LDraw beta 0.27 documentation.

The LDraw program is used to draw your models on screen after entering them by hand or with the LEdit program. This program is not interactive and is controlled by the following command line parameters:
  • Basic Usage:
    • Example command line: ldraw filename.dat
      Will draw the model specified by filename.dat using the default Three-D view.

      You must specify at least a model filename in order for the program to work.
      Running LDraw.exe with no command line argument will do nothing.

      Tip:
      If your model file has the extension .dat on it, you do not need to specify the .dat on the command line - LDraw assumes a model has the .dat extension. So either of the following will work:
         ldraw filename.dat
         ldraw filename
  • Advanced Usage Command line Switches:
    • -A
      Specifies the orientation of the model within the 3-D space.
      Example command line: ldraw car.dat -A1,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,1
      • -A1,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,1
        Front view of model.
      • -A-1,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,-1
        Back view of model.
      • -A0,0,1,0,1,0,-1,0,0
        Left view of model.
      • -A0,0,-1,0,1,0,1,0,0
        Right view of model.
      • -A0,0,1,1,0,0,0,1,0
        Over view of model.
      • -A0,0,1,-1,0,0,0,-1,0
        Under view of model.
      • -A1,0,1,0.5,1,-0.5,-1,0,1
        3-D View (Default)
      Try these as well. They work best with the car.dat file instead of the pyramid.dat.
      Use car.dat on the command line as well as the -A option.
      • -A-1,0,1,0.5,1,0.5,-1,0,-1
      • -A-1,0,-1,-0.5,1,0.5,1,0,-1
      • -A1,0,-1,-0.5,1,-0.5,1,0,1
      I like this one.
      • -A-1,0,1,-0.5,-1,-0.5,1,0,1
      Different?
      • -A0.5,0,0.86,0.43,1,-0.25,-1,0,2

    • -Bn
      Changes the background colour to colour n.
      Example command line: ldraw car.dat -B9 draws car.dat on a light blue background.
        0 = Black 
        1 = Blue 
        2 = Green 
        3 = Dark Cyan 
        4 = Red 
        5 = Magenta 
        6 = Brown 
        7 = Grey 
        8 = Dark Grey 
        9 = Light Blue 
      10 = Light Green 
      11 = Cyan 
      12 = Light Red 
      13 = Pink 
      14 = Yellow 
      15 = White 

    • -FS
      Draws the model using the faster version of the stud files. Will draw faster but will not look as good.
      Example command line: ldraw car.dat -FS

    • -Mn
      Changes the drawing mode of the program to mode n.
      • n = P Pause at each step (default).
        Example command line: ldraw car.dat -MP
      • n = C Continuous, do not pause.
        Example command line: ldraw car.dat -MP
      • n = S Save each step as a bitmap, do not pause.
        Example command line: ldraw car.dat -MS

    • -Ox,y
      Changes the centre of the picture. The value for x moves across and the value for y moves down.
      Example command line: ldraw car.dat -O125,-45 moves the model 125 units right and 45 units up (since the y component is a negative number it moves up instead of down)

    • -Sn
      Changes the size of the model on the screen.
      Example command line: ldraw car.dat -S2
      • n = 2     Double size
      • n = 1     Normal (default)
      • n = 0.5  Half size

    • -Vn
      Selects video mode n.
      Example command line: ldraw car.dat -V4
      Note: your video card must support these modes for them to work. Many newer video card do not support all these old modes.
      • n = 0 CGA 320x200 4 colour
      • n = 1 EGA 640x200 16 colour
      • n = 2 EGA 640x350 16 colour
      • n = 3 VGA 640x480 16 colour (default mode)
      • n = 4 SVGA 800x600 16 colour
      • n = 5 SVGA 1024x768 16 colour
      • n = 6 SVGA 1280x1024 16 colour
  • Using multiple switches on the command line:
    Combinations can be used in any order, each separated by spaces.
    Example command line: ldraw car -a-1,0,1,-0.5,-1,-0.5,1,0,1 -b11 -fs -ms -o35,12 -s2
    (Note that the .dat extension is not necessary, nor is using capital letters for the switches)
    This command line would do the following:
    • Display the Car.dat model file.
    • Using an upside down three-d view.
    • On a Cyan background.
    • Using the faster rendering (lower quality) studs.
    • Save a bitmap in the \bitmap\ directory at each STEP line in the model. The progress of the bitmap save can be seen as a slowly descending spot on the left side of the screen.
    • The model will be moved onscreen by 35 units in the x direction, and 12 units in the y direction.
    • Double the size of the model.
  • Display note:
    When displaying models in LDraw, you may see text messages in the upper-left corner of the screen. Most commonly, they look something like this:
    Part 101 moved to 3623
    In LDraw every attempt is made to make the part filename match the part number of an actual real-life part. Occasionally there are parts which do not have a known number at the time of publication, but later the true part number is found. At that point, the part filename is corrected and then the old number is used as a redirection pointer to the new number.
    So the Part 101 moved to 3623 message is a reminder that part 101 has been updated to part 3623.
    You may also see text messages displayed by using the 0 WRITE command in a model file.
    See the Edit Menu/Line-Type/Comment section of the ledit.htm or ledit.txt file for more info.

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