LDLink

Note: LDLink has been superseded by LDMerge.

LDLink is a utility that can reversibly combine separate LDraw part libraries by creating symbolic links to the contents of one directory structure in another. Alternate libraries can be used to manage unofficial LDraw parts; support for this concept is present to varying degrees in some LDraw programs. This utility is intended to facilitate other tools, such as L3P, which do not readily support parallel part libraries.

Download ldlink 1.0 (5k Tcl script)

Install the script as ldlink and make it executable with chmod +x ldlink.

Usage: ldlink merge|unmerge [-src LDRAWDIR] [-dst LDRAWDIR]
       On merge, links to src files are created in dst.
       On unmerge, links named after src files are removed from dst.
       Conflicts with normal files in dst are skipped and reported.
       Default dst is LDRAWDIR environment variable.
       Default src is dst/Unofficial.

To merge unofficial parts downloaded by LDView with the rest of your part library, the following command may be sufficient:

ldlink merge

If the environment variable LDRAWDIR is not defined — or if you would like to override its value — use the dst option to specify the destination where the merge should occur. Likewise, the src option may be used to merge parts from a source other than the destination’s Unofficial subdirectory:

ldlink merge -src /Custom/LDraw -dst /Standard/LDraw

To reverse a merge, reissue the command using unmerge instead of merge:

ldlink unmerge
ldlink unmerge -src /Custom/LDraw -dst /Standard/LDraw

LDLink reports how many links it created or removed.

Posted on Tuesday, July 10th, 2007. Tags: LEGO.

Vector Image Stylization

I’ve stylized a few drawings with a vectorization program called autotrace. Here is a brief summary of the process:

The vectorization command looks like this:

autotrace -corner-threshold 20 -filter-iterations 15 threshold.pbm > vectorized.eps

Posted on Friday, July 6th, 2007. Tags: art.

Scaled LCD Resolution

My laptop’s display has a native resolution of 1280 × 800 pixels.

Native 1280 x 800

When I select a different display resolution, it is stretched to fit the screen. This may distort the aspect ratio. It also looks like crap.

Stretched 800 x 600

Scaled modes are available. These preserve proportion, but they still look like crap.

Scaled 800 x 600

Why not use an exact subsection of the screen? I don’t think my display can do this, but it seems like the most logical solution. Who wants the crappy scaling?

Centered 800 x 600

Are there any LCD monitors that work like this?

Posted on Wednesday, July 4th, 2007. Tags: mac.

PSA: Mac OS X Keyboard Navigation

Open the Keyboard & Mouse pane of System Preferences and click the Keyboard Shortcuts tab. Select the “All controls” keyboard access option.

Keyboard and Mouse - Keyboard Shortcuts - Full Keyboard Access screenshot

Now you can use the tab key to select every last popup menu, button, and checkbox. The selected interface element is indicated by a halo, like the one surrounding the “Where” menu in the following screenshot.

Keyboard navigation halo

Invoke the active element by pressing the space bar or, in some cases, the arrows. (In this case, pressing space will display the menu. As with all menus, you can use the arrow keys to select items – or just begin typing to select matching item names.) The return and escape keys retain their usual function.

Posted on Wednesday, July 4th, 2007. Tags: mac.

The body is off the frame!

Today I successfully separated the body from the frame of my hot rod. This grants easy access to the undercarriage, which can now be reinforced and fiddled with at will. This is going to be fun. A bare frame is like a blank sheet of paper: behold the potential!

Check out the rest of the gallery for more photos and details on the barnyard engineering that made this possible.

Posted on Saturday, June 16th, 2007. Tags: car.

Hot Rod Taillights

These nifty tinted taillights were among the many odds and ends that came with my car. I think they look pretty mean:

The body is slated to come off the frame sometime in the next couple days. Once that’s done, things will start happening. Stay tuned for more updates.

Posted on Thursday, June 14th, 2007. Tags: car.

Miscellaneous Mac LDraw Machinations

Macintosh universal binary versions of Philo’s Isecalc and Linetrim utilities for LDraw part authors are now readily available, courtesy of yours truly.

Posted on Thursday, June 14th, 2007. Tags: LEGO.

Posterizer

Last month I introduced Posterizer, a simple little program that reduces images to a handful of key colors you select. Rather than postpone it indefinitely until I’m completely satisfied with it, I’ve decided to release what I’ve got so far.

Download Posterizer Test Release (Mac OS X Universal Binary, 2.9MB)

The documentation on packaging a Tcl/Tk script as this kind of stand-alone application bundle is sparse, so the remaining rough edges stem from this experimental integration.

Posted on Sunday, June 3rd, 2007. Tags: art.

Isecalc

Isecalc is a new LDraw utility by Philippe Hurbain. It computes the intersection of two parts (useful for part authors).

Happily, it is Mac compatible. I built Isecalc with the following command:

g++ Isecalc.cpp -arch i386 -arch ppc -o Isecalc

The -arch options are only needed to produce a universal binary.

Posted on Saturday, June 2nd, 2007. Tags: LEGO.

Expanded Yojimbo Comment Fields

This hack tweaks Yojimbo’s bookmark, serial number, and password editors so that their comment fields expand to fill the remainder of the item pane. Before and after: