Create/Pattern creates Groups out of each instance you place. By default, entities in a group display in the groups color, not their own. Click on 'Groups' in the secondary menu. You can click on one or more group names and choose the Delete button on this dialog - that'll remove the groups (without deleting the entities). PDG

Make sure to grab the 'APPS' patch and the ACISDATA patch. PDG

I think Create/Surface/Next/Primitive/Extrusion might give you what you want, too. DraftSurface simply drafts each curve on the chain separately - the Extrusion thingy will work to trim/extend the chain entities when using a draft angle. To see what I mean, make a simple rectangle and try the two methods, using a non-zero angle. PDG

Rick D is (almost) exactly right. The V9.1Sp1 contains all the fixes to code we provide. The only exception is the MetaCut patch. That is not part of any of the other patches we provide. PDG

As I said in another thread, if you do any file import of anything other than IGES and VDA, you MUST download the "APPS" and all the "****DATA" patches as well as the executable patches that apply to the product(s) you're running. PDG

Ezra, Feel free to send problem files to me at [email protected]. You should CC: the good folks in our QC group too ([email protected]). PDG

OK - maybe we'll patch it again and let you move the arc, thus moving the hole. But it's not our fault if you move it off of the solid completely! Because then you'll wonder why Mastercam let you do that!!! (That's essentially why we changed it) Question: should we at least warn you that the arc is used to define a solid? If we don't tell the rookie user, how does he know he has to 'regen' his solid unless he goes to his Solids Mgr and sees red X's? PDG

Haggai, But what is it that you're trying to do with these entities? What did Screen/Statistics tell you is in the part? What I did was make splines for you where the IGES import was making lots of little lines. If you're happy with the lines fine. If Screen/Statistics is telling you that there are Copious Data entities (instead of lots of little lines), in that case you should read the IGES file in again and go to Masking on the IGES dialog and click 'Import copious data as lines' ON, since copious data entities in Mastercam are pretty useless. The splines you are apparently complaining about are there after you import the IGES file - there are 6 of them and they're selectable and everything. I'm trying to remove some of the confusion over the other stuff you're seeing. PDG [ 07-03-2003, 05:18 PM: Message edited by: ProductDevelopmentGuy ]

Please download the 'EDGEDATA' and 'APPS' part of the Sp1 'patch'. There are new DLLs in there that is essential to running the Rhino importer. I apologize that we have not done a very good job of telling people what to download, and a lot of it is not obvious. Here's my suggestion: IF YOU'RE USING ANY OF THE FILE CONVERTERS, make sure to download and install the 'APPS' and all of the '*DATA' patches. PDG

Haggai, I got your file and I can see where the problem is. The data consists of both splines and IGES "copious data" entities. Copious data entities are essentially strings of points, or polylines. When reading an IGES file, we default to bringing these in as lines. You'll notice in ScreenStatistics that there are 6 splines and 73 lines. I agree with Trevor in that the problem originated with the software package that generated the IGES file (I never heard of "Maya V5.0" but that's what the file header says). Find out if they can output the data differently - as all arcs or all splines. Or you can do this: Using a combination of Screen/Endpoints and Create/Spline/Automatic you can convert the lines to splines. You could even then use Modify/ConvToArcs to get arcs, which is probably what you want. I'm e-mailing you my splines. PDG

Haggai, Are the splines actually visible? What happens when you try to 'Analyze' them? Able to send me a file? ([email protected]) PDG

Plastav,Jammer, Thanks for the info. PDG

That's the way that we've seen it happen consistently. PDG

I believe this is tied to the Job Setup setting which controls whether feed rate comes from 'material' or 'tool'. If set to 'material', we load that material (which is actually stored in Mastercam entity format) into the the current part when you start Mastercam or retrieve an existing part. Loading this material entity causes the current database to think that a new entity has been added, which is indeed what has happened, but it's really not the same as, say, creating a geometric entity. We intended to correct this for SP1 by recognizing it as a special case, but (obviously) failed to. I believe this first came up in V9.0 or V9.1 - little foggy in the memory dept. this morning) when we changed the default setting for this parameter in the Job Setup section of DEFAULTS.DF9. To modify this value, go to the Main Menu and then click on "NCUtils", then "DefOps", then "Defaults", select your defaults file (usually Defaults.df9) and then click on the "Job Setup" button. PDG

V9.1 SP1 contains support for reading Autocad 2004 files. I assume it'll work with MDT 2004 files, at least as well as it did read MDT files in the past. Make sure you download the "APPS" and the "ACADDATA" patches. BTW, anyone concerned with getting SP1 fixes in their file importers needs to download the "APPS" patch and all of the "...DATA" patches. PDG

One easy way to take care of this is to output the Parasolid file from SW2003 as an earlier parasolid version than V14. Though getting your software up to date (i.e. V9.1) is the best way to go PDG

V9.0 does not read SW2003 unless you've installed the 'patch' we developed for doing so. (SW2003 was released after 9.0, thus necessitating the 'patch'). PDG

It's a surprising subtle bug (yes - it is tied to having nonvisible levels) that was introduced in V9.1 that has been corrected in V9.1Sp1. Anyday now.... PDG

One thing you can toggle on the Mastercam end is the way the IGES importer handles trimmed surfaces. You'll see 4 choices in the IGES import dialog. Try "Always read XYZ" and "Always read UV" and see if your results are good with one of those. There are 2 ways software products can output trimmed surfaces when writing IGES 144s, and this helps you look for one or the other. If you're getting IGES 143 entities ("bounded" instead of "trimmed"), see if you can get the UG user to output 144s instead. If this doesn't do it for you, I'll be happy to take a look at it. PDG

It all depends on how the face is represented in the Parasolid kernel. If it is stored as a trimmed surface and the trimming boundary is not the natural boundary of the untrimmed surface - you got yourself a trimmed surface. Some things you don't ever want as untrimmed surfaces - faces with holes cut out of them for instance, or the circular cap on a cylinder. Some things on the other hand can easily be represented as untrimmed surfaces. It's all in the geometry! PDG

In the original post, I assume "macam9" was a typo. If not, it might be the root of the problem. PDG

Dan, When you switch posts, is there a .TXT file of the same name as the .PST file in your Posts folder?. Try renaming that to something else temporarily so that it doesn't get read in at all. The .TXT file can be used to override sections of the Mill (or Lathe, etc) .TXT file. Maybe the problem lies in there somewhere. PDG

Weird! Did you somehow trash MILL9.TXT? It should be in the same directory as the MILL9.EXE and your icon should list this directory as the "Start in" directory. Please open MILL9.TXT in a text editor or viewer and look for the [lower menu] section. There should be 14 numbered lines following it. Are they there? PDG

The ability to import Rhino .3DM part files is being added to the upcoming V9.1 Service Pack 1. And Rhino is NOT a solid modeler, but it is an "excellent" surface modeler. PDG

If you're launching Mastercam by simply clicking on the Mastercam icon, or by dragging MC9 files onto the icon, please verify that the "start in:" folder in the icon properties matches where Mastercam is really installed. If you're launching Mastercam by clicking on MC9 files in Explorer, you need to check the "File Types" section of your Options in Explorer, to make sure that MC9 files know where the Mastercam installation is PDG