Mastercam X - User Interface Survey

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

I'm in the process of making my RMB the way Bryan's C-Hook made my RMB in V9.1

 

Because it's "new" I'm taking my time trying different things and different configurations. did not spend a WHOLE lot of time in this area during the beta cycle because of the matter of things changing so frequently and I did not want to get too used to something for fear it may disappear so I focused on the "basics". At one time, I had ALL the icons visible. Yeah, that was a BUSY screen. The key though is that we CAN customize it and to a certain degree the level of customization is a few orders of magnitude greater than previous versions. Most of my gripes are with the small things that don't affect functionality, just visual things. But I'm still a "Word" guy and those Green Checks gotta go

[MasterCAM Rulez]

I would to see the "AutoCursor" of [Origin, Arc center, End point, Perpendicular, Midpoint, Intersection, Tangent, Quadrant, Nearest]with a touch of a keyboard like AutoCAD does.

 

For example: to turn on Autocursor in autocad

 

Shift + Right Click Intersection

Shift + Right Click Midpoint

[brilu397]

quote:

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"I used to use the keyboard without thinking": I Know a lot of people like "not thinking". But I have news for you, The keyboard interface is NOT that different. Spend 10 minutes playing with the Alt & Ctrl keys and you find you can do MORE than you could with V9.

 

"I wish there was a way to have Design under the Right Mouse Button (RMB) and then have Mill under the RMB": You can. It does. It's not magic. It does not change by thought. But you can make any menu anything you want. You can have multiple configurations to load any menu or combinations of toolbars.

 

The Mastercam interface is the most highly configurable interface I've ever seen in ANY application. If your spending too much time moving up and down the screen grabbing the button you need, you need to create you own Right Mouse Button (RMB) menu. Or create you own floating tool bar.

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+1 Mike

I have been customizing my keyboard, RMB, and toolbars a little at time since I started using X. Now I have so much at my fingertips my worst problem is trying to remember which key combinations do what. A month from now it'll probably all be second nature to me just like in 9. I switch between Lathe and mill all day and I LIKE using the same 4 keys for my basic toolpaths, and just switching from ctrl+ to alt+shift+.

The more I use X the more I like it.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

[Exodus]

What would have been nice, is to able to select a chain that you created in a solid, and use IT in a pocket, So, I don't have to go through and recreated them, in a normal geometry enviroment

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Ex, if you segregate your geometry using multiple descriprive levels, that is a simple way to make sure you're always using the current solid's creation geometry.

 

HNT

[Exodus]

Yeah, I didn't really think of adding the sold to a different level until you said that, but what I mean is, would be like to run a pocket on something you extruded, and made a fillet out of, instead of having to redo it manually by creating the geometry yourself, couldn't mastercam be able to figure out the geometry by using what it used for the solids, If it's possible, and I'm just missing it, ignore me

[Guest]

Exodus, unless I'm missing something here, you can use the solid faces as well as the solid edges of a part to chain geometry to cut. Usually with very little if any extra geometry to create.

 

Different situations will require a different approach on occasion.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

You'll want to eliminate the floor fillets though if you pick faces otherwise your pocket will bee too small.

 

quote:

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...Different situations will require a different approach on occasion...

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+1,000

[Thad]

quote:

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What would have been nice, is to able to select a chain that you created in a solid, and use IT in a pocket, So, I don't have to go through and recreated them, in a normal geometry enviroment

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Do you want to use the chain (that you extruded to make the pocket) to cut the pocket? There should be no problem doing that.

 

Thad

[MasterCAM Rulez]

------------QUOTE FROM ME------------------

 

I would to see the "AutoCursor" of [Origin, Arc center, End point, Perpendicular, Midpoint, Intersection, Tangent, Quadrant, Nearest]with a touch of a keyboard like AutoCAD does. [big Grin]

 

For example: to turn on Autocursor in autocad

 

Shift + Right Click Intersection [Cheers]

Shift + Right Click Midpoint [Cheers]

---------------------------------------

 

Stupid me, I didnt know that you can KEY MAPPING, assign Right Mouse button method the way you wanted until "Milling Man" told me.

 

My problem solved thanks MasterCAM X for creating that

 

Thanks "Milling Man"

[Steve Biehl - Cimquest Inc]

Toolpath can be ordered before or after a solid feature.

