pyldraw 0.7.0

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======================
pyldraw Python Package
======================

:Author: `rienafairefr`_ code originally from `David Boddie`_
:Date: 2018-02-22
:Version: 0.5.1

.. contents::


Introduction
------------

LDraw_ is a standard format used by CAD applications that create LEGO models
and scenes.

The `pyldraw` package provides facilities to allow users to create LDraw scene
descriptions using the Python_ programming language. Pieces are specified by
their positions, orientations and other properties in normal executable Python
scripts which are run to create model files.

The `pyldraw` package includes code to have the complete LDraw library available
to you through normal Python imports, like::

from ldraw.library.colours import Light_Grey
from ldraw.library.parts.minifig.accessories import Seat2X2
from ldraw.library.parts.others import Brick1X2WithClassicSpaceLogoPattern

The actual parts library hierarchy (in which subpackage each brick is, etc...),
is still a work in progress. You can always specify parts by their LDraw code::

rover = group()
Piece(Light_Grey, Vector(-10, -32, -90),
Identity(), "3957a", rover)



Compatibility
-------------

Be warned that some parts of the library (only some ldr2*** tools and maybe others) require a working PyQt4/SIP installation, and for now
have only been tested on Python 2.7.

The other parts seem to work fine on Python 3.4+

Installation
------------

The simplest way is through pip::

pip install pyldraw


The ldraw.library.* package is kind of special, it is auto-generated from a LDraw parts library (complete.zip)
with the parts.lst itself auto-generated using pymklist_.
On running code that needs something in the ldraw.library, pyldraw will know (through a `sys.meta_path` hook)
and attempt to auto-generate it on-the-fly.
Considering that the toolchain complete.zip download, parts.lst generation, python code generation takes
quite some time, and we don't want to re-download anyway,
the generated library will be cached and reused on subsequent import or python scripts run.
If you provide another parts.lst or modify it, the library will be re-generated.
The cached generated library is stored in the directory where the ldraw package is, if that's user-writeable,
otherwise in an OS-dependent cache directory (somewhere in ~/.cache for example)


Examples
--------

A number of examples are provided in the `examples` directory. When run, each
of these will write model information to the console. To create a model file
from an example, redirect its output to a file.


Part Descriptions
-----------------

Even though this package does include a list of parts derived from those supplied in
the official LDraw archive, users can download or modify this
list separately. The ldraw.library.* hierarchy will stay current with the LDraw database
at the moment the package was deployed on Pypi though

It is possible to use the `ldraw.parts` module to create a parts database from within a scene
script in the following way::

Parts are available from the ldraw.library namespace, or from the Parts class::

from ldraw.parts import Parts
parts = Parts("parts.lst") # provide your custom parts.lst path

Parts can then be accessed using the relevant dictionary
attributes of the `parts` instance. For example::

cowboy_hat = parts.minifig.hats["Hat Cowboy"]
head = parts.minifig.heads["Head with Solid Stud"]
brick1x1 = parts.others["Brick 1 x 1"]

Writers and Tools
-----------------

The `ldraw.writers` package aims to provide a set of classes that write out
LDraw descriptions in other file formats. Currently, it contains the `povray`
module which provides a class for writing out LDraw descriptions as POV-Ray
scenes.

The `ldr2pov` tool, uses the `povray` module to allow LDraw (`.ldr`) files
to be conveniently converted to POV-Ray (`.pov`) scene files.
Note that, since the LDraw format does not include
information about camera locations, it is necessary to pass this information
on the command line.

For example, on a GNU/Linux system, we can execute command lines like these
to take the `figures.py` example file, create an LDraw model file (`temp.ldr`),
and convert that to a POV-Ray scene file (`temp.pov`)::

python examples/figures.py > temp.ldr
ldr2pov /path/to/parts.lst models/figures.ldr temp.pov 160.0,80.0,-240.0
povray +Itemp.pov +FN16 +Otemp.png +Q6

Finally, POV-Ray is used to process the scene description and create a PNG
image file (`temp.png`).

Some other tools and writers are included,

- ldr2inv:

Transforms a LDR file into a file containing the Bill Of Materials or Inventory of the model

- ldr2png

Renders the LDR file into a PNG file

- ldr2svg

Renders the LDR file into a vector image in SVG


License
-------

The contents of this package are licensed under the GNU General Public License
(version 3 or later)::

ldraw, a Python package for creating LDraw format files.
Copyright (C) 2008 David Boddie <david@boddie.org.uk>

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.


Trademarks
----------

LDraw is a trademark of the Estate of James Jessiman. LEGO is a registered
trademark of the LEGO Group.

Origins
-------

This repo was extracted from the mercurial repository at
https://anonscm.debian.org/hg/python-ldraw/main

It will not try to stay updated with the upstream repo of the original author, David Boddie
The goal is to see what might be done, the original repo hasn't been updated since 2011

Some of the documentation underneath might be outdated
with the current state of the repo until the API congeals, sorry about that


.. _LDraw: http://www.ldraw.org/
.. _Python: http://www.python.org/
.. _pymklist: https://github.com/rienafairefr/pymklist
.. _`David Boddie`: mailto:david@boddie.org.uk
.. _`rienafairefr`: mailto:rienafairefr@gmail.com