Finding Geometry Used by an Operation

[Jobnt]

The only method I know of is to set all levels to visible, then wait for 47 seconds for it to render everything (because I have thousands of entities in scores of levels) then select Only Display Associated Entities, then click the operation, then click the entity and get it's properties, then close everything and turn off all the levels, then go to the level only to find out it's the wrong level and start the whole process over again (this has happened 3 times this week).

Is there a better way to find out which level an entity used in a toolpath is in?

[Leon82]

I try to name the level, like op 3 toolpath data, or more specific and multiple if they start to overlap 

[Jobnt]

I do too. That's beside the point. 

Would be nice if the Analyze option when you right click a chain in the chain manager would tell you what level the chain is on. 

[AHarrison1]

13 minutes ago, Jobnt said:

I do too. That's beside the point. 

Would be nice if the Analyze option when you right click a chain in the chain manager would tell you what level the chain is on. 

Right click - Analyze Entities (or F4) will tell you what level(1) and what the entity is associated(2) to (toolpath, solid creation...)

[Jobnt]

11 minutes ago, AHarrison1 said:

Right click - Analyze Entities (or F4) will tell you what level(1) and what the entity is associated(2) to (toolpath, solid creation...)

 

Yes, I know Analyze Entities will do that but you have to know what level the geometry is on and have that level visible. 

I'm asking how to find out what level a chain is on. 

[Jayson Kramer]

Hopefully this help with your needs.

 

[AHarrison1]

29 minutes ago, Jobnt said:

Yes, I know Analyze Entities will do that but you have to know what level the geometry is on and have that level visible. 

I'm asking how to find out what level a chain is on. 

My apologies I made the obviously silly assumption that just one entity in the chain would suffice. I was not aware that you in particular needed the whole chain.

[Jayson Kramer]

AHarrison. if you my way you one have to select on entity of the chain.

[Jobnt]

14 minutes ago, AHarrison1 said:

My apologies I made the obviously silly assumption that just one entity in the chain would suffice. I was not aware that you in particular needed the whole chain.

One entity will suffice. But when the level the chain is in is turned off I can't see the level.

11 minutes ago, Jayson Kramer said:

AHarrison. if you my way you one have to select on entity of the chain.

Jayson, I don't have that menu item (2020). But I don't see where that will notify me what level the geometry is on. 

I have this on my screen and want to find the geometry for the selected level (it's currently hidden)...

When I click the chain manager I get this (which highlights the chain as if I can see it, but it's still hidden):

I turn on all my levels, wait a minute for it to render, and check Show Only Selected Geometry and get this:

Then I click the operation in question and I get this (which I can now analyze the entity to get the level from):

So what I'm looking for is an easier way to find out what level geometry is in. 

[Jayson Kramer]

Matt , after you sect the geo like the arc you are showing it goes back to the template window were at the bottom it should tell you how many operations it used for that Geo. then you you select the green check and look at the Toolpath manger for the operations with green check. The operations with the green checks will match the number of operations it showed in the template window. Those are the operations you are looking for.

[Jayson Kramer]

PS the option for the selection has been in Mastercam for years. so you know. in previous years it was called "Select" under the right click in toolpath manager.

[Leon82]

7 minutes ago, Jayson Kramer said:

PS the option for the selecation has been in Mastercam for years. so you know.

yes i belive it was select.., now its operation selection

[Jobnt]

33 minutes ago, Jayson Kramer said:

Matt , after you sect the geo like the arc you are showing it goes back to the template window were at the bottom it should tell you how many operations it used for that Geo. then you you select the green check and look at the Toolpath manger for the operations with green check. The operations with the green checks will match the number of operations it showed in the template window. Those are the operations you are looking for.

Yes, looks like they changed the name, found it. Thanks.

I still can't see the geometry from that operation if it is in a hidden level though. What am I doing wrong?

[Jake L]

31 minutes ago, Jayson Kramer said:

Matt , after you sect the geo like the arc you are showing it goes back to the template window were at the bottom it should tell you how many operations it used for that Geo. then you you select the green check and look at the Toolpath manger for the operations with green check. The operations with the green checks will match the number of operations it showed in the template window. Those are the operations you are looking for.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the original question but I don't believe this answers the original question. You're assuming the geometry is currently visible on the screen. I believe the original question is looking for a way to find what level the chain geometry is on without the chain geometry visible on screen.

One of my coworkers asked me this exact question a few weeks ago and I could not find a solution. This might be worth a post on the official forum because maybe someone from CNC Software knows a way to do what you're asking. Or at the very least this could be put in as an enhancement request.

51 minutes ago, Jobnt said:

When I click the chain manager I get this (which highlights the chain as if I can see it, but it's still hidden):

I agree this screen makes it seem like you'd be able to find the level the geometry is on.

[Jobnt]

4 minutes ago, Jake L said:

I believe the original question is looking for a way to find what level the chain geometry is on without the chain geometry visible on screen.

Yes. That's the original question. I should have mentioned that. My bad. 

The geometry is in a hidden level.

My current visible level is 16. The geometry I am looking for is in level 53 which is hidden.

4 minutes ago, Jake L said:

One of my coworkers asked me this exact question a few weeks ago and I could not find a solution.

My original post explains how I do it now. Maybe this will help your co-worker. 

[David Colin]

@Jobnt

You can try my netHook for chain based toolpaths like 2D contour. It will activate levels used by toolpaths automatically.

 

[Jobnt]

1 minute ago, David Colin said:

@Jobnt

You can try my netHook for chain based toolpaths like 2D contour. It will activate levels used by toolpaths automatically.

 

I will check it out, thank you. 

Does this work on non-planer geometry as well?

[Jayson Kramer]

26 minutes ago, Leon82 said:

yes i belive it was select.., now its operation selection

Leon82 the option to select by Geo goes all the way back to V9. I just checked as I was pretty sure. back then there was just a few options to select.

[Jake L]

6 minutes ago, Jobnt said:

My original post explains how I do it now. Maybe this will help your co-worker. 

This was the way he was doing it originally. Similar to you, he was looking for a faster way. At the time I didn't know about this method so he taught me something new too.

[David Colin]

@Jobnt

Yes, but remember it will work only for legacy chain based toolpaths with wire entity.

[Jayson Kramer]

10 minutes ago, Jobnt said:

Yes. That's the original question. I should have mentioned that. My bad. 

The geometry is in a hidden level.

My current visible level is 16. The geometry I am looking for is in level 53 which is hidden.

My original post explains how I do it now. Maybe this will help your co-worker. 

Sorry I read that wrong. and restating does help.

[Jobnt]

1 hour ago, Jayson Kramer said:

Sorry I read that wrong. and restating does help.

I can't edit it now.  

[Jayson Kramer]

19 minutes ago, Jobnt said:

I can't edit it now.  

I was not asking you to rephrase the question. Matt. all good

[CEMENTHEAD]

6 hours ago, Jobnt said:

(because I have thousands of entities in scores of levels)

why? (facepalm) I tell my guys all the time "only keep what you need for that operation". there is no reason to have tooling, geometry, clamps, models from previous operations in a file. I totally select all geom used in toolpaths plus models, invert selection - delete and save. BooM nice small file and anyone can step into it and see what's going on. Yes we have a separate mastercam file for every operation. 

[austin noah]

If you open the chain manager for an operation it will display the chain even if the level is invisible. if you do analyze entity and click on part of the chain it will show you what level it is on. if it is a hidden level it will display the level as a negative number.