V4 Build 19
I am in the process of uploading a new V4 build to fix a problem that I’ve seen before but I didn’t know exactly how to replicate until today. There was a bug where the waterline path linker could run the tool into uncut stock if the “Machine Geometry +” was used with the right type of model. It’s tough to describe so I’ll post some pictures below:
This one shows where the bad links are:
This is the 3D view of the same path. You have to imagine that the stock is not machined between the spokes because the outline of the part was used as the machine boundary
.
The code will now check to see if the path crosses the ambient area before linking two paths without a retract:
This bug required a lot of specific things to be present before it would cause trouble. Unfortunately, when it did manage to show up, the results could have been a broken tool. This is a really good fix.
V4 Build 15
I just uploaded V4 Build 15 to http://www.grzsoftware.com/v2dl.php . It includes a few fixes for bugs found by Gerry and some optimizations that I made internally to save memory and speed up processing. This fix seems to be significant for the “Linking” part of the toolpath calculations and when you save a toolpath. I hope to find a few more big wins like this in the next few weeks.
V4 Build 12
I just uploaded V4 build 12 to: http://www.grzsoftware.com/v2dl.php . I made a number of little changes to the UI and one big functional change, the new “Set Machine Region” command. You can now define one of more regions to contain the toolpath without having to pull the trick of shrinking the stock to fool MeshCAM. I think this will be a huge benefit and that it will see lots of use. You can also load a DXF file but please note that only DXF V12 is well-supported. Later versions can be hit-or-miss.
Let me know how it works for you.
Build 17
I just uploaded V3 Build 17 to the normal spot, http://www.grzsoftware.com/v2dl.php . It includes the latest roughing spike reduction code. It’s not quite perfect but the last 1% are tough to remove. I’d have to dig pretty far into the code to remove the last few. I hope your testing will confirm that this is a big improvement.
I also moved the tools.txt file from the Program Files to the Local Settings directory to avoid Windows 7 security problems. It should be automatically moved the first time you run MeshCAM. If you’ve been building that tool file for years then it would be worth backing it up before running this build just to be safe.
Let me know what you think.
V3 Build 16
I just uploaded build 16 to http://www.grzsoftware.com/v2dl.php . I fixed the roughing spikes a little and am now working on getting the rest done in the next day or two. A wanted to float this release in the mean time to see if others agree that it seems like an improvement on their parts. Let me know what you think.
V3 Build 15
I just uploaded build 15 to fix a problem that Jeff and Martin found. I put a debug assertion in the code to check for a condition that “can never happen.” Jeff and Martin both found a way to make the impossible possible. I’ve removed the assertion and tried to handle the case properly so give it another shot and see if you can make it fail. Check the toolpaths carefully to make sure I haven’t done anything dumb.
Version 3 Build 14
I just uploaded build 14 to http://www.grzsoftware.com/v2dl.php . This build includes two big things- memory and speed optimizations and the new roughing code. Both features have been tested but could contain hidden bugs. For the memory and speed optimizations, I’d be curious to know if you see a difference since build 13. Both will depend on the models you’re using and, since small models run incredibly fast already, I’ve focused more on the big ones.
The roughing code has the big changes I outlined in the past couple of weeks. I think it’s solid and I’ve got tons of units tests that run every time I run a debug build so that expectation is backed up by lots of data (as long as I considered every case). Let me know if you find anything and if you have the time, try running a few of your typical parts with a “Machine Geometry +” set to zero.
Finally, for Jeff, I remembered to rename the installer so that it includes the build number. If I forget to do this in the future please let me know- eventually I’ll be able to make it part of the upload habit.
Build 13
I just uploaded build 13. It doesn’t contain any new user functionality- just a bug fix on a problem that Richard in Germany found and the addition of a new license code system. Old codes will continue to work (if I haven’t made any mistakes) but a new system will be rolled out when I can move V3 to “release” status. I get some pretty odd support emails regarding registration so I’m hoping this new system will give users better feedback about what might be wrong if they are having trouble.
Also, the analytics data is starting to flow in and I finally have enough to start looking at it to draw some simple conclusions. So far I’ve been blown away by one feature being used extensively that I almost dropped because I don’t hear from many people using it. (Sorry, I can’t share exactly what that feature is- I’d hate to help competitors). If the trend in the data continues, and I can update the analytics to give me a bit more detail, then I’ll probably look at what I can do to expand the feature in the future.
I’ll say it again, if you want your favorite features to get extra attention then please enable the Customer Experience Program when installing the program.
Build 11 Released
I just uploaded Build 11 with a couple of fixes for old post processor bugs and one memory optimization for models with a large number of small triangles. I was able to complete a toolpath from an STL with over 1.8 million triangles so this is a noteworthy improvement.
http://www.grzsoftware.com/v2dl.php
Build 10 Released
I’ve just ended the one of the more humbling events in MeshCAM development in a long time. I got an email from Richard in Germany saying that he recently applied a WinXP update and MeshCAM now crashes immediately upon startup. Build 5 worked but the later ones failed. This is one of the most difficult cases to debug since it’s impossible to reproduce and I don’t have access to the machine. Also, the change from Build 5 to Build 6 coincided with me getting a new laptop so I immediately assumed it was a problem with my build environment or related to the XP update.
Richard and I spent about a month trying various updates and tests to find the root cause. By the second week of testing I was contacted by another user with similar problems so I began to get really worried. Along the way I found a similar problem caused by a missing manifest file for the tbb.dll file that MeshCAM depends on, although this didn’t help Richard at all. I was just about to have him dig into Dr Watson to get me a dump file when I though, “I should check out the blog to see what I was talking about near Build 5.” Sure enough, I saw that I made the change to SSE2-only CPUs at this time and, sure enough, Richard had an Athlon XP CPU that lacked the necessary SSE2 support.
By now, I’ve wasted enough time with this (because I didn’t bother to read the blog) and I never want to deal with this again. The new installer includes both SSE2 and non-SSE2 builds and will automatically install the right one when the installer is run. I should have done this at the start but I really didn’t think that old CPUs would be commonly in use for higher-end applications like CAD/CAM. My assumptions have failed me again but hopefully this will solve the problem for good.
Build 10 also include updated translations for Spanish, Japanese, and Russian. The German translation is not ready yet so that will be build 11 which, if no bugs are reported, will become the “release version” of MeshCAM 3.
It would help if users could check the about dialog after install to see if there is the phrase, “No SSE2” is there. It should not be there for Pentium 4 or Athlon 64 and newer chips. P3, Athlon XP and older should show “No SSE2.”
As always, let me know what you find in this release.