Blade Expert is a custom application for programming multi-bladed parts, developed by ModuleWorks in Germany. If you installed the sample files you can open the Blade Expert sample file for review. If you feel that you can comfortably program that file in less that 2 hours then Blade Expert is not for you. If you only do these kinds of part occasionally Blade Expert is not for you. If you don't have a modern CNC machine, capable of precise multiaxis, synchronized motion Blade Expert is not for you. If you are a professional and serious about exploring multi-blade machining Blade Expert is definitely for you. If you are already making a living cutting parts like these you will know what a bargain BE is in this field and Blade Expert is for you. If you do a bit of research of what solutions are available on the market you will know what a bargain BE is. Why use Mastercam Blade Expert? What is the Mastercam difference? We have extensively tested our integrated solution . . . hands-on cutting parts on the machine during the BE integration process. We are providing much more than just a tool, we have assembled a complete, customized solution. We are so confident in our Blade Expert solution package that we will give you a money-back quarantine. What is in the package? The power of Mill Level 3 Blade Expert We will program your first part and follow it through until you take the finished part off your machine. Train you along the way with your part and your machine. We will help you calibrate your machine and fine-tune your post processor when needed. We will build a virtual replica of your machine, so that you can see the whole manufacturing process on your screen before committing to the machine. Unparallelled World-wide reseller support from the #1 CAM system. We haven't seen a part we couldn't cut yet. Don't try this at home, don't guess, don't make assumptions . . . talk is cheep. Contact us if you are serious and let's cut your part together.

Wireframe Swept 2D toolpaths would also work well for this application.

Go to Help and search for 'Stretch' then Translate . . .

Here is a quote from help: "To access the Stretch function, open the Translate dialog box. Set the Window mode on the General Selection ribbon bar to In+. Draw a window around the geometry you want to stretch and end the geometry selection by pressing [Enter] or clicking the green End Selection button on the ribbon bar. The Stretch check box on the Translate dialog box is now available." The easiest way to get there is to click on the Translate icon and then Help (questionmark) on that dialogbox. And YES do not preselect!

Strech is under Transform in X. Please read the online help and follow the steps exactly in the order described. Do not pre-select.

Sir, Your frustration comes across loud and clear. Unfortunatelly I can not help you there, since the mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. What I can do is to offer my help with any projects you maybe working on. If there are any please email detailed information to [email protected] I invite you to send the same info and files to any other software company in order to compare apples to apples. The mind is like a parashute - it only works when it is open. I

Your question is 3 fold: 1. If you already have V9 Art it should be running fine and it is supported with all the post processors which are supplied with Mastercam. If you need help learning or setting up Art we will be happy to help you. 2. We are currently testing X Art and are planning to release Art X Beta shortly. We are adding functionality to the existing ones. 3. You might be alone with your problem, but you are not alone as an Art customer. If you take a better look you will find many strings talking about Art issues. And if you realy are a Mastercam customer you will never be alone . . . all you have to do is ask for help. Is it smart to learn something new? I let you answer that question.

Sounds like many of you had some experience with importing photos into diferent systems and already know that the quality of the original image will greatly affect the result and the time you will need to get there. Photoshop is a very good tool when it comes to manipulate the original image. I already responded to Yogesh directly in detail, but here are some answers for the questions he posed: 1. What tolerance and settings to be used? - This will vary based on the quality and size of the picture. It is always better to have a large (more pixels) original picture which can be reduced to the size of your work. 2. You can not put the Relief into a boundary (other then rectangle), but you can contain the toolpath into any shape of boundary if you use the last 3 cutting strategies (the ones that contain the word ‘ boundary’) 3. You can create an elliptical surface in Art which will be automatically centered in the center of the Relief. A little tip: Go to Art . . . Create Surfs . . . Ellipse . . . and the position of the center point will be deisplayed on the dilaog box. Here is an example of the same process using a better quality (and better looking) original image: We already made great progress in Art X on reducing the time needed to Import BMP images. You will soon get a chance to experiment with the first Beta. Best Regards, Karlo

You can go to Art . . . File . . . Import . . . BMP and follow the prompts to turn your picture into a 3D sculptured surface abd then cut it. Some things to remeber: - Your picture needs to be in BMP format. If you have a JPG from a digital camera, just open it in Windows Paint and save it as a 24-BMP. - The picture you are looking at is an illusion. It is not a 3D image - it is a 2D image and the colors make it look like a 3D image. - You can't make a sculpture out of this illusion, only an embossed 3D image. - There are many ways to convert, but the default 'Standard Grayscale Conversion' is the easiest one to explain or understand. It will convert your color image into black and white. Whaite will be your Z=0 and black will be the maximum Z depth of your choosing (don't go too deep) . . . all the different shades of gray will be placed inbetween Z-zero and maximum depth depending on their 'grayness'. If you need help with a specific file you can email to [email protected] Thank you for choosing Mastercam. Karlo Apro - CNC Software Applications

Is sounds like a Mastercam Memory Allocations issue. Please do the following: - Screen . . . Configure . . . Allocations . .. Max number of points per spline 8000 Max number of patchs per surf 8000 Max number of ents to undel 500 Database allocations in KBytes 200000 Toolpath allocations in KBytes 200000 If you still have a problem, please contact In-House Solutions . . . they are best qualified to help you. Best Regards, Karo Apro