The 2009-01 LDraw parts update has been now been released.

This update includes 671 files in the core library, including 307 new parts, and many more files updated with improvements for Back Face Culling support. A total of 19 parts have been redeveloped by authors who have affirmed the Contributor Agreement, replacing files that were not redistributable.

In addition, there are 6 new alias files, which are synonynms for existing parts with new numbers as used by LEGO Digital Designer [3]. These have been included deliberately to assist with inter-operability between LDraw and LDD. Thare are also 23 new files in the "physical colour" library, the descriptions for which are prefixed with an underscore character to prevent them bloating the parts list of applications like MLCad.

With the co-operation of Don Heyse, the new download includes version 1.4 of mklist.exe which provides support for 64-bit Windows systems.

Thanks are due to all the authors and reviewers who contributed to this release, and for everyone's patience over the last three years, during which time no new parts have been released. We have spent this time standardising the file header structure, formalising the redistribution rights, and streamlining the parts update process. Consequently this process is now back on track and further parts updates are planned for 2009.

You can preview the new parts in 2009-01 and download the update by going to http://www.ldraw.org/library/updates [4].

There are still 160 certified files on the LDraw Parts Tracker [5], many of which were held back from this update, following our normal practice of not releasing new primitives or subparts until they are needed for an official part file. There are another 800+ files waiting for admin review, which I will tackle in preparation for another release later this year.

Chris Dee
(LDraw Parts Library Admin)