Engine | Development | Primer | Supplies | Constructopedia | Control | Compressors | Tester | Build | Bibliography | Miscell
Progress in LDraw Pneumatics |
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| Early Days | |
| When I first started to document my pneumatics models with LDraw, there were no official pneumatics parts in the library. So the pneumatics parts were left blank to be filled in by looking at the accompanying digital pictures. At best, I used a simulation of a pneumatic cylinder provided by Linc Smith which was made up of regular Lego parts. The pneumatic switch was likewise simulated with a couple of bricks and a plate with an axle for the handle. | |
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| Pneumatic Parts | |
| In time, realistic pneumatics parts were added to the LDraw library due to the interest in building pneumatics models and the diligent work of the LDraw parts originators like Marc Klein and others.. Today, almost all the LEGO pneumatics parts are available, albeit several are still "unofficial". The only parts missing are the old type pumps and one-way valve. | |
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| Pneumatic Tubing | |
| Having got the pneumatics parts, the remaining problem was the pneumatic tubing that connect between the pneumatics elements. Pneumatic models just don't look good without the tubings. Thanks to emacs and Fredrick Glockner's ldraw-mode it became possible to generate nice looking tubings linking the pneumatics elements together. Mind you, emacs and ldraw-mode needs getting used to. | |
| Building instructions generally used the pictures generated by LDraw or MLCad with the STEP meta-command that outputs a picture at the end of each instruction step. Much better looking images could be generated using POV-Ray but it was tedious to do all the step images manually. | |
| Present Day | |
| So it was a great boon when Kevin Clague recently introduced LPub, a program that automatically generates step instructions rendered by POV-Ray to produce stunning building step instructions. I was privileged to be one of the early users of this great program. Kevin has also authored an accompanying program, LSynth, that enables the convenient synthesis of pneumatic tubing and other bendable parts as well as bands, treads and chains. | |
| The following is the complete assembly image of Paul Krieg's opposed engine generated by LPub. This is a much reduced image. The full size image looks even better. The pneumatic tubings were synthesized using ldraw-mode. Compare this with the LDraw bit maps at the beginning of this page. Yes, we have come a long way in LDraw pneumatics since this web-site began. | |
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