Mark Chambers wrote... Two weeks ago the local dealer offered to replace our SmartCAM seats for FREE with Unigraphics. I have about 3 years experience with UG, back in the late eighties, and it worked sweetly. My concerns are losing the ability to customize post processing. I am a stickler for detail and refuse to have to edit code after posting. (with 60+ machines, that would be ridiculous!) As far as I am concerned, SmartCAM's tweakable Code Generators is by far the biggest feature, and is my biggest concern with switching to new software.
So... my question for you all is: How does UG handle posting? Here's my 2 cents... UG still provides a capability to use the old postprocessing you may have been familiar with, but has since developed their own UG Post capability. UG Posts are written using the Tool Command Language or TCL (a.k.a. "tickle"). This is a very powerful and versatile programming language developed by Prof. John Ousterhout at Berkley. More info on TCL can be found at http://www.scriptics.com/ <http://www.scriptics.com/> Books for programming in TCL (it's not just for UG posts) can be found at most major book store chains such as Barnes & Noble. I'm still learning to build posts but am very, very satisfied so far with the flexibility it offers, but with all this power and flexibility comes added complexity. To address this UG has developed the "Post Builder" utility that is like SmartCAM's Machine Define program on steroids. It greatly simplifies the creation and modification of these TCL postprocessor files. This may be an extra cost item depending on how the software is bundled. At this point I feel confident that I can tweak my posts till I get my code the way I want it, eventually. ============================================= Fred Lauzus, CAM Programming Coordinator High Steel Structures, Incorporated mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.highsteel.com <http://www.highsteel.com/> ============================================= -----Original Message----- From: Mark [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2002 8:20 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [mfg-smartcam] Software change, my 2 cents Group, I have been using SmartCam since 1989, and it has never failed me yet. At my current job, my partner and I program 60+ CNC machines. 3D (surfacing jobs & full 4th axis) come up about once a month. Most of our jobs are 2-1/2 axis, and indexing. I, also am looking into upgrading (not till I have to), primarily because of operating systems. SmartCam will do just dandy as long as I can maintain Windows 98. As a progressive shop, that may not last. Two weeks ago the local dealer offered to replace our SmartCam seats for FREE with Unigraphics. I have about 3 years experience with UG, back in the late eighties, and it worked sweetly. My concerns are losing the ability to customize post processing. I am a stickler for detail and refuse to have to edit code after posting. (with 60+ machines, that would be ridiculous!) As far as I am concerned, SmartCam's tweakable Code Generators is by far the biggest feature, and is my biggest concern with switching to new software. So... my question for you all is: How does UG handle posting? UG is at the top of my list. However FeatureCAM, I am considering, also. The main reason for looking at FeatureCAM is that I know many previous "die-hard" SmartCAM users (whose judgment I trust) are raving about it. They have complained about the limitations of tweaking posts, however... This thread may become "tired", soon... so I invite everyone to email me "off the list" if that happens Mark Chambers Programming Manager Fortner Aerospace Manufacturing ====================================================================== To find out more about this mailing list including how to unsubscribe, send the message "info mfg-smartcam" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ======================================================================
