Andreas, Click on the Verisurf icon below. I don't think Ernie has V9.1 ready yet, but it should be soon. And it's not really a GD&T program, it's geared toward automated inspection. PDG

Stockvw is a C-Hook for Version 8 Lathe. It is used to graphically represent the stock boundaries we generate. In V9, it's no longer a C-hook, but part of the product. PDG

The sw2003 C-Hook you downloaded includes a program named P1413.EXE. This will convert a Parasolid 14 file to Parasolid 13. It's in the PS14 sub-folder. Use it like this: PS14 ps14filename.x_t ps13filename.x_t where 'ps14filename.x_t' is the name of the PS14 .X_T file you have and 'ps13filesname.x_t' is the name of the PS13 file it'll create. PDG

Bullines, Right on the mark. PDG

I agree with KSoufi. The intent of delivering the VBScript tools is to open up programming to a wider audience. And I'll disagree (politely) with Bullines. That is indeed how it works, but not ALL of the C-Hook functionality has been "wrapped". Right now it's pretty robust in the 2D and 2.5D worlds. We will be releasing new (expanded) versions of the VB Script toolkit post-V9.1. PDG

There will be other CNC people there too. Gary (Sales guy) and Ken (Product Management Guy) are coming too. Are you sure you want a picture of this group? PDG

Yes, I'll be there, and (maybe) I'm buying. See you @ 1PM Tuesday at our booth PDG

Is it lots of surfaces? Does it crash with only 1 surface? What about non-surface entities? Are they associated with toolpaths? Does it work differently with trimmed and untrimmed surfaces? Sorry about so many ?'s, but I'd like to try to narrow this down a little. PDG

It may also be something as simple as the stock as defined does not represent the actual material to be cut. Perhaps your tool never comes in contact with the default stock? Try the 'scan NCI' option if you haven't already PDG

You're right - that flag does not get written to the CFG Since materials are editable, we would have to also write out all the material's parameters. Right now we're not set up for that. I'll add it to our 'Enhancement Request' log. PDG

The "gaps" you see may be simply due to the default "Maximum Surface Deviation" (in Screen/Config/Tolerances) being too big for your parts. When making a trimmed surface, we use this value to determine the linearity of the trimmed surface boundary(s) since they are stored as polylines. Likewise, if you're shading the surface model, you may be seeing "gaps" due to the tolerance of the shading algorithms. The surfaces are actually broken up into triangles which are then shaded. Maybe the shading tolerance is too big for the part PDG

Mark, I'd be more than happy to look at the files here for you. Especially the IGES. ProductDevelopmentGuy ([email protected])

Budgie, I can shout, but not that loud. PDG

Like Bullines says, it does not have expose all of the functionality of C-hooks, but the scope of what's exposed can expand as we update the C-Hook that drives the whole thing. And I'm really nervous about that "big wet kiss" thing..... PDG

I built one last set of Executables and then later watched as our QC Manager handed a V9.1 Release CD to the front office for distribution. Top that! PDG

SandyBar sent me the file and it comes in clean, but I've asked him to try to see if he could reproduce it, since it's not clear yet what caused it. Also, in reply to Peter Scott, the "Version" menu choice in the SAT and Parasolid menus refers only to the case where you're EXPORTING to those file types. Changing it before importing a file has no effect. PDG

I'm curious about this too. If you could e-mail the SAT file to me ([email protected]) I'll take a look at it PDG

Version 9.1 will include the ability to create, edit, test, and save Visual Basic Scripts. VBScript is driven by a Microsoft engine that lets the programmer edit and run add-ins without needing to purchase and/or learn a compiler. The language is almost exactly like the Visual Basic programming language, and we provide a slick editor that lets you edit and test scripts, without having to exit Mastercam and without having to "compile" and "link" them. We've providing lots of help files and lots of samples, too. The downside is that the VBScript interface to Mastercam does not have all of the functionality that the C-Hook API has. The upside is that this functionality can easily be expanded after the release of V9.1, without requiring new .EXEs. The initial release of our support fof VBScript will include the ability to create and modify points, lines, and arcs, as well as allowing creation of Contour, Drill, and Pocket operations. There's lots of other stuff in there too, like import of other file types (IGES, DWG, etc), access to tool definition, and the ability to read data from a Microsoft Excel file. When you get V9.1, please take a look at it. It's available in Create/Next/Add-ins (or by invoking the "MCAMVB" C-Hook) Coming (very) soon to a computer near you... PDG

Bryan, We are producing a new C-Hook development kit for V9.1, but almost all V9.0 C-Hooks should still run in V9.1 without being re-built. The exception is any C-Hooks which look to the SIM for the serial number, sim type, Mastercam level, etc. These will need to be rebuilt. The V9.1 C-hook kit will also include enhanced access to Solids and the WCS PDG

When the Task Mgr says we're not responding, it can be deceiving, as you've discovered. What this generally means is that we are doing some number-crunching and not popping back up to the user interface. Since the UI isn't being used, Windows reports that we're not doing anything. In this instance, you should trust the processing messages, not the Task Manager. PDG

Scott, I'll be there, and I'm sure other CNC staff will want to do it too. PDG

Bryan, Because of the intricacies of the WCS implementation, this is not a bug but is sort of a new way of looking at things. We are adding some new C-hook accessible functions in V9.1 to address this. PDG

AP203 & AP214 Basically the 'geometry/topology' elements of STEP PDG

Ksoufi, Sorry - I can't see any way to keep that message box from appearing. PDG

V9.0SP1 supports Inventor 5.3. V9.1 will support Inventor 6 PDG