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.MPD (Multi-Part Dat) FILES
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What are .MPD files
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Multi Part Dat (MPD) files are an LDraw file that contains more than one LDraw file within it.
This is done for a number of reasons, such as being able to create complex models by modeling each part of the model separately and having only one file instead of many for your model, to name a few.
When you use a .MPD file you have several sub-models that are used to create the main model. Figure 1 shows you a model called mini_park.
Figure 1: Mini Park Image (Click on the image to enlarge)
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The model in figure 1 is made up of several sub-models. The advantage of using sub-models is that instead of having to select and move ALL the parts associated
with a sub-model you only have to select one item, the sub-model itself. In figure 1, the UPSP Mail Box contains 15 parts while the tree contains 24 parts.
What would you like to move? 15 parts for the mail box or just 1?
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How do I create a .MPD file?
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This example uses MLCAD as the LDraw editor and Microsoft NOTEPAD for the text editor. Any LDraw & Text editor can create .MPD files.
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| Step 1 |
Open MLCad, create and save your sub-model. (Our example uses the following sub-models:
LampPost-ModernVer1,
PlanterTree-Fruit,
and USPSBox.)
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| Step 2 |
Repeat step 1 for each additional sub-model you may have.
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| Step 3 |
Close MLCad and ensure that ALL your sub-models are located in the \ldraw\models\ sub-folder.
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| Step 4 |
Open MLCad to create the final model that will contain all the sub-models.
It is necessary to open/close MLCAD to ensure that MLCad memory cache gets cleaned out and you can "see" your models when click on the models group in MLCad.
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| Step 5 |
Create your main model with it's sub-models. To place sub-models in your main model click on the MODELS group in MLCad and drop & drag your sub-models from the preview panel into your
model as shown in figure 2.
Figure 2: Adding sub-models to a main model in MLCad (Click on the image to enlarge)
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| Step 6 |
Save your main model using the .LDR file extension. (Our example file is called
Complete.ldr.)
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| Step 7 |
Open your main model in any text editor. Our example looks like this:
0 Name: complete.ldr
0 Author: Ahui Herrera
0 e-mail: jedi_agh@yahoo.com
0 http://www.geocities.com/jedi_agh/
0 Unofficial Model
0 ROTATION CENTER 0 0 0 1 "Custom"
0 ROTATION CONFIG 0 0
1 2 -10 0 20 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3865.DAT
0 STEP
1 2 -110 -8 40 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 PlanterTree-Fruit.ldr
1 2 90 -8 40 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 PlanterTree-Fruit.ldr
0 STEP
1 2 -20 -8 30 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 UPSPBox.ldr
1 2 -10 -48 80 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 LampPost-ModernVer01.ldr
0
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| Step 8 |
Save your file in the text editor as <filename>.mpd. Ensure that your text editor does not place a .TXT at the end of your file.
You may need to change the "SAVE AS TYPE" during the save process from .TXT" to "ALL FILES" If your text editor saves your file as <filename>.mpd.txt
just rename it to <filename>.mpd. Our example is called
mini_park.mpd.
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| Step 9 |
In order for LDraw to understand .MPD files a comment line MUST be placed at the top of each line BEFORE the actual file.
This comment line is as follows:
0 FILE <filename>
For our example of complete.ldr it would be:
0 FILE complete.ldr
0 Name: complete.ldr
<...the rest of the file...>
Ensure that the FILE <filename> is EXACLTY THE SAME as the <filename> on the second comment line called Name.
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| Step 10 |
So in order to combine the 3 sub-models into the .MPD file, for our example, you would add the comment line to each file and then copy & paste into the mini_park.mpd file.
Our mini_park.mpd would look like this:
0 FILE complete.ldr
0 Name: complete.ldr
<...code for model...>
0
0 FILE PlanterTree-Fruit.ldr
0 Name: PlanterTree-Fruit.ldr
<...code for model...>
0
0 FILE LampPost-ModernVer01.ldr
0 Name: LampPost-ModernVer01.ldr
<code for model>
0
0 FILE UPSPBox.ldr
0 Name: UPSPBox.ldr
<...code for model...>
0
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| Step 11 |
Save and close your file.
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| Step 12 |
In order to test your model you need to delete or remove all the
sub-models from the \ldraw\models sub-folder.
You need to do to ensure that the .MPD file is working correctly.
If there is an error is the .MPD file and you also have the
sub-models in the SAME folder your LDraw editor
will NOT detect the error.
This is because your editor will use the sub-model OUTSIDE
of the .MPD file as a reference.
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| Step 13 |
Open your .MPD file to see if it works properly. |
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How do I create a .MPD file - the easy way
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The steps above show you the fundamentals of creating a .MPD file. However, 3rd party LDraw applications now make it easier than ever in creating
.MPD files. One such application is LPub (http://www.users.qwest.net/~kclague/LPub/).
LPub is capable of creating a .MPD file with the click of a single button!
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| Step 1 |
Place all your submodels in the same location. In our example we placed the sub-models:
LampPost-ModernVer1,
PlanterTree-Fruit,
USPSBox
and Complete.ldr in C:\ldraw\models.
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| Step 2 |
Open LPub (version 2.1.0.8 or higher) and load your final model by clicking on file -> Open LDraw File, in our case complete.ldr
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| Step 3 |
Click file -> Save as MPD and LPub will create your .MPD file!
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Common Mistakes
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If MLCad gives you an error like saying that “a model can not be found” or your model is missing sub-models the common mistake it that you had a
spelling mistake in your .MPD file. Make sure that the comment line has THE SAME name and the file name.
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Tips for Big .MPD Files
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If you create a big enough .MPD file with many submodels you may noticed that when loading your file into MLCAD it might take a while to load especially
if your first model is the final completed version. To help in speeding up the upload time you can create a blank sub-model file as your first
sub-model in your .MPD file. What are we talking about you say? Look at our
revised park model and notice
that when first uploaded in MLCAD you will see noting! This first blank file is a good canidate for general comments about your .MPD
file and/or model.
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Help Desk Tutorial: .MPD (Multi-Part Dat) Files
Version 1.2
Created by Ahui Herrera, LDraw Help Desk
http://www.ldraw.org/
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