Multi-Core / Multi-Processor Support

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Please Jon, for a change have something intelligent to add. KNOW what the F@$& you are talking about before you spout your that you've copied and pasted from some usnet thread. Until then sit back and have a BIG cup of STFU!!!!!

[NeilJ]

First person I know of to discuss modal CAM programs on Usenet is myself.

 

Only person I'm aware of that discusses modal CAM programs on a blog is myself.

 

http://jonbanquer.wordpress.com/

[YoDoug®]

I do a lot of 3D toolpaths. Being able to use 2,4 or 8 processors is going to save me way more time than the enhancement you listed. That's not to say that I don't see any value in what you listed, I just want faster toolpath calculation and verification.

[NeilJ]

One company that I won't mention spends all their time on toolpaths and nothing else. They use to be Mastercam's main competitor. Now they are little more than a shell of a company.

 

The modality in Mastercam badly hurts productivity.

[YoDoug®]

BTW Jon, all of the features you mentioned are in NX CAM and I do like them, I just think processing time is more important to address first. And that is what this topic is about. You should add your suggestions to the enhancement forum.

[NeilJ]

quote:

---

That's not to say that I don't see any value in what you listed, I just want faster toolpath calculation and verification.

---

What's needed is balanced development. I'm still waiting for someone to tell me how adding FBM to Mastercam is balanced development. FBM is a new feature. Old problems like modality and multiple processor support needed to be addressed first in my opinion before something like FBM was added.

[NeilJ]

quote:

---

BTW Jon, all of the features you mentioned are in NX CAM

---

NX CAM has balanced development. CAD hasn't been neglected and neither has graphical toolpath editing which recieved a major update in NX6.

[YoDoug®]

One thing I have learned from working the past 4.5 years at a consumer products company is that there is only so much market available for your product and you need to create/enhance your product to fit those market needs. There is a lot of great ideas I hear everyday from our marketing group and from within the engineering group I work with, but the truth is that it is not a big enough market to justify developing all of those ideas immediately. Also you can't play all of your cards at once or you'll lose sales the next year if come empty handed.

 

Back on topic: The processing times using the Cimco-hsm add in for MCX are awesome. They will use all cores on your machine. Since the MCX HST toolpath are an implementation of the Cimco HSM I should think we shall see the same great processing times when HST is updated .

[NeilJ]

quote:

---

Back on topic: The processing times using the Cimco-hsm add in for MCX are awesome. They will use all cores on your machine. Since the MCX HST toolpath are an implementation of the Cimco HSM I should think we shall see the same great processing times when HST is updated .

---

How about we examine this toolpath processing situation in detail.

 

1. It's the major focus of at least 3 CAM programs that run inside of SolidWorks that I know of.

 

2. Two of these programs already have FBM and target Mastercam.

 

3. History shows us that it's what is in other CAM programs that have success converting Mastercam customers that gets the focus of CNC Software.

 

Based on this do you think that CNC Software's major focus right now is on using multi-cores / faster toolpathing? I certainly do.

 

The problem is that these 3 other programs have the pedal to the metal when it comes to upgrading their user interface and making it non-modal. Two of the three have already made major progress in this area.

 

This pole is basically a done deal and I think the person doing the poll knows this.

 

This leaves making Mastercam non-modal in the backseat as other programs begin to make this their main focus.

[Jayson Kramer]

quote:

---

The modality in Mastercam badly hurts productivity.

---

This again is your opinion. I like the modality in MC and allot of user do.

 

The Multi Process is a huge deal for allot of people. this is a great use of time to implement this in future Mastercam.

 

CNC Apps guy

say's for you to go start your own pole, this is his Pole.

[NeilJ]

quote:

---

Now if Mastercam were a 64bit application vs just being compatible with 64bit hardware and operating system....

 

my hourglass might be able to take a well deserved break once in a while!

---

My guess is you will see multi-core support long before you see Mastercam as a 64 bit application.

[NeilJ]

It's a fact that having a non-modal CAM program saves lots of time. I've seen tests done by a Mastercam competitor that prove it.

 

If you like modal than by all means use Mastercam in a modal way. There is nothing in a non-modal CAM interface that forces you to save lots of time instead of opening and closing dialog boxes all day long.

 

[ 10-29-2008, 10:08 PM: Message edited by: NeilJ ]

[bogusmill]

quote:

---

My guess is you will see multi-core support long before you see Mastercam as a 64 bit application.

---

Maybe not as long as you think. Microsoft changes thier positions on a whim and might here too, but I read that Vista was Microsoft's last new 32bit software (OS or app.) and only support for previously released software would be in 32bit. If that holds MCam may have to make x64 a reality.

[NeilJ]

Certainly couldn't hurt. I think 3 and possibly 4 64 bit CAM applications running inside of SolidWorks would apply just as much if not more pressure if it turns out they really have much faster toolpaths as 64 bit CAM applications.

 

What's just as interesting to me is the balanced development work that is going on with 3 of the 4 that I know about. All have already done or will be doing major work to their user interface in their 2009 release. The enhanced user interface is a huge reason many decide to run inside a CAD program like SolidWorks. There are a lot of downfalls to doing this but they don't seem to get discussed and users who take this route dismiss the many possible liabilities. Many in the CAM industry seem quite happy to not have to spend any money updating their dated CAD and since most CAM users accept this...

[MIL-TFP-41]

quote:

---

I've seen tests done by a Mastercam competitor that prove it.

---

unbelievable....A competitor showing how their system is better than someone elses.

 

quite unheard of.

[Mjölnir]

quote:

---

I do a lot of 3D toolpaths.

---

So do I, for big molds. Having several computers at my disposal and Mastercams ability to run batch jobs saves a lot toolpath crunching time.

 

However, toolpath verification is mildly painful at best. I haven't seen decent verify performance since before CNC Software yanked NSee in, if I recall correctly, v7.

[YoDoug®]

quote:

---

However, toolpath verification is mildly painful at best. I haven't seen decent verify performance since before CNC Software yanked NSee in, if I recall correctly, v7.

---

There is a pretty big difference going from X2 to X3, but it is still time consuming on large files. We have Vericut so anything that is really critical or that is going to take to long in MCX verify I use Vericut instead.

 

It would be great to see Mastercam use 2,4, or 8 cores to process Verify, However verify is more than number crunching. Graphics card and such make a huge difference as well.

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

quote:

---

I have a QUAD CORE Phenom that benchmarks slower than my older machine purely because MCAM sees only one of the four 2400mhz processors.

---

When the computer costs around 10% of the cost of the software, I'd choose a computer optimized for the software, not the other way around. See the benchmarking thread for how to get Mastercam to run faster.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Start your own damn poll/topic Jon!

 

The ONLY reason this is not in the "Enhancements" Forum is because I could not do a poll in there. I wanted to see how relevent Multi-Core/Multi-Processor was in the minds of Mastercam.

 

...AND when I want your onpion Jon, I'll give it to you!

[NeilJ]

 

[ 10-30-2008, 03:11 PM: Message edited by: Moderator ]

[NeilJ]

?

 

[ 10-30-2008, 05:43 PM: Message edited by: Moderator ]

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

[NeilJ]

 

[ 10-30-2008, 06:46 PM: Message edited by: Moderator ]

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Why don't you ask Machine Works directly Jon Banquer? I'm sure they are waiting with baited breath to hear from you.

[NeilJ]

quote:

---

It would be great to see Mastercam use 2,4, or 8 cores to process Verify, However verify is more than number crunching. Graphics card and such make a huge difference as well.

---

Has someone checked to see if MachineWorks (The component used for Mastercam verify) to see if it supports multi-core processing?