Ron, I would try editing the image in Photoshop or a different image editor. Don't worry about the picture looking good, what I would shoot for would be maximum contrast. I have found that Art seems to work better with photos that have large contrast and a minimum of fine detail. You might focus on making the hair appear "broader" with a substantial radius in an unsharp mask filter. If you would like me to play with the photo, feel free to email it to me at [email protected]

Jeff, What is the error that it is giving you?

John, Great suggestion regarding using the fixture surfaces as check surfaces. It should have been obvious, but I had never thought of it. Thanks, Jay

David, +1 on the Fixtures option. As to the solids, another option is to save them all as an STL and choose that as your stock. No doubt, this is more time consuming for a single set-up, but it comes in handy in some situations, especially for a set-up you use frequently.

Chuck, Several great points have already been made. The flexibility to modify solids "on the fly" is something you will really appreciate. By using the "Combine Ops" feature, you can link individual letters, graphics, words, sentences, etc. to a single operation. Just a couple of clicks and you can change all of the linked elements together. Go from 2mm raised letters to 1mm embossed with a drafted angle in just three or four clicks. I find solids to be particularly useful when designing "live" or when you may want to prototype several different variations. There are definitely some limitations to Mastercam's solids, but if you can make it work, I highly recommend solids whenever possible. Take care, Jay

I don't know if this may help or not, but have you checked to see if there are blanked entities? With the level turned on: Select Screen->Un-Blank Entity You may also want to try clicking All->(checkmark Entitites) then select each of the options in the lower pane. Make sure that the level in question is the only active one or you will end up selecting everything you want to keep as well. Hope this helps, Jay

One more addition to the above technique. I have found that you will probably also have to click on the Planes tab and select "=Gview" in order to get this to work. This should be done immediately after changing the gview to the normal of the line. Jay

Sorry, it may not have been clear in the above that you will still need to click on the box with the four arrows in the original dialog window to select your initial point to rotate around. Jay

Bruce, I may have a solution for you. Select your entity to rotate then XFORM->XFORM ROTATE... Select a point on the line you wish to rotate around. When you return to the rotate dialog, click on the Gview button at the bottom of the main window (not the dialog window). Select "Normal" and you will be prompted to "Select the normal line." Click on the line you with to rotate around and then hit enter (or click the green checkmark). A different dialog will pop up asking you to select your view (to start, I would just click the green checkmark. If the results are not what you want, you should try the other views). You should now be back in the ROTATE dialog and your original entity should now rotate around the line you selected. You may need to change to 2D instead of 3D to get the results you want. Hope this is what you needed (anyone else literally dream Mastercam?) Jay

Bruce, I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for or not. If you select an entity and then: XFORM->XFORM ROTATE... you will see a blue and white circle and a square with four arrows on it approximately 1/3 the way down the dialog. If you click on the square, it will prompt you to select a point to rotate around. It will not let you select a line; however, I don't remember that option in version 9 either. Jay

I spoke to my dealer last Thursday. He said that he had just received Beta 2 and expects it to be another month or two. He didn't sound all that confident in that prediction, however; so I'm not holding my breath. I'm hoping someone else has heard something from their dealer but it doesn't seem like there are very many ART users in the forum. Jay

Johnny, I frequently experience the same problem when making a selection using a dynamic window. I am glad to know that I am not the only one. I wandered if my mouse was causing the problem, however replacing it made no difference. While this is not a major problem, it is certainly frustrating at times. Take care, Jay

jctjct, Until a real solution is found, it appears that you can use surface projection to "flatten" the lines you are using to create the tangent circle and then use the create circle edge point option. The result will be on whatever plane you projected your original lines to. You could then transform back to whatever z depth you require. Hope this works for you. Jay

Regarding making a circle 3 points. Randy, use the "Create Circle Edge Point" option. It is the third option on the circles and arcs drop down and can also be accessed from CREATE -> ARC -> CREATE CIRCLE EDGE POINT... Hope this is what you were looking for. Jay