surface trim\extend\create woes

[andrewgore]

We've been having an issue with trimmingextending surfaces. Sometimes you can trimextend a surface with no problems, however other times when you extend or trim a surface, it will place the new trimmedextended surface on a totally different level. Sometimes it will even create a new level, sometimes it will put the new surface onto a random level. Only way of finding the new surface is by turning on every level and unshading, which sucks when working with a full mold base assembly (as you can imagine).

 

Also, on my specific PC, I have run into an issue where I go to make a surface off a solid, mastercam will look as though it is just sitting there doing nothing. If you hit ESC, the little timer on the mouse goes away, and you are left still in the create surface from solid operation. There will not be any surface shown there unless shading is turned off. This proves to be a major pita when going making the surfacing toolpath.

 

I have done all the latest updates with my video drivers, made sure opengl and all that fun stuff is turned on in mastercam, so I do not believe it is a hardware problem...but I don't want to rule it out....I could be missing something.

 

One last thing......another surfacing woe. We have situations when making a surface off of a solid that the new created surface, will not be in the "proper" color.....IE the solid model is Red, and my color to make make an entity is blue, when the new surface is created, it is red....once again, making it a joy having to turn onoff levels and change colors to see what hashasn't been created. Any ideas on that?

 

Andrew

[Thad]

quote:

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IE the solid model is Red, and my color to make make an entity is blue, when the new surface is created, it is red

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It's intended to work that way. I don't like it either.

 

Thad

[bellyup]

is your ea manager turned on? it may be doing some of those things because of that.

[andrewgore]

Weird about the like colors Thad. Sometimes it will keep the colors the same, other times it makes them the colors that you want it to.

 

bellyup, no the EA manager isn't on.

[Thad]

There was some discussion a year or more ago on why the surface created from solid gets the solid color. I don't remember why but I recall that Iskander liked it.

 

It should do it every time though.

 

Thad

[andrewgore]

unfortunately what mastercam SHOULD do everytime is not exactly what it DOES do everytime. lol

 

ill keep tinkering with it while I have the spindle turning....see if I can troubleshoot it.

[andrewgore]

Something we're finding is that when using a file that was created in MC9, creating a surface from a solid results in the surface color being what you "want" it to be.....whereas using a file that was created from an X_T or whatever else then saved as an mcx file, keeps the new surface the same color as the solid. Seems to be a reoccuring thing here that using mc9 files in X makes things go a little apenuts, but then again....things still go kind of quirky either way.

 

Anyother thoughts on the trimmedextended surface being switched to a different level? I've gone through every menuconfigurationsetting that I can possibly think of, but nothing seems to correct the problem.

 

Andrew

[Kurt M]

When Solids or Surfaces are red in color when they shouldn't be, the solution I have found is:

 

1) Select Groups Manager.

2) Highlight the last entry in the groups Manager, then select "Remove from..."

3)Select the Solids or Surfaces, then end selection.

[David from FN MFG.]

I agree with Kurt M's response except select the color tab and select "Use Entity Colors". It works for me fine after that but i do have to do that every time i import a new solid/surface.

[Thad]

quote:

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It works for me fine after that but i do have to do that every time i import a new solid/surface.

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To change this forever, go to Settings-Config-Colors and select Use entity colors.

 

Kurt, the color red issue that you mention comes up after merging a file into another. That creates a group. The default group color is red. By deleting the group, you lose the red color. Or, use the method I described above and it won't happen anymore.

 

Thad

[Kurt M]

Thad,

X is slighty different than V9 when a solid becomes a group. Simply clearing a colors doesn't work (as in V9), so either removing from group immediately changes the Solid color from red to the entity color, or deleting the group enables the clear color button to make the change.

 

I will try your method in the morning when I am back at work.

[andrewgore]

Thats all fine if you're using groups, but what about when you aren't using any groups?

 

This still hasn't really gotten me any closer to the modified surfaces changing levels on me (no its not just my computer that does it).

 

brb, apparently mastercam isn't liking my surface blend operation........gotta go fix.

[Fred @ Slate Industries]

Andrew

I copy my troubled surfs to another level

and modify them there leaving the originals

un touched, MC likes that.

 

Tony

 

"SpringGrove"

(Wilmot,MapleHurst Cycle Park)

[andrewgore]

Yeah thats basically what we end up doing, I was just hoping that maybe there was something we had set wrong. I guess we'll just wait until mr2 (and not my old car....haha) comes out. I just hope that we get something going good soon. We have a new mikron machine (should be fun being the pilot of that guy ) coming in this next week, and I don't like when I'm spending more time dealing with the computer than I do actually running a part.

 

Andrew

Heh, we do a little driving up around the wilmotlake geneva area....some fun roads.

[Kurt M]

Quote:

 

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Thats all fine if you're using groups, but what about when you aren't using any groups?

 

This still hasn't really gotten me any closer to the modified surfaces changing levels on me (no its not just my computer that does it).

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Merged Solids create a group on their own.

 

You may want to manipulate 3D geometry using Solids instead Surfaces when possible. Yes, you may run into some of the same problems when you convert the Solids to Surfaces, but it's much easier to do it that way instead of manipulating Surfaces.

[andrewgore]

I guess maybe i'm a little confused on the group thing. When I open the group manager, it shows no groups at all. Maybe i'm opening the wrong thing? Here's a screen shot of what I'm looking at. http://img346.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gmanager6rk.jpg

 

 

and yes, Usually when doing a surfacing operation, if I have to, I will modify the solid beforehand, however.....a lot of times I like to extend a surface out so that a tool doesnt plunge onto metal, but rather cut air first to make sure I have things setup right.

 

I would honestly use the surfacing based off of solids, but you can't change the color of individual solid faces, and the selection setup for drive solids just sucks.

 

Andrew

[Kurt M]

Andrew,

That is in face the Groups Manager we were referring to. The Solid in the image does not look to be a group, as it does not appear in the manager nor appear to be red.

 

I try to manipulate toolpaths instead of geometry for lead-ins to save time and potential headaches if there are future revisions. Depending on what type of toolpath you are using, there are many options for manipulating lead-ins to eliminate crashes.

[Thad]

quote:

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X is slighty different than V9 when a solid becomes a group.

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I'm very familiar with how merging/groups function. I told you how to turn that off (as your default) so the part always comes in the original color. A group will still be created, but you won't have anymore color issues.

 

Thad

[Kurt M]

Thad,

You and I are on the same page now, after I played with the default setting you referred to....

[Thad]

bro!

 

Thad