LDraw tools for parts authors

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These tools calculate and generate various LDraw files useful in parts creation. I wrote Isecalc and Linetrim programs while creating spokes of wheel 55982 as calculating intersections of spokes (60° apart) with rims cylinders (facets 22°5 apart) was tedious at best! Ytruder was created for engraved lettering that I needed to model the NXT brick.

 

Isecalc, Intersection Line Calculator	Isecalc utility computes the intersection line of two sets of triangles or quads.
Coverer, LDraw sheet generator	Coverer utility creates a sheet of triangle and quads between two sets of lines.
PlanarCheck, LDraw Quad Coplanarity Checker	PlanarCheck verifies that all quads of a part file are planar enough to fulfill LDraw.org Parts Tracker requirements.
Linetrim, Line trimmer	Linetrim cuts lines going through triangles or quads.
Richard Baxter's OLC, Optional Lines Calculator	OLC is a program written by Richard Baxter, which adds optional lines (LDraw line type 5) between polygons of a file.
Edger tutorial	Tutorial describing the use of Lee Gaiteri's Edger, an optional lines calculator (tutorial written by J.C. Tchang)
Ytruder	Ytruder utility creates a sheet of triangle and quads from a set of lines, by extrusion in LDraw Y direction.
Building shapes with Quad2Dat, Edger and Ytruder	This tutorial describes how I created the finger of 50914 part, using several tools.
Dat2QP: LDraw to Quad2Dat converter	Dat2QP is a tool written in C++ by J.C. Tchang. It allows to convert a LDraw file into a Quad2Dat one.
Projector	Projector utility allows to stamp a flat pattern over a 3D former
Intersector	Intersector utility allows to cut a LDraw file along the intersection with another.

All these command line tools can be more easily used thanks to LETGUI, a user interface written by Michael Heidemann.