 

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Never tried that one before. Thanks Steve!

[Greg Williams]

Well, I learn't something new today.

 

Cheers

Steve

[medaq]

Now I am using version 8 still but toolpathing on a solid has always been very frustrating. Especialy running surfacing. I normally convert all the surfaces to be ran from the solid, into a surface and igore the solid model. The reason is If you regenerate a surfacing toolpath with the the solid on a level that is not active when you regenerate. All the toolpaths will delete the solid from the toolpath geometry and have em all dirty. Now you are back to square one repicking everything you need to get surfaced, where as a surface will always be remembered and regenerated. Again I dont know if this bug has been fixed..

 

Jim

[crazy^millman]

Yeah Solids in V8 and early V9 for surfacind had lots of problems that have been adressed since (V9.1). There were still some issues in some of the Beta and MR stuff but since has been adressed. I hated V8 for the fact I could not pick a solid face for check surfaces and early V9 had the same thing but when they got 9.1 it fixed alot of these issues. Might want to look to upgrade if using V8 just for that fix will make you very happy.

 

HTH

[within a thou]

What are you using to create these solids maybe translate it to trimmed surfaces before you import it

[medaq]

You can make surfaces from a solid with. You can make the whole solid or pick the faces you want.

 

Create->surface->next menu->from solid

 

Jim

[cynic]

First off, this Forum has a lot of great info. From what I've seen MCam X has a lot of great features it will be a great product... eventually.

 

I joined to late to participate in the poll, either time, but my opinion is that if Mcam had a close competitor they would not have released Ver. X quite so early. Is this a preview of what we can expect from MCam? A Beta Version with lots of bells and whistles, but a serious shortfall in quick programming functionality.

 

Maybe our shop differs from most but I don’t think so. We get solids and prints (Solid Works) generated from our drafting department and all we want to do is put tool paths on them and get them on a machine as fast as possible. Another member said “bells and whistles don’t pay the bills” and MCam missed that point. Bells and whistles make them sales, but they don't us make parts.

 

I have heard a few times that one of the improved features in ‘X’ was less keystrokes (less user interface). I’m with a lot of others here that liked the old keystroke selections, since I only need one hand to run my mouse, I might as well be using my other hand for something other than my coffee cup. Without the 'ALT' key please.

 

X T A E D B "Click mouse on a point" O

X R A V 1 "Enter" D O "###" "Tab" "Enter"

C N B O

Damn, how slow is that...

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

I'm with Cynic all the way. I'm starting to use X once in a while, mostly for file translation, but I go to 9 to get my work done. It's just that much faster, and I already know how to run it. In X I can't even control my view the way I'm used to. Is there any way to make the right-click menu respond to keystrokes like in v9? I'm accustomed to tapping r-click and hitting t, f, s, i, c, r, or d. It takes about a quarter of a second, and I don't have to move the mouse. I know that you can add and remove selections from the r-click menu, but then you still have to click on them. One big advantage of hitting a key (or sequence of keys) is that the mouse can be moving toward the geometry you're about to select while you're hitting the key. I really don't like the [ctrl]+[alt] selections. My hands don't like to play twister on the keyboard, and the [ctrl]+[alt] commands are always active rather than being context-sensitive.

[Guest]

No Matt direct keyboard strokes are not availabe.

 

You will need to toggle another key, using sticky keys is an option that might make this more palatable.

 

Press you shift key 5 times in rapid succesion to activate the sticky keys windows option.

 

IMO though, you are infiniately better off getting used to the new interface, it is faster more concise and quite easy to navigate once you understand what you are doing in it.

 

H

[mayday]

so.........

Where are the results?

did I miss it?

must not be good or I would assume they would have showed up by now

[?Mark]

MayDay, teh fan of "a very nice 9.1"

[mayday]

quote:

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teh fan of "a very nice 9.1"

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gotta use what works

whether I like it or not

maintenance $ has got me nuttin but bugs

 

BTW does Raid offer a USB connector

[?Mark]

quote:

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BTW does Raid offer a USB connector

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If you mean, can you set up raid 0/1 using usb to hook up additional hdd then no...

[mayday]

my bad,

Raid as in... hold the spray button down and kill