mind blown

[Thad]

5 minutes ago, Metallic said:

I guess I am one of those millenials who loves ribbon interfaces.

REPORTED!  

[DanielGingras]

On 11/16/2018 at 11:29 AM, TERRYH said:

Well we just made the jump from X9 to 2019 and holy crap I'm totally lost. trying to find and or do stuff that used to take seconds it mind numbing.............hope we get it figured out fast. 

Colin Gilchrist made this for us: https://www.emastercam.com/ecourses/ecourse/69-mastercam-2018-getting-started/

Might be helpful for figuring out where things are.

[MIL-TFP-41]

On 11/17/2018 at 8:48 AM, gcode said:

I do miss a lot of the hot keys and find myself muttering curses under my breath when I forget

to Green Check out of an Offset command  ,

 

Glad I am not the only one. I can assure you that I am not muttering under my breath though.

[huskermcdoogle]

5 hours ago, Metallic said:

I cant stand hunting for icons in the mastercam X series. Its just a massive blob of tiny little icons.

I totally agree with this as well.  My memory also has trouble with memorizing icons.  I used the software for so long using the right click menu and just selecting names when they went to the ribbon, I had no idea that the icons meant.  Now that said I do have a visual memory, but for some reason my brain doesn't make the connection with software icons, though it certainly knows the location on the ribbon bar.  

[Leon82]

The dynamic motion is way better in the new version s

[gcode]

10 minutes ago, Leon82 said:

The dynamic motion is way better in the new version s

Yes, in my view the new toolpaths and improvements to old tool paths far out weight the PIA factor of the new interface,

The new high speed equal scallop with multiple stock to leave options AND check surfaces is worth the price of maintenance all by itself.

The What's New in the ModuleWorks 5X addon are never documented, but they get upgraded every time Mastercam gets an upgrade

You can do very cool stuff with them once you figure it out. ... and they get better and stronger with every release.

I know a guy who still uses V9 cause he hates the X interface and doesn't want to learn it.

He called me the other day with a question expecting me to remember how to run 17 year old software.

 

 

 

[huskermcdoogle]

17 minutes ago, gcode said:

The What's New in the ModuleWorks 5X addon are never documented, but they get upgraded every time Mastercam gets an upgrade

You can do very cool stuff with them once you figure it out. ... and they get better and stronger with every release.

I do almost everything in the MW paths these days.  Of course that is said in the past tense, as I still currently do not have a job.  I did however help out the old boss last week getting his new machines up and running.  Felt good to close out the project I started a few years ago now.  Felt even better when I beat my initial cycle time estimates. with better part quality than I had expected.  I will always be the first person to say that maintenance is worth the money.  I have a knack for finding all of the bugs that nobody else seems to struggle with.  I never used to report them, but now have a good working relationship with QC to send bug reports in.  In fact, I don't even bother going through my reseller with bug reports anymore.  I just copy them on them when I remember and keep on truckin.  

Back on the subject of the moduleworks 5x paths.  I think they should be pushed more, so as to make them a little more mainstream.  That way they can be given a little more attention toward posting parameter accessibility.  AFAIK you can't tell if you have 4 axis or 3 axis mode selected when posting to force locking of your rotary axes.  I have build misc reals into my posts for it, but it's annoying that you have to do that.  I have found in the last few years that it is far faster to get to a nice smooth toolpath with proper transitions in the MW suite than using the high speed finish surfacing paths.  You just have so much more control.  Pretty much infinite...  Versus a pretty finite box of tools the standard 3D paths give you.  I have not done anything with the new high speed equal scallop path, but the videos certainly show it to be a good tool, and it seems to address some of the issues as to why I didn't use scallop much before.

As for the What's New, it seems that Aaron has been doing a much better job than years past documenting and communicating updates to the MW suite.  But it never hurts to go take a look on the ModuleWorks Youtube channel and see what they have in their what's new videos that they put out with every release.  There is no guarantee that they these functions will make it into the Mastercam implementation, but usually many of the functions or enhancements show up the following year in the next annual release of Mastercam.

[gcode]

8 minutes ago, huskermcdoogle said:

Back on the subject of the moduleworks 5x paths.

I would like to see an "edit All Parameters" command in the Tool Path Manager that addressed MW specific settings.. 

I just finished up a large file with 480+ mostly MW operations and I spent way too much time opening

operations one at a time to change a stock to leave setting, associate a  toolpath with a different stock model

or change a clearance height setting

[Newbeeee™]

7 hours ago, gcode said:

He called me the other day with a question expecting me to remember how to run 17 year old software.

 

10 bucks says you sorted him out...

[gcode]

23 hours ago, gcode said:

I can't think of any modern Cad/Cam package that has near the keyboard hot key capabilities we had with

early versions of Mastercam of Autocad

 

Back in the Stone Age, Cad/Cam software came with cardboard templates you put over your keyboard to help learn the hotkeys

Some even had utilities that helped you print your own templates to support hot key customization.

A lot of games used to do this as well.

I haven't seen this with Cad/Cam software in 20 years and haven't bought a game in over a decade so I don't know if

games still do that or not.

[Seedy steve]

21 hours ago, Metallic said:

...what is the hotkey for closing the green check box after youve chained geometry? Thats my main grip

In some cases tab o works or keep hitting tab until the check is highlighted, then enter.

