What would be a relevant measurable task in Mastercam that would test the performance of the videocard?

I would use a contour. Just create a silhouette boundary to get arcs to drive the toolpath. Increase the tolerance to get larger arcs...maybe 0.002? Might be a better way...?

Only issue I see is that the steps are not getting cut to 0 stock in Z. Not sure if this is just a bug or if this behavior is intentional...I did have a similar issue with my suggestion of 2D HST with Area mill as well....no matter the settings used I could not get all faces to cut to 0 stock in Z in one op. Like I said in my original post...I'm not getting into whether Esprit is better than Mastercam, or if Gibbs is better than Mastercam, or if Fusion360 is better than Mastercam...I merely stated that I've used features in software's other than Mastercam and that they improve workflow and if Mastercam was to implement some of these it may actually make your life easier. Some really got offended for some reason...

I think OP was looking for solutions for open pocketing...not how awesome you are at wireframe programming.

Without opening a huge can of Esprit vs Mastercam.... Mastercam really needs to up its game on toolpath creation from solids. Nobody wants to draw additional geometry just to get a toolpath outside of an 'open' edge. CAM software should be able to do this, and Esprit does (I'm sure there are others that do as well). That being said though, could you not just use a 2D HST so you get the good chaining options but use an area mill path?

Interesting...where is that setting found?

My cats breath smells like cat food.

Nice, there is an option. Thanks! I realize why the plane info is there, done plenty of multi axis work. My 'bloated' comment was more directed at the toolpath name that shows. Why not just call it '2D Dynamic Mill' instead of '2D High Speed (2D Dynamic Mill)'...or better yet just the toolbar icon of the toolpath. Reasoning...working on a laptop or single monitor setup you lose real estate for the model by having to extended the tool manager horizontally to see your comment, which is at the end of the naming. Again, thanks for the help.

Is there a way to hide this info? eg I have a 2D dynamic path so that operation shows up as "22-2D High Speed (2D Dynamic Mill) - [WCS:Top] - [Tplane:Top] " and then finally my op comment. I don't really care to see the wcs/tplane info and the toolpath name is excessively long. Is there a way to hide any of this bloated info? Wouldn't it make more sense to just show the toolpath name as the toolbar icon for the toolpath?

Just click on the column name...or right click 'reset sort'

Yes. I have done this and it works as expected.

No idea what mouse you were reading about but here's what I use. http://gaming.logitech.com/en-ca/product/g600-mmo-gaming-mouse It has a 3rd button that makes it very comfortable to use all day.

Wasn't this issue addressed in one of the updates? Does your X8 have the latest release?

The standalone Productivity Plus will vector on to non flat faces, the MasterCam addin will not...at least not the last time I looked. This will cause some issues with your results. I've used Cimco with good results

Whats more believable... 1. I know MasterCam 2. I know MasterCam and have a certificate saying I've completed this course and passed a test. I know which one I would interview, which is what that piece of paper is supposed to do...get you the interview. After that its on you.

So many inconsistencies with this process.... 1-Why is the file being uploaded not in the dirty state already? Just rebuild all ops at 0.005 then dirty all to 0.0001 and upload. Then the user only needs to hit rebuild and results will be consistent. 2-Why rely on someones interpretation of how long the rebuild takes? Or even why rely on someones ability to add the correct values from the event log? Just ask one of the dudes over in the post/chook/script forum to write a quick script to initiate the rebuild and time it. At the end it could call a message box with a time. These would ensure accurate times based on machines, not other variables.

Jay, how did you change the window colour? Not the background, the actual menus/menu backgrounds. I really like the look you have...I like dark, easier on the eyes after 12 hrs

That's perfect right there! Thank you very much.

http://www.emastercam.com/board/topic/78390-file-properties-just-looking-for-file-stats-somewhere/ This was my original post. Maybe someone here can help. Basically I want to know if I can tell when a file was origianlly created....or any other parts of that file. I thought I had read that each piece of geometry would have a time stamp on it? The files would be wireframe...all created inside of MC. And Im working with X7 Thanks

The 'properties' does not seem to carry and real history with it. eg if I create and save a file at 1:00pm and then do a 'save as' at 1:02 there will be no history of the original 1:00 file creation. I will try the software guys in the chook seciton.

I might create a second post in the chook section because this might be more relevant there...but anyways... Im looking to be able to pull some simple stats from a mastercam file. Such as original creation date, user name that created it etc. I know if i look at the file I have on my machine windows will tell me when I created it, but if someone sends me a file I want to know when that was originally created...not the copy on my hard drive. I think Ive also read in the chook forum that you can access the times at which all entities where created as well..? I would find this usefull as well. If i dont get any hits I will repost in chook forum. Thanks guys

On the screen resolution page (right click desktop then pick screen resolution), there should be a option about 'make text and other items smaller or larger'. Click that and set the slider all the way to smallest. You may have to reboot for the setting to take effect. This will fix the problem you are referring to.

I use this, its a great mouse

cpu?

No luck with X+ in X7 either. Downloaded the correct X+ too. Anyone have ideas?