There are two (or three) requirements to run L3P:
set PATH=%PATH%;c:\Download\Lego\L3P(PATH is set to the old PATH plus c:\Download\Lego\L3P)
If you want to see where else DOS looks for programs, simply type [1]:
pathThe "set PATH=%PATH%;c:\Download\Lego\L3P" command can be appended to your c:\autoexec.bat (use any text-editor e.g. Notepad, and paste the "set PATH=%PATH%;c:\Download\Lego\L3P" command at the end).
If you don't want to mess with the PATH environment variable, then you can simply place l3p.exe in e.g. c:\Windows or any other directory that is already in your PATH, see [1].
Or as the very simplest way you can just put l3p.exe in the same directory as Ldraw.exe and Ledit.exe (the LDraw directory, see next paragraph). However, you will have to go to that directory to run l3p.exe, exactly as you will have to go there to run Ldraw.exe or Ledit.exe.
Otherwise you will need to tell L3P where to find the parts. You must set the environment variable LDRAWDIR to the directory containing the P, PARTS and MODELS:
If you have installed LDraw in c:\Lego\LDraw, then your computer has
these directories:
c:\Lego\LDraw\P
c:\Lego\LDraw\PARTS
c:\Lego\LDraw\MODELS
and these files (among others):
c:\Lego\LDraw\Ldraw.exe
c:\Lego\LDraw\Ledit.exe
c:\Lego\LDraw\parts.lst
So your LDraw directory (LDRAWDIR) is c:\Lego\LDraw.
You must call the DOS-command "set" before any calls to L3P (don't
use a trailing backslash in the directory and only one blank (between set
and LDRAWDIR)):
C:\> set LDRAWDIR=c:\Lego\LDraw C:\> l3p car.dat C:\> l3p car.dat newview -cg30,45 -b -fThis should result in two POV-files c:\car.pov and c:\newview.pov
If you have POV-Ray for Windows installed then type in a DOS-box:
C:\> set LDRAWDIR=c:\Lego\LDraw C:\> cd PovFiles C:\PovFiles> l3p -b -f car.dat C:\PovFiles> start car.povThis will launch POV-Ray for Windows and you can press the Run button.
It is convenient to put "set LDRAWDIR=c:\Lego\LDraw" in your c:\autoexec.bat, then you don't have to type the "set" command everytime you open a DOS-window.
The LDRAWDIR must be specified in 8+3 format, the old DOS naming convention: max 8 characters + a dot + max 3 characters extension. I.e. you should use e.g. c:\ldrawf~1 rather than the long name c:\LDrawFiles.
On Windows NT, the environment is loaded from the registry, instead of a batch file. To set your environment go to Start/Settings/Control Panel/System and select the Environment tab. You'll probably want to set LDRAWDIR in the user environment, not the system enviroment. Enter LDRAWDIR as Variable, and e.g. c:\Lego\Ldraw as Value. Click on the Set button. After setting the LDRAWDIR environment variable, you will see it in new DOS boxes (type "set"), not in already open DOS boxes.
The environment variable LDRAWDIR was originally suggested by Tore Eriksson.
You may also want to have a look at a graphical user interface for L3P,
the L3PAdd-On (L3PAO) by Jeff Boen (Onyx).
Included in the zip files is the documentation l3p.txt.
L3P (Win32) v1.3 20010120
l3p.zip (74 kB)
L3P (DOS) v1.3 20010120
l3p16.zip (62 kB)
the 16-bit version for very old computers. To distinguish the executable
from the 32-bit version, the 16-bit version is called l3p16.exe.
However, you can rename l3p16.exe to l3p.exe if you want to.
Please enjoy and let me know what you think.
Linux (i386) and
Mac (OSX) users can go to this download page and download zipped versions for their platforms.
Last updated June 16, 2000