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keepinupDC
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First time posting, sorry if this is not in the correct place, and if its not please direct me to where these sort of questions go thank you. 

 

Im a new user as of x9, then on to 2017 and 2018

 

How many versions are there of mastercam? If someone could compile a complete list from beginning to current release. Iam learning the history of the software for my own good as I find developments in software interesting. Thank you for your time

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I believe the first version of Mastercam was called  Megan after one of the founder's daughters ( and now CEO)

This was in the mid 1980's

At some point they started calling it V1, V2 etc  

I took a class at a local community college in V5 in the 1995 (??)

I purchased V8 in 1998

In 2001 they stopped the V nomenclature with V9 and the next release was called X

They went X, X1, X2, up to X9 in 2016

During the X years, releases were not annual so it took 15 years to get from X to X9

The 2016 release was called Mastercam 2017

and now we're up to MC2019 released in the summer of 2018

MC 2020 is currently in early beta and you can expect to see it towards the middle of next year

Looking at the Download page at Matercam.com they have X3 to MC2109 available for download,

though versions are only supported 5 years back ... which would be X6 or X7 ??

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@gcode

Thanks a bunch!

This is exactly what I was looking for. 

 

What amazes me is that this software was developed so long ago and continues to thrive. 

When was the dynamic milling tool paths introduced in mastercam? Once I learned these tool paths, I rarely consider anything else if I can use them. 

Also, how about surfacing and 3d tool paths

 

Iam so damn spoiled to be living in this era with the resources that are available, considering I was born in 85. 

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31 minutes ago, keepinupDC said:

I find developments in software interesting

The big change was after v9. when X came out a lot of people stayed back with v9. the learning curve was too much for them.

Small business owners had no time to loose relearning to program . It was frustrating to be held back that way.

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There were 3d surfacing paths in X5.  I used them to make a plastic injection mold of a medieval helmet for Lego guys as my "senior project" at Dunwoody.

While I have enjoyed the advances in toolpaths and other functions, I haven't been a fan of the UI changes.  I'm sticking with X9 until I'm convinced that the improvements outweigh the UI changes for me; previously I waited until X5 before leaving V9, because that's when they finally fixed the keyboard interface enough to make it usable.  I've been told that in 20XX they will not be fixing the keyboard interface.

 

Edit: I meant to say "There were 3d surfacing paths in V5. (circa 1995)"

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3 hours ago, Seedy steve said:

The big change was after v9. when X came out a lot of people stayed back with v9. the learning curve was too much for them.

Small business owners had no time to loose relearning to program . It was frustrating to be held back that way.

Yeah that was a big change.  I was using X5 in 2012 I think, and been away from the trade for a few years, jumping back into 2019 is quite a learning curve, tempted to download x5 again. lol

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Surfacing and 3D paths came out before the X series. I was doing surfacing back in V6.13, but it was rudimentary compared to what is available today. I was roughing with Surface Rough Parallel, and finishing individual surfaces with Flowline. (One Operation per individual surface.) It took a long time.

By V9, we had more advanced surfacing paths, like Surface Rough Pocket, and Surface Finish Contour, and Surface Project Blend.

X4 was the start of what has become the "Dynamic" paths. Also, we started getting the newer Surface High-Speed paths in X5.

So "surfacing" in some form has been available for over 20 years in Mastercam, in some form. (Maybe 25 years ago.)

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I believe it was V3 that had the .ge3  for it's "3d files" .  Drilling was done in a separate program  and the files were .ge2 . The reason why drilling and the rest were separate was to overcome the 640 KB max memory  of the PC .   Then we started to load mouse drivers above the 640 Kilo limit etc. and eventually were able to use the whole mega memory.... Could be V2 ,  it was 1990 or something :) 

 

Gracjan

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13 hours ago, Colin Gilchrist said:

Surfacing and 3D paths came out before the X series. I was doing surfacing back in V6.13, but it was rudimentary compared to what is available today. I was roughing with Surface Rough Parallel, and finishing individual surfaces with Flowline. (One Operation per individual surface.) It took a long time.

By V9, we had more advanced surfacing paths, like Surface Rough Pocket, and Surface Finish Contour, and Surface Project Blend.

X4 was the start of what has become the "Dynamic" paths. Also, we started getting the newer Surface High-Speed paths in X5.

So "surfacing" in some form has been available for over 20 years in Mastercam, in some form. (Maybe 25 years ago.)

Yep, I meant to say "There were 3d surfacing paths in V5. (circa 1995)"

 

3 hours ago, pullo said:

I believe it was V3 that had the .ge3  for it's "3d files" .  Drilling was done in a separate program  and the files were .ge2 . The reason why drilling and the rest were separate was to overcome the 640 KB max memory  of the PC .   Then we started to load mouse drivers above the 640 Kilo limit etc. and eventually were able to use the whole mega memory.... Could be V2 ,  it was 1990 or something :) 

 

Gracjan

There were separate GE3 files in V5; I think they were first integrated in V6.  Solid modelling was introduced in V7.

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