Problems with Dec03Translator.zip?

[Avs_Fan]

Has anyone else had problems with the recent (12/08/03) download of Dec03Translator.zip? Since downloading it, unzip&extract, running setup.exe, & rebooting, Autocad files are no longer importing correctly (errors & missing data, regardless of Screen_Blank or Un_blank ). We've only tried it on 1 of our seats. (We always do only one at a time so if something goes wrong we're not completely down. )

We have Mill3 V91SP2 + solids.

[cadcam]

I had just tried it with good luck.

Would you like to send me a file that you are haveing trouble with?

[Toolfab]

Do you have the Maintanence agrement yet? If you don't you should not have down loaded that yet!

 

Edit/ I could be wrong, but isnt that the file that needed the maintanence codes to function properly?

 

[ 12-09-2003, 05:01 PM: Message edited by: Toolfab ]

[Allan Brown]

The translator updates are available for non-Maintenance customers:

 

http://www.mastercam.com/Support/Downloads/

[ProductDevelopmentGuy]

Avs fan,

 

If you can send a file or two to me ([email protected]) or post them on Jay's FTP site, I can probably narrow down the problem for you.

Are they Acad2004 files? With Solids?

 

PDG (a Bruins fan)

 

P.S. and Webmaster Dave is right - you do not need to be a Maintenance customer to get these file importer updates.

 

[ 12-10-2003, 08:26 AM: Message edited by: ProductDevelopmentGuy ]

[Avs_Fan]

Hi PDG,

 

Yes, they are Autocad Mechanical Desktop2004(.dwg)with Solids. (Note: Std. Acad2004.dwgs,including solids, & Inventor.ipts are working OK for us.)

Before applying the Dec03Translators they will import, but are just wireframe, not solids. (Using "Scan File" before importing does NOT show a solid, but shows many lines, arcs, text, polylines, proxy entities, etc.)

After applying the Dec03Translators they will NOT import, instead generating "Error: operation unsuccessful". Some paperspace entities still come in but nothing of the part itself, only some dimensions, text, border, etc.

 

PS: Thx for Bourque77

[PE @ IHS]

I also had some problems with this patch. It changed my PATH under System Variables. Bullines fixed me up in no-time.

[Avs_Fan]

Hi Peter,

Could you elaborate on that? We're still down.

[PE @ IHS]

Bullines is the person that can better explain, since he is the one that figured out my problem.

[Bullines]

All versions of Windows keep track of many internal variables. One them, called PATH, holds the paths to various directories on your computers. If a directory is in the PATH variable, it can be accessed from anywhere on your computer. To see what's currently in your path, from a DOS command prompt, type path.

 

One thing that I've noticed is that a few of the recent patches break the PATH variable. The directories in the PATH variable are normally separated by a semi-colon. You will always have the following in the PATHS variable as well; %SystemRoot% and %SystemRoot%System32. These are the paths to your Windows and System32 directories, respectively. I've noticed that some patches remove these two, as well as removing semi-colons and other directories. I'm not sure what, if any, paths Acad require. You can look on another computer, perhaps.

 

If you need to repair your PATH variable, you can do so in WinXP (it's similar in other Windows versions) by:

 

1. Right-clicking on My Computer (or WinKey+ Pause/Break) and selecting Properties.

2. In the System Properties dialog, click on the Advanced tab.

3.Click on the "Envronment Variables" button at the bottom to bring up the Environment Variables dialog. There's two groups, User Variables for [user.name] at the top and System variables at the bottom. We only need to be concered with System variables at the bottom. Highlight the variabled called Path and click on the Edit button.

4. You can now inspect your PATH and fix it appropriately, if need be.

 

Hope that's a start.

 

Bullines (Flames fan)

[ProductDevelopmentGuy]

I don't think the "PATH" problem that Bullines is talking about will help with this particular file. We've gotten several like it in the last couple weeks - people are getting MDT solids stored as "Proxy" entities and our latest Autodesk import can't read them.

We're working on it. If you have access to MDT, open the file there and export it as an SAT file (I think they call it "Export->Desktop ACIS"). That SAT file will then come into Mastercam. That will get you the solid.

Like I said, we're working on it.

 

PDG

[Avs_Fan]

Hi bullines,

 

Thanks for the detailed reply.

 

We checked the "path" on both of our seats/PCs.

They were quite a bit different & as you said, the one that we applied the patch on was missing a ";" & was missing all of the "%SystemRoot%" stuff. However, several edits to the path & reboots have not made a difference. I decided to apply the patch to our other seat/PC to see what would happen to the path. Unexpectedly, nothing! It was identical to before applying the patch. Now both our seats get the same "Error: operation unsuccessful" message.

 

I've e-mailed a sample file to "ProductDevelopmentGuy" to see if he gets the same error we do. At this point, we're stuck. I'm also trying to contact our dealer.

[Avs_Fan]

Oops!

I hadn't checked the Forum in a while & posted a reply to "bullines" after "PDG" made his last one.

Sorry, "PDG". (Sometimes work interferes with with my Forum watch! )

[Bullines]

My fix fixes something else but it isn't the fix that you're looking for in this thread. I couldn've used the word "fix" a few more, don't ya think?

[Avs_Fan]

Hi PDG & All,

 

Some follow up on this since 12/11/03:

 

We've been doing the ".SAT" thing you suggested.

We now have maintenance & the Nov03Maint update.

We downloaded & installed the latest patches

"Jan04SAT,Jan04SolidWorks,Jan04Inventor,DesignTracker8"

on 1/20/04. We also downloaded & re-installed

"Dec03Translators" again. We still can't import

Autodesk Mechanical Desktop 2004 files directly.

Did any of the patches have the fix for this

problem or is it still being worked on?

[ProductDevelopmentGuy]

Avs_fan,

 

No - nothing in the January patch affected the DWG/DXF importer.

Are your problems limited to DWG/DXF files which contain solids stored as "Block Reference" entities in AutoCAD? That is the only entity type that we are aware of which we are not handling properly.

 

PDG

[Avs_Fan]

Hi PDG,

You may be on to something. I talked with 2 of our AMD2004 users & they agreed it's a possibility. They also mentioned "X-refs" & "proxy entities". I have a simple test solid created by 1 of them on AMD2004DX (he says it's the very latest release). When doing "Scan file" it shows 1 3D Solid entity & 2 proxy entities. Would you like me to e-mail it to you?

[ProductDevelopmentGuy]

Sure - let's verify once & for all that there really is only one problem here. We know we can't handle the "block references" and "proxies" are often problematic.

A note regarding "proxies". These are essentially an entity type that AutoCAD will know nothing about, even if made in MDT. Programmers can write add-ons to AutoCAD and make any kind of entity they like and call it a "proxy". MDT is really just an add-on to AutoCAD.

You can e-mail it to me at [email protected]

 

PDG

 

[ 01-22-2004, 05:51 PM: Message edited by: ProductDevelopmentGuy ]

[Avs_Fan]

PDG,

It's on the way, called "filetest.dwg".

Thanks