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In LDraw, a part with printing is called patterned.
The decorative printing is the pattern.
The number for a patterned part is the same as the number for plain, or base, part,
plus a 'p' and a two-digit code. Like this:
BBBBBpCC.dat
BBBBB is the three- to five-digit base number, and CC is the code for the part.
The code can have a mix of letters and numbers.
Getting a pattern number for your part
This isn't too hard - all you have to do is ask. Email Steve Bliss and/or Chris Dee,
or post a message on lugnet.cad.dev.
Maybe someday we'll have a nice reference table, with all the patterns pre-recorded,
but we're not there yet.
Pattern Groups
Normally, the first digit of the code helps to identify which theme or product line
the pattern appears in.
This isn't a hard-set rule, both because many patterned parts appear in multiple themes,
and because this approach to pattern-numbering has evolved over time.
So there are a number of exceptions.
| Range | Assignment |
|---|
| 0x | General/Miscellaneous and Town |
| 1x,2x | Town, including Paradisa |
| 3x | Pirates, Soldiers, Islanders |
| 4x | Castle |
| 5x,6x | Space |
| 7x,8x | Modern Town |
| 9x | Open |
| Ax | Adventurers |
| Bx | Open |
| Cx | Control Panels, dials, gauges, keyboards, readouts, etc. |
| Dx | Studios |
| Ex | Open |
| Fx | Fabuland and Scala |
| Gx | Open |
| Hx | Harry Potter |
| Jx - Mx | Open (I and L not to be used -- see note below) |
| Nx | Ninja |
| Qx | Open (O and P not to be used -- see note below) |
| Rx,Sx | Star Wars |
| Tx |
General Textual Patterns (lettering and numbers) and Trademark items (Corporate Logos, etc) |
| Ux - Vx | Open |
| Wx | Western |
| Xx - Zx | Open |
Digits to Avoid
We should avoid the letters I, L, O, and P for pattern codes.
The first three are easily confused with the numbers 0 and 1, and the last is
the letter used to indicate patterned parts - parts like 3001ppp would look odd.
Common Patterns
Some patterns appear on many different parts.
An example of this is the Classic Space logo.
So far, there are 8 different part files in the LDraw that bear this pattern.
To make it easier to keep track of these parts, a common pattern may be assigned
a specific code. Then all parts with that pattern should use that code in the part number.
Of course, sometimes that's not possible -
sometimes a pattern appears on the same part in different presentations on a single part,
or the code may already be in use for a certain part.
Future Numbers
As people submit patterned parts in playthemes that have not been modeled in LDraw previously,
we will allocate codes to these patterns and themes.
It would be helpful if authors can catalog the various patterned elements in a theme;
this would assist in planning. But it's not required.
For new playthemes, we hope to start pre-allocating codes to patterns.
This would be good not only for LDraw, but also for other LEGO parts databases, such
as Peeron.com.
- September 17, 2001
Data collected and tracked by Chris Dee, mangled by Steve Bliss
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