Some of these may be bugs or just questions, but I thought I'd stick to one forum post at this time, so as I mostly have suggestions here, I post everything in this forum group.
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When dragging (moving/translating) a brick in the model by one of its three RGB colored axes, if the mouse cursor goes outside the model window area (e.g. when dragging the mouse to any edge of the screen), the brick is dropped at the last position it was in before the mouse went outside the model window, and the current operation is switched from dragging the brick to rotating the view. This is most likely not was any user would want. If it's not possible to implement continuing to drag the brick, then please cancel the drag (instead of dropping the brick at a new location) and don't go into view rotation mode.
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When navigating the library and entering a subfolder (specialized versions) of a brick and pressing the "up"/"parent" button to go back to the previous library list, the list should be one the page as it was before. The way it works now is that the list just goes back to page 1 again.
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Why do the specialized versions of bricks have their base color hard coded (e.g. 444d6 and 4444d7) when no regular bricks do not have hard coded color even though they may only exist in one color in real life? For some specialized bricks that exist in many colors the lists of versions could be long and it could take a longer time navigating it and find the right one instead of just locating the right design and changing the base color of it using the color selection. Another possibly confusing consequence of hardcoding some brick colors is that when you select them in a model, they don't turn dark red like other bricks, only the edges turn dark red.
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When using the search function for searching the brick library, if the search result is empty, please tell me in some way instead of just showing an empty list. If the list was empty before searching (e.g. from a previous search that didn't find any matches), I have no way of telling when the new (empty) search result is ready.
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Please implement a keyboard shortcut to the brick library search, and if possible also some keyboard shortcut for the navigating the different groups in the library (the combo box) and the current library so that a new brick can be located and selected through keyboard only. Selecting and adding a new brick or color just by typing its number would also be nice to have.
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I can't make the T and R keyboard shortcuts for rotation and translation work. When pressing these keys, a "rotation" or "translation" message pops up in the model view but entering a number afterwards and pressing enter doesn't change anything except removing the message. When pressing R og T, if the last thing I did before was navigating the library groups (I guess it's focused), the combo list also switches to "Rubbers and strings" or "Textiles" which is probably not what I wanted.
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Would it be possible to implement support for showing multiple rows of bricks in the library if I want that? On my HD screen I think there's more than enough room for two or three rows instead of just one.
Hello,
Thank you for spending some time writing down what you would like to see in the future on Mecabricks.
I will start soon improving the workshop and I will assess your wishlist to see what is realistically feasible or not - A good part of your suggestions are valid and are issues I observed myself.
Just a short answer for some of your comments:
Base colour for decorated bricks is not likely to change. This is due to the way the shaders are coded. There are some possible workarounds but it would slow down the workshop and would not really make sense.
Decorated parts currently turn fully red when selected. Not only the edges.
For translation and rotation using the keyboard, you need to select an axis after pressing the T or R key.
E.g. Press T -> press X -> type value 45.5
I know that there is an annoying behaviour with Select fields remaining focused. I'll try real hard this time to find a solution 😉
Thanks again
Thanks. The problem I had with red edges only on selection was actually due to duplicate bricks, not hardcoded color bricks. 😃
I actually have another suggestion on improving the way snapping works so building could be a lot faster, but it'll be a long story, so it'll come here later.
Here are a few more suggestions (some of them may be bugs, not features):
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I'd like to be able to change the type of a brick to another type after placement instead of having to add a new and deleting the old. This is often needed e.g. if needing to add a decoration. Could be implemented e.g. by clicking a brick in the model and then right-clicking of shift-clicking a new brick in the library.
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I'd like support for including other models (by refence) instead of importing, so that if I later change the models that are included, they are also updated in the models they're included in. Of course, included model should be read-only.
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Please remember my "legacy color" setting and maybe also current color in my models between sessions on the same model.
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Consider renaming the words "circles", "bows" and "angles" in the brick libraries. "Circle" is a two-dimensional concept. "Round" would be better. "Angle" is also a two-dimensional concept, but I don't have a good suggestion for replacement. "Bow" has another meaning in "English" than what you intent to write, so consider using "arch" instead.
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In large models, I have seen delays between clicking a brick and the actual highlight of the brick, so if the mouse has moved in between, it's the later position of the mouse pointer that's used for selecting the brick. This makes fast selection of a lot of many bricks is difficult in large models, because I have to keep the mouse from moving each time after clicking until I'm sure the brick has been selected properly.
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"Save as" actually works as the operation "Save a copy" in other programs: When I choose "Save as", the model is saved under a different name, but the model name is still the old name afterwards, so on the next save, the model is not saved under the new name. Please either change the current model name after "Save as" or change the wording of the operation to "Save a copy".
I'm quite happy with this new LEGO building tool. I look forward to new parts being added. 😃
Also if possible, preserve selections in undo history.
You give some work for a whole year here 😉
- Name of categories in the part library are based on the ones given by LEGO. So they might not be perfect but it keeps it consistent.
- For big models and lagging, I cannot do too much. Performance also depends on client computer specs which I don't control. 3D is very demanding in terms of resources.
- For the Save As button, you shall have another look. The button doesn't work as "Save a copy" but as a proper Save As.
I'm 100% convinced that I (more than once) have opened models, saved them under another name because I wanted to experiment with them, then edited the model and saved again, and it was the original model that was changed by the last save. On the other hand, maybe my conclusions about what was changed could be the result of the model preview images not being updated in the file dialog that I wrote about in another thread. I have tried reproducing the issue now, but I can't. I'll get back here if I see the unexpected behavior again.
Just as a side note, you can have access to any of the revisions of your models. They are accessible from your account library.
Thanks. That's nice to know. 😃
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