2018

[Mjölnir]

mastercam v5.5 (1st version to run in Windows, we used NT3.51) was an abomination i'd rather forget. 

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

mastercam v5.5 (1st version to run in Windows, we used NT3.51) was an abomination i'd rather forget. 

 

That's what I started learning on.

[gcode]

ProCad 97 was my personal worst.

It would crash at the drop of a hat... and leave a zero byte files behind.

It was so bad I abandoned my investment and bought a seat of Mastercam

[gcode]

That's what I started learning on.

I took 2 semesters of Mastercam V5 at a local community college

V7 was the first version I actually used in a work environment

[mkd]

MC stopped progressing when they abandoned the .ge3 file extension. :-)

DOS baby

[neurosis]

mastercam v5.5 (1st version to run in Windows, we used NT3.51) was an abomination i'd rather forget. 

 

 

I was running Cimatron on a Sun SPARC Station back then.    I wasn't at all unhappy that I wasn't using Mastercam. 

[MIL-TFP-41]

MC stopped progressing when they abandoned the .ge3 file extension. :-)

DOS baby

A quick search of our network revealed some .ge3 files dating back to 1992

Pretty sure those would be safe to delete....

[Mjölnir]

 

All that means is that you've changed your habits.  Personally I think and hope that the whole ribbon interface thing will be a short lived fad.  I know it's the current "hot thing" in UI design, but all the documentation and studies I can find say that while it's an improvement for new and infrequent users of applications of low complexity, it slows down experienced and intensive users of applications of high complexity.  I'm sure some can adapt more readily than others, but I've been using keyboard as primary interface since '81, and that's not going to change easily.  I know you can get at things with the keyboard in '17, but they've made most things more difficult and time consuming to get to that way.  It's like they've reversed the steering on my bicycle and told me just to get used to it, because once you learn to ride it it'll be hard to go back.

 

 

this keyboard thing is gnawing at me.  i started programming with a system called Acu-Carv in '89 and that was heavily based on typing. much like the original APT, in Acu-Carv you input text and got 3D toolpaths out of it. i am a heavy keyboard user who has only one toolbar on his screen in MC and that's selection, shading, and drafting.

 

if i'm going to have to basically learn a new system if i were to upgrade to MC 2017, and that new system is going to set back my ability to work efficiently because the primary input device on my computer is effectively crippled by the software, i might as well start sinking my teeth into Cimatron which i've had installed on my system for a while but haven't used it much yet. 

 

we've got more seats of Cimatron than MC and our VP/GM is a Cimatron user himself who loathes MC to begin with. I'm also in the process of training some people and it's likely whichever software I'm using they are very likely follow, which would please Mr VP/GM very much.

 

but I'm not totally ready just yet to jump ship. i'll hold off, at least partially, until I see what 2018 has to offer. if it's just a lightly polished version of 2017 without any significant UI improvement, I can see us easily being a Cimatron only shop by the end of the decade. Especially since the next version of Cimatron is due to be released soon, and it will be able to program the 5 axis mill / turns as well as the live tooled lathes as they are finally adding a lathe module to it.

[Newbeeee™]

My thoughts are if you keep going the same way as everyone else, what will differentiate you from the masses?

If Bobcad creo alphacam edgecam solidcam gibbs all uses the same toolpaths and verify, and everyone goes over to this new interface, ultimately customers are going to go with Bobcad because its cheapest.

[CADCAM3D5AXIS]

Yea Bobcad has come a long way  !

[jlw™]

BobCAD

 

 

 

 

 

I just threw up.

[Newbeeee™]

BobCAD

 

 

I just threw up.

I am being facetious but you get where I'm coming from.

[CADCAM3D5AXIS]

Or G-Zero ???

[crazy^millman]

Or G-Zero ???

 

Or the Slide Rule and a shadow box to check your 100X drawings to make sure you got the intersection correct to the .001 place. :geek: :secret:

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

If the timing had been different by a few months I might have bought a different CAM for this shop.  If I have to learn a new interface I might as well re-evaluate all my options.

[civiceg]

 

My thoughts are if you keep going the same way as everyone else, what will differentiate you from the masses?

