"derived component" is the key Greg. Thank you guys.

I was originally trying to use an stl file but no matter what I do I get the old Stl file not water-tight bla,bla,bla waterfall effect error and a useless verify then I tries the solid file which works great and processes fast but I have the assembly issue.

Hey guys, I have mill level 3 but no solids module. I use Inventor for modeling and have the occasional need to bring an assembly model(.iam) into Mastercam to use as solid stock for verify. It seems to only import as separate solids on different levels and Verify will only let me choose 1 body. I've tried direct .iam import and .stp and they both work the same way. Is there an option I can change or a format I can use from inventor to make this work? maybe a way to create a part file(.ipt) from an assembly file(.iam) in Inventor? any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! -Mike

In backpot, click the blue arrow button in the top left corner of the backplot dialog box(options) now click on the details tab in the middle of the box. I type too slow

I don't have a t-shirt

how about Create/Ellipse?

now you did it!

Been there, It's a little quirky until you understand how it works. It automatically uses the circle geometry if you select the center point of the circle. If you want to specify that information in the toolpath, create a point and select that point for your center and it will use your data input. HIH

lol John! laying it on thick today aren't we?

do you have Verisurf Reverse installed?

1)Import both stl files you want to merge into the reverse tab in you op manager 2) highlight both files 3)right click- export/to file 4) choose location and name you want to save as. Now both files are combined into the new file. HTH -Mike

Verisurf Reverse works great for this! I never had to do it before but I figured I'd try for ya and viola. If you don't have it contact Ernie @ verisurf and/or I think the 30 day trial is here: http://www.emastercam.com/ubb/ultimatebb.p...t=029941#000002

Gotta use backup! +100000000000000000000000000000 Saved my Arse many,many times.

I used to have problems with that until I started using WCS. Have you tried using it? It's a little weird at first but when you get the hang of it, It's MUCH easier/faster.

any luck?

reload your local machine definition (.mmd) in the operations manager, files tab. The changes made in the control definition manager did not take effect in the file you already had open.

The crashing problems I've had in the past were often caused by video drivers. If you still have problems after changing the performance setting and Gcode's suggestion then try to update your video driver and/or call your reseller and ask them what driver they recommend. Some new PC's come with older drivers. HIH

The last thing you need is for Windows to decide anything.

That can make a HUGE difference believe it or not. Also, What video card do you have?

XP: control Panel/system/advanced tab. Performance should be set for "Best performance" not best appearance or other.

Are You running Win XP or Vista?

quote: Impossible. +1 your boss is a Maroon.

Thanks Toolman, I'll take a look.

Thanks for your detailed response Pete. The first thing I have to say is AUTODESK! The problem I have is a co-worker does not have Inventor therefore he is unable to work with our Inventor 2009 models for the time being we are going to bring back to the good ol' days and start exporting SAT files from Inventor again. At the current time we do not have the solids module on our seats of Mastercam. Since we have a few seats of Inventor already for our modeling and drawings we see no reason to have another solid modeler. We currently work with surface models on that end of things. That being said, If direct Inventor was improved to the point where models could be translated into Mastercam with a usable feature tree, I would definitely consider making a case for the upgrade. At this point , I think I will wait for X3 to try the Direct Inventor again. We will get by with the .sat files at least until the Inventor view 2009 comes out. Thanks for offering the fix though Pete. -Mike

quote: do any of you inventor users also use the 3d civil engineering package? not us. We only use Inventor and sometimes AutoCAD for Mechanical design/drawings packages etc. (AutoCAD only when forced ). The electrical engineers here use P-Cad and other "black magic" tools.