you for the questions and happy building!

The LEGO Design byME team,

[Superkalle]

We're working hard to get LDD 4.0 ready.

We hope to release within the next few months.

As soon as we know the more exact date this will be posed on our site.

LU mode will not be enabled in this release unfortunately but let's see what upcoming updates bring.

Thank you for the questions and happy building!

The LEGO Design byME team,

The funny thing was that they did say September in their previous press-release a few months ago. Let's hope they haven't bumped into delays.

And to clarify, it's true that LU mode will not be enabled out of the box, but it will be available to us AFOLs just like before.

[SpiderSpaceman]

Here is a reply I got about relase day and LU mode:

Hi,

We're working hard to get LDD 4.0 ready.

We hope to release within the next few months.

As soon as we know the more exact date this will be posed on our site.

LU mode will not be enabled in this release unfortunately but let's see what upcoming updates bring.

Thank you for the questions and happy building!

The LEGO Design byME team,

so does not enabled mean disabled or just that it hasn't joined the ranks of official features yet? because I'd assume the first and that meets me with a predicament:

keep v.3 and Universe till the cows come home

or

get the gorgeous overhauled v.4 and love it but miss out on all my wonderful selection

"Since unlocking it, I can't imagine taking a step back to the limited pallette of regular LDD." right! exactly.

now the only thing that would really keep me happy here would be if old models can load into v.4 (and I'm sure they do) and you could keep both versions of the program, build in v.3 and pop it open in v.4 for tweaking and visuals

so I think we just need to figure out how to keep both programs on the same computer. that shouldn't be impossible

EDIT:

oops, sorry superkalle. must have typed my reply without refreshing the forum

so glad we can hang onto the universe palette. you never know with software updates - sometimes the devs are finicky about what stays and what's lost. glad my beloved LEGO's doing it right

Edited September 3, 2010 by SpiderSpaceman

[BrickWild]

Lego Universe will be coming out in October if you saw the ad on the right on LDD.

So I think that the LU pallete may be here to stay!

[NecroViolator]

The funny thing was that they did say September in their previous press-release a few months ago. Let's hope they haven't bumped into delays.

And to clarify, it's true that LU mode will not be enabled out of the box, but it will be available to us AFOLs just like before.

Superkalle :)

I really hope your right no this LU mode...he he he :D...

AND I hope they added some of our suggestions of bricks we wanted instead of being lazy like me...he he ;)...

Thanks and keep the news coming...

[Superkalle]

Lego Universe will be coming out in October if you saw the ad on the right on LDD.

So I think that the LU pallete may be here to stay!

Well, there really isn't that kind of connection between Lego Universe (the game) and the Universe Mode (LDD).

Universe Mode in LDD was added to allow game developers to quickly build models using the LDD software and using any color. And all along it has been the Game developers who have decided which parts that would go into LDD LU mode. That's why you will sometimes find odd/old bricks there that you wonder "why on earth did they put THIS brick in but not THAT". Well, simply because the brick was needed somewhere in the game.

So does that mean that models designed in LDD will import into the game (and vice versa). No, from what I've heard there is no such connection and that means that, unless you're a game developer, there is no relationship between the game and LDD, even though they both have "Universe" in them

[Shroud]

After playing the beta of Lego Universe Ive realized that the game is just too basic at the moment to even use models that could be imported. You can make your own house but it seems that the only building you can do and use are the templates that the missions give you to make. I haven't played through every level and they could add more later but this seems to be the impression.

[Odyssey]

now the only thing that would really keep me happy here would be if old models can load into v.4 (and I'm sure they do)

For me this is the big unknown in a way - the railjet I'm working on hasn't been finished yet and if I can't open (and order) the parts anymore in LDD 4, this'd be a huge disappointment... Does anyone have any information on that matter?

[Superkalle]

For me this is the big unknown in a way - the railjet I'm working on hasn't been finished yet and if I can't open (and order) the parts anymore in LDD 4, this'd be a huge disappointment... Does anyone have any information on that matter?

I asked this question to the LDD Team at TLG some time ago, and yes, LDD 4 will open 3.0 files without problems since they share the same file format. The only problem will be if you have used parts in your 3.0 designs that are not longer available in 4.0. One example is 30007 which most likely will be replaced by the newer mold 60581 (which has side supports). But I'm planning on doing a feature in LDD Manager that will solve this by automatically open the LXF-file and substitue old parts with new, equivalent ones so it shouldn't be a problem. From what I understand no parts will be removed without being replaced by new counterparts.

Another problem when opening 3.0 files in 4.0 could be that brick geometries in 4.0 have been updated with more stringent boundaries, thus something that is possible to do in 3.0 is no longer possible in 4.0, but this I'm guessing will be extremly rare.

[roamingstop]

Another problem when opening 3.0 files in 4.0 could be that brick geometries in 4.0 have been updated with more stringent boundaries, thus something that is possible to do in 3.0 is no longer possible in 4.0, but this I'm guessing will be extremly rare.

Oh....

That would make all the 'magic' connections necessary to fix models now, probably illegal. The question is how would this be loaded? the 'magic' disappearing lego bricks? Or just a block removed.

Take a nice complicated UCS model and work out which single piece did not get reloaded.... or a modular house... A bit of fun for those making official models in LDD...

The Brick Giveth, and the Brick Taketh away... but the Brick will be always with you...

[Superkalle]

Take a nice complicated UCS model and work out which single piece did not get reloaded.... or a modular house... A bit of fun for those making official models in LDD...

Well, there are actually tools available for that. Allready now in LDD there is function that will generate a log file (in the form of a LXF-file) when you get that dreaded "X parts have been removed" warning. You can then open that file to see which parts where removed (illegal placement). It can be found here (Win7 example): C:\Users\[userName]\AppData\Roaming\LEGO Company\UnplaceableBricksDump.lxfml

I'm also thinking about a feature in LDD Manager where you can compare two models (example "before" and "after" with respect to part content AND placement - basically the above function, but a bit more advanced.

[Zerobricks]

Third video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnHD7kDzGgI

Edited September 14, 2010 by Zblj

[Superkalle]

Interesting that you get to see the picking procedure. My observations:

1) Handpicked bricks (no automatic vibration feeders, no spout or feeding table, no scale that speed up counting - each brick picked indivudally from large bins)

2) Counted once again manually (no control weight scale that I could see)

3) Manually glued together package wrapping.

No wonder it's expensive

[Randal]

Yes, a lot could be done to speed the process, unless this is a program to provide employment for unemployed Dutch...

Oh, and grumble grumble grumble ... want a release date ... grumble grumble grumble...