If Bobcad creo alphacam edgecam solidcam gibbs all uses the same toolpaths and verify, and everyone goes over to this new interface, ultimately customers are going to go with Bobcad because its cheapest.

 

Support, not only potential issues, but the lack of available training and documentation provided by some of Mastercam's competitors is laughable. 

[Machineguy]

I started with Easy Cam and MC 3.21

EasyCam makes Bobcam look stupid, even today. Then there was Feature Cam. We bought the first release. What a joke. Upper engineeres wanted it even though they don't use it or ever would. What sold them was the "EYE CANDY" Never could get it to work.

The big stuff was programmed with Gibbs, which ran off a unix server. Only the salary guys were allowed to use it.

[BrianP.]

First venture into programming was on a Mazatrol control in 1995. The conversational programming at that time I thought was fantastic. Next job after that I programmed with Notepad. Everything we did was programmed long hand. First venture into Mastercam was V9.1. Bought the book and learned on the fly. Thought it was very intuitive for some one going from programming at the control to using software. When X came out it was a shock. Had to go buy the damn book again. After a short period thought it was a huge improvement. Got stuck in X5 for a while. I liked it and could really fly in it. didn't really like X9 as much and 2017 well I'm with a bunch of others. I think the new interface sucks. Been forcing myself to use it but in my opinion it is much more cumbersome that before. Do have 2017 crash every once in a while. Even had it crash when doing nothing. Maximized it from being minimized and it crashed. Its not too frequent though.

[MIL-TFP-41]

this keyboard thing is gnawing at me.  i started programming with a system called Acu-Carv in '89 and that was heavily based on typing. much like the original APT, in Acu-Carv you input text and got 3D toolpaths out of it. i am a heavy keyboard user who has only one toolbar on his screen in MC and that's selection, shading, and drafting.

 

if i'm going to have to basically learn a new system if i were to upgrade to MC 2017, and that new system is going to set back my ability to work efficiently because the primary input device on my computer is effectively crippled by the software,

 

The keyboard is still there...tho is likely different than what you are used to.

Example...to create/line/endpoints, one would hit the "Alt" key, then "W", then "E"

Or to get to Trim, "Alt", "W", then "T"

 

It is worth your time to install & just check it out. One would be insane to do an upgrade before doing that anyways

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

"Toolpaths" in V9 was <T>.  In X it's <Alt> <T>.  In 2017 it's <Alt> <J> <M>.

 

How does that even pretend to make sense?!  How it is faster or easier for it to take three times as many keystrokes as it should?

 

How about if every time you're writing an email and you want <Space> you have to hit <Ctrl> <Alt> <E> <R> <Q>, would that be faster and easier?  Or of course you could always click your message out on the the onscreen keyboard.

[Mike@Lustre]

simple question , what's so fast advancing in this trade that you need to continually update MC or any other cad/cam package on a yearly basis ??  too it,s a big $$$ grab .

[Thad]

"Toolpaths" in V9 was <T>.  In X it's <Alt> <T>.  In 2017 it's <Alt> <J> <M>.

 

How does that even pretend to make sense?!  How it is faster or easier for it to take three times as many keystrokes as it should?

 

How about if every time you're writing an email and you want <Space> you have to hit <Ctrl> <Alt> <E> <R> <Q>, would that be faster and easier?  Or of course you could always click your message out on the the onscreen keyboard.

 

Yet the talking heads just keep up the mantra "Update or get left behind." 

[jlw™]

The maintenance thing is definitely a scam. Equal to buying insurance in my opinion.

[JeremyV]

...And they say 2017 is supposed to be the most stable bug free version evah!

 

 

It takes too long to navigate in 2017 to do the tool paths I want to do compared to X9.

 

2017 crashes / locks up when I try to add separators to the right mouse button in a sub-drop down menu that has 19+ different icons. 

 

Its funny how the way MS word is fine with me, but when it comes to Mcam 2017... i've went back to X9 after programming one part.  Clearly CNC software doesn't know the meaning of KISS.

[civiceg]

 

 

The maintenance thing is definitely a scam. Equal to buying insurance in my opinion. 

 

I can see having to pay maintenance for new versions as a legitimate expense. But not to get patches to fix the same  version you bought.