Meta Commands – Bouwstone.nl

This paragraph will explain all different meta commands you can use in LPub3D to further detail the appearance of your Lego Building Instruction.

For next paragraphs following general directions:

<“string”> is always text with quotes around it.
1. Example: 0 !LPUB PAGE DOCUMENT_AUTHOR_FRONT CONTENT GLOBAL “Model instructions by Rabbitdesign”
<float> can be any number and can be either in inches (or cm) for the position or in percentage for scale.
1. Example: 0 !LPUB PLI MODEL_SCALE GLOBAL 0.6000
<color> is the hexadecimal value of the color (ie. #ff0000 = red) between quotes. In case of parts it is the color number index for part colors. (!LPUB PLI BEGIN SUB <part> <color>)
1. Example: 0 !LPUB PAGE MODEL_ID COLOR GLOBAL “#ffffff”
2. Example: !LPUB PLI BEGIN SUB 61903.DAT 71
<part> is the part file name in a command. (i.e. !LPUB PLI BEGIN SUB <part> <color>)
1. Example: 0 !LPUB PLI BEGIN SUB 61903.DAT 71
<“picture”> is the location of a picture between quotes.
1. Example: …PICTURE “c:/users/name/pictures/background.png”
<TRUE|FALSE> make a choice, can never used both at the same time. This counts for all other situations as well. When placed between brackets for each group a choice needs to be made (i.e. (LEFT|CENTER|RIGHT) or (INSIDE|OUTSIDE)).
1. Example: 0 !LPUB BOM ANNOTATION DISPLAY TRUE
<line>
<integer> is always a number.
<thickness>
<radius> the radius of a circle in float number
<intBase>
<placement>
<x> <y>; x and y direction for example with MARGIN
1. Example:
GLOBAL means general setting, LOCAL means PAGE or STEP specific setting.

0 !LPUB BOM ANNOTATE FONT <“string”>
0 !LPUB BOM ANNOTATE FONT_COLOR <“string”>
0 !LPUB BOM ANNOTATE MARGINS <float> <float>
0 !LPUB BOM ANNOTATION DISPLAY <TRUE|FALSE>
0 !LPUB BOM ANNOTATION USE_FREE_FORM <TRUE|FALSE>
0 !LPUB BOM ANNOTATION USE_TITLE <TRUE|FALSE>
0 !LPUB BOM ANNOTATION USE_TITLE_AND_FREE_FORM <TRUE|FALSE>
0 !LPUB BOM BACKGROUND (TRANSPARENT|SUBMODEL_BACKGROUND_COLOR|COLOR <“color”>|GRADIENT <mode spread type size[0] size[1] angle “points” “stops”>|PICTURE (STRETCH) <“picture”>)

0 !LPUB BOM BEGIN IGN
0 !LPUB BOM BEGIN SUB <part> <color>
0 !LPUB BOM BEGIN SUB <part>
0 !LPUB BOM BORDER (NONE <line> |SQUARE <line> <color> <thickness>|ROUND <line> <color> <thickness> <radius>) MARGINS <x> <y>
0 !LPUB BOM CONSTRAIN (AREA|SQUARE|(WIDTH|HEIGHT|COLS) <integer>)
0 !LPUB BOM END

0 !LPUB CONSOLIDATE_INSTANCE_COUNT <TRUE|FALSE>

0 !LPUB FADE_STEP FADE <TRUE|FALSE>
0 !LPUB FADE_STEP FADE_COLOR <“string”>

0 !LPUB PART BEGIN IGN
0 !LPUB PART END

0 !LPUB PLI BEGIN IGN
0 // This won’t show the part in PLI, but if it is a submodel, it will generate building instructions.
0 !LPUB PLI END

0 !LPUB PART BEGIN IGN
0 // This part will not show up in PLI and if it is a submodel, it will prevent creating building instructions.
0 !LPUB PART END

0 !LPUB PLI ANNOTATE FONT <“string”>
0 !LPUB PLI ANNOTATE FONT_COLOR <“string”>
0 !LPUB PLI ANNOTATE MARGINS <float> <float>
0 !LPUB PLI ANNOTATION DISPLAY <TRUE|FALSE>
0 !LPUB PLI ANNOTATION USE_FREE_FORM <TRUE|FALSE>
0 !LPUB PLI ANNOTATION USE_TITLE <TRUE|FALSE>
0 !LPUB PLI ANNOTATION USE_TITLE_AND_FREE_FORM <TRUE|FALSE>
0 !LPUB PLI BACKGROUND (TRANSPARENT|SUBMODEL_BACKGROUND_COLOR|COLOR <“color”>|GRADIENT <mode spread type size[0] size[1] angle “points” “stops”>|PICTURE (STRETCH) <“picture”>)
0 !LPUB PLI BEGIN IGN
0 !LPUB PLI BEGIN SUB <part> <color>
0 !LPUB PLI BEGIN SUB <part>

0 !LPUB PLI BEGIN SUB ropelq-2.ldr 0

0 !LPUB PART BEGIN IGN

1 0 -40 32 -20 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 ropelq-1.ldr

0 !LPUB PLI END

0 !LPUB PART END

The meta-command “RESERVE” can be used to reserve some blank space on a page, column, or row. The format of the command is:
0! LPUB RESERVE <float>

The value is a number between 0 and 1 or 1 represents 100% of the height or width of the page. The height is taken into account if the steps are in columns and the width if they are in rows. This meta-command must be placed immediately after a command:
0 STEP

Example:

...
1 cxyz 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 partA.dat
0 STEP
0 ! LPUB RESERVE 0.3
1 cxyz 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 partB.dat
...

This results in an additional 30% space between these steps.

CLEAR statements erase from the screen any elements that preceed them.

The basic functioning is:

Step 1 – Add some parts

Step 2 – Add more parts

Step 3 – CLEAR the screen and add more parts

What is this good for? When building instructions, it allows us to show how
to build separate modules and then how to put them together at the end. Yes,
I know – you can achieve this automatically using MPD files. This is just
another way. Also, CLEAR statements usueally mean that parts have to be
copied again in latter steps – not very efficient.

But if you look at the bright side, CLEAR allows us to create animations
directly in MLCad – place each frame in a separate STEP with a CLEAR
statement at the beginning. Using MLCads’ robust export options and maybe
even the post-processor screen and you will be doing movies without leaving
MLCad.

0 MLCAD BTG <“string”>
0 MLCAD SKIP_BEGIN
0 MLCAD SKIP_END
0 ROTSTEP <rotX> <rotY> <rotZ> <ABS|REL|ADD>
0 STEP
0 SYNTH BEGIN
0 SYNTH CROSS
0 SYNTH END
0 SYNTH HIDE
0 SYNTH INSIDE
0 SYNTH OUTSIDE
0 SYNTH SHOW
0 SYNTH SYNTHESIZED