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Main Features of Ligno3D Designer
Ligno3D Designer is a Microsoft Windows® program
that handles one 3D design project at a time. The name of the
current project file (eg, 'CubbyHouse.lig') is displayed at the
top left of the application window. L3DD has three different views
of the current project — the 3D View,
the Plan View, and the Data View — that are swapped using Standard Toolbar
buttons. The 3D view is where you spend most of your time. Technically minded readers — see
Data Structures.
3D View
Employs perspective projection & solid rendering
Also, orthographic projection & 'wire-frame' views
Pan, rotate & zoom using mouse or keyboard
See precise distances & angles in the Status Bar
Toggle the XYZ axes & groundplane grid on/off
Toggle vertex diamonds & edge handles on/off
Toggle
all vertex and face numbers on/off
Create new vertices using keyboard or mouse
Make faces & lines by clicking vertices in order
Select vertices, faces, edges & lines with mouse
Move selections in XYZ via keyboard or mouse
Rotate selections wrt
XYZ via keyboard or mouse
Multiple undo and redo for all 3D-editing changes
Auto-scale project to suit current object size
View context menus with the right mouse button
Print 3D scenes or capture them as .bmp files
Save 3D projects to L3DD's '.lig' project files
Import and export objects as DXF, STL CAD files
Plan View
Shows 'unwrapped' plans of all or selected faces
Shows all vertex, face & adjacent face numbers
Shows accurate edge & diagonal lengths
Shows accurate inter-edge & interfacial angles
Change the overall scale of the plans
Print
out the plans on standard PC printers
Data View
Shows 3 lists — Components, Faces & Vertices
Components list has all the named components
Face list includes bearings, inclinations & vertices
Vertex list shows XYZ coordinates of all vertices
You can print out the entire Data View
Pre-Digested Objects
Object Menu has usual solids, cones, spheres etc
Other objects by face subdivision, stellation, etc
Many other objects (e.g. soccer ball) as .lig files
Symmetry
Symmetry centre, rotation axis, & 3 mirror planes
All symmetry elements can be toggled on and off
Apply the elements in real time or retrospectively
They affect creation & movement of faces/verts
Helixes and spirals via rotation axis plus increment
Replicate faces & objects by reflection & rotation
Replicate faces & objects via 3D matrices
Decor
Select colors for the object and background
Select discrete colors for individual faces
Select a multicolor or psychedelic color schemes
Choose various textures for objects or faces
Import a texture from a bitmap (.bmp) file
Undo and redo all whole-object and face decor
Tools
Most tools work on selected faces/edges/vertices
Subdivide faces with new face-centered vertices
Quadrate triangular faces (form 4 new faces)
Extrude multiple selected faces simultaneously
Use 'Star Maker' to change objects into 3D
stars
Convert non-spherical objects into 'spheres'
Create objects of revolution from vertex strings
Truncate objects along predefined planes
Chamfer selected vertices & edges of an object
Make selected polyhedron faces into thick panels
Create square-section geodesic frameworks
Stretch or squash objects in X, Y & Z directions
Rotate objects precisely within the XYZ axes
Translate objects precisely wrt the XYZ axes
Test selected faces for warping
Add vertices at line-plane or 3-plane intersections
Put vertex at closest point on plane to other vert
Weld selected vertices into one vertex
Divide warped faces into fewest no. of flat faces
Unite adjacent faces to form a single planar face
Tilt up & join faces to build object like soccer ball
Snap vertices to nearest snap-grid intersections
User Manual & Help System
Complete help system doubles as a
User Manual
Includes all toolbars, menu items & dialog boxes
Includes tutorials on designing specific objects
Includes notes on building objects from MDF, etc.
'What's This' cursor explains menus, buttons, etc.
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3D View of the "Cubby House"
Plan View of the "Cubby House"
Data view of the "Verandah.lig" project file
A screen shot from the user manual
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