The Ripples Continue…
The waves of change created from the toolpath refinement updates have now hit the waterline and pencil code. The code that pieced together the waterline and pencil paths was written for the old refinement code and, as Adam demonstrated, left something to be desired with the new refinement code. It turned out to be a < 1 minute fix after tracking down the problem. The photo below shows the output- note the smooth output and the lack of little path segments.
Jay pointed out some unintended changes to the roughing code. It turned out that the new polyline simplification code was doing something funny to the outline contours. I reverted to the old code until I can sort out the problem in more detail. Thinking about that problem led to the thought that encouraging people to use a larger tolerance value because of better finishing code will lead to lower-quality roughing paths. To equalize this I increased the internal quality settings for the roughing to make them better for a given tolerance value. hopefully this will make the roughing and finishing quality more on par with each other.
Randy’s pleas for a better place for the MeshCAM shortcut have been recognized. I updated to the new Microsoft-preferred location of putting the program directly under Start->Programs and using Add/remove programs for the uninstaller- no more uninstall link in the start menu.
I can’t duplicate Jeffs bad x-size problem. I need to reinstall Rhino on my laptop so I can investigate further.
I uploaded resulting update to http://www.grzsoftware.com/files/MeshCAM2-6895.exe .
The todo list before the next public release is:
1) Update manual
2) Add warnings for excessive tolerance values (with the option to not be warned in the future)
3) Find Jeffs x-size problem
If I’m missing anything big please let me know- I probably lost the email.
Comments
7 Responses to “The Ripples Continue…”
Robert,
Just three quick observations before I go to bed. Besides thank you for the continuing releases.
1. 6895 doesn’t remember my registration info. Each time I start it up I need to enter the info afresh, and MC says “Registration code validated.”
2. Default tolerance is set at .0001″ and roughing quality at 2. Did you intend those numbers? I had been using .001″ when testing 6887 this afternoon (so long ago, it seems!)
3. Lowering the priority of MC seems to have had an adverse affect in responding to dialog boxes. I clicked the “Cancel” box on the Building Toolpath dialog a full five minutes ago (during Offsetting Surface) and MC still hasn’t responded. Task Manager shows 99% CPU for MC when I’m not doing other things (like typing this entry…) so I will need to kill MC with the Task Manager.
I never was able to get 6887 to successfully calculate a roughing toolpath this afternoon. My STL was 797k faces, about 38MB. Even with fairly loose tolerance of .010″ and roughing quality of 15 MC seemed to hang — Task Manager showed 0% CPU after a while. I’ll try again in the morning with 6895. 6887 was giving excellent parallel finishing passes, with “sharp” corners very well defined and matching in the X and Y passes. You are definitely moving MC in the right direction!
Randy
The roughing is fixed …….thanks. I also have to re-enter my registration code each time I open MC. I also got MC to lock up while I was creating my tab supports I did not hit the Done button before I opened Set Max Depth; MC did not like that at all. But that is not something I usually do, just careless on my part.
All very strange problems. I’ll try to see what I can do- they should all be pretty quickly solvable.
Couple things…
1. MeshCAM does not respect deselecting “Enable Finishing Pass” check box. For example, I have Pencil Cleanup Checked, but I don’t want any Finishing pass at all, I deselect (uncheck) “Enable Finishing Pass” at the top of the dialog and it still tells me I need to Define tool for Pencil cleanup.
2. Just confirming the Registration problem Jay mentions happens to me also.
Thanks!!
Rich.
I am also having to re-register everytime I start up MC.
Robert,
Not only the registration but everything which used to be “sticky” isn’t any more. Not even preferences are preserved.
Jeff
Nor apparently is the tool table saved except on a successful program exit. So here comes another request–please save the tool table immediately on exiting the tool definition dialog. If anything happens and MC needs to be shut down by Program Manager, the current tool info is lost.
Randy