[gcode]

5 hours ago, Seedy steve said:

In some cases tab o works or keep hitting tab until the check is highlighted, then enter.

a right cross into the center of your screen works too

[gms1]

I just find it funny that we had to get this terrible ui because "Microsoft does it" and now Microsoft is getting rid of the ribbon interface because it is crap. :)

[Newbeeee™]

8 minutes ago, gms1 said:

I just find it funny that we had to get this terrible ui because "Microsoft does it" and now Microsoft is getting rid of the ribbon interface because it is crap.

I just looked into this and the office upgrade is getting the ribbon bar cut to 2 lines to help users focus on their work. More screen space I guess LoL.

Also, they're introducing new coloured icons onto the ribbon.

Say it aint so

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/14/office_ui_update/

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

Told you it was a fad.  Can't see it die fast enough.

[JoshC]

On 11/19/2018 at 12:17 PM, Metallic said:

I guess I am one of those millenials who loves ribbon interfaces. I cant stand hunting for icons in the mastercam X series. Its just a massive blob of tiny little icons. Now I have custom ribbons, hotkeys and macros programmed into my gaming mouse. Im still finding new customization. I like the idea of having a tab or 2 of "speed icons" that are laid out perfectly.

 

Speaking of...what is the hotkey for closing the green check box after youve chained geometry? Thats my main gripe

i agree with you and also like the Ribbon interface better than the X series interface. 

to answer your question, the enter key will green check you out of that window.

[TERRYH]

I started on Mastercam using X4 to X6 to X9 I just really liked that layout and knew where the stuff was I use on a daily basis, and we worked in surfaces instead of solids, now going to 2019 and switching to solids it is a lot to take in when they moved stuff and changed the names of some stuff. Going to be a struggle but I know we'll get used to it (I hope...LoL) and our boss thinks it's just a simple matter of switch and go and its all kittens and butter flies. 

[sharles]

I'm with Terry in this move, and I'm trying to be patient, but it seems like 2019 is MUCH slower than X9. Is it because we are trying to move from surfaces to solids as well? And I HATE that I have to go thru every frickin tab at the top to find things instead of having the icons I used 80-90% of the time in X9. And if I clutter up my right mouse button, then it's just as bad as the mess at the top.

I'm trying to be patient, and I am looking forward to some of the new functions especially as it was either move into this and the simulation functionality or our owner was going to switch us to Tebis, but my mind is mush right now. I'm sure it will get better, sigh...

[Seedy steve]

40 minutes ago, sharles said:

And I HATE that I have to go thru every frickin tab at the top to find things instead of having the icons I used 80-90% of the time in X9. And if I clutter up my right mouse button, then it's just as bad as the mess at the top.

I turned off those ribbons untill i need one, then put everything most common on the QAT. then shift the QAT to be under the other ribbon, next to the graphics screen. best i can do so far.

[TERRYH]

I had it crash on me twice the other day, for no reason, and when trying to delete a line or arc I created it seems to really take some time. one of our other guys said his crashed 5 times on him today, but not sure if that's not self inflicted and he has had several other self inflicted issues.  I am pretty sure our computers are way above whats required for this, and we did right before we started using 2019 upgrade to Windows 10 not sure if that has anything to do with it or not. 

[Rstewart]

I too think I could get around faster in the X9 era.  Only thing is that the software is getting better and faster at actually machining things... 

It's a give and take kinda situation.  I haven't touched it since MC 2017, but I hear good things from people ( G ) about MC2019

[gcode]

12 hours ago, Rstewart said:

Only thing is that the software is getting better and faster at actually machining things... 

It is... much better .. the interface can be aggravating at times but the improvements to CAD, and the planes manager

and some really elegant superior toolpaths more than make up for it.

At the end of the day, what we do is not about hot keys or ribbon bars.

Its about making machine tools dance.. and MC2019 does a far better job of that than X9. 

[Jayson Kramer]

I just spent 4 days on site taking a company from X6 to 2019. there were 5 guys 4 of the 5 liked the new system. I agree when we change the interface there is a lag of learning the new interface. but I truly find it a short lived issue.

I have been doing on site training for the last 6 days at two company's. I brought in lap tops and software for 4 to 5 folks not including me. we went from simple mill to complex me and some lathe in both places. Not once did any of us have a crash with 2019.

Now with that said do I say it never happens. No it happens once in a great while just like other applications.

I have used and watched this software grow for 30 years of my career, Boy has it grown. and there will always be folks that like the change and those that do not.

looking forward to another 30 years of camming . see you folks right here in my 80's were all you do is put on some glasses and think what you want to do and Mastercam will doing it. lol

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

On 11/22/2018 at 11:09 AM, gcode said:

It is... much better .. the interface can be aggravating at times but the improvements to CAD, and the planes manager

and some really elegant superior toolpaths more than make up for it.

At the end of the day, what we do is not about hot keys or ribbon bars.

Its about making machine tools dance.. and MC2019 does a far better job of that than X9. 

It depends on your mix.  If you need to take however long it takes to make the best program possible, you're spot on.  If I need to get a workable program done right now, which is usually my usage case, familiarity and how many clicks it takes makes a big difference.  IMHO we shouldn't have to sacrifice efficient UI to get toolpath improvements.

[jlw™]

Matt, you know how much I respect you and we are friends in the real world as well.

I seriously prefer 2019 over X9.  Interface and all.  2020 is going to be tiddies with the planes and plane manager improvements.