|
Cherokeechief79 I was getting ready to send the following,
then I realized you started the thread on EmasterCam. For
everyone else, the following is a thread that is running on the MasterCam forum.
Here is
the MasterCam forum if anyone is interested in lurking around. http://www.emastercam.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?category=1 John Topic:
previous smartcam users how many
of you are previous smartcam freeform users?we are converting over to mc now
and i would like to know your honest thoughts on the 2 systems.ive just been to
my 1st 3 training lessons for level one.i thought that it would be a breeze for
me(ive been using freeform for 7 yrs)but ive found that there are a ton more
keystrokes to get the same thing done that i could previously do very
quickly.are these all things that will become just as easy in time?our move to
mc was based mainly on the pocketing routines(very poor in smartcam)and the
lack of support on the product. please
your HONEST thoughts. thanks -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posts: 3 |
Registered: Mar 2003 | IP: Logged Allan Administrator
Member #
20 posted 03-06-2003 12:33 AM
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to
the forum. There are several former smartcam users on the forum, I am not one
of them. When they
discontinued the product, I thought of starting a support group for the poor
souls. After a little seat time you'll love it IMHO. Allan -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posts: 217
| From: Cambridge | Registered: Mar 2000
| IP: Logged J Coulston
Member Member #
1969 posted 03-06-2003 06:50 AM
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a
long post, just to let you know before you start reading. I have
been using MC for about three months. Like SmartCam’s user group, this group is
comprised of a large number of very knowledgeable and very helpful people.
These users hold MasterCam near and dear to their hearts the same way many of
SmartCams users did. I like MC
L3 much better than SC FreeForm however; MC Level 1 is way way behind were
SmartCam left off with Production Milling. I find there is probably 50-60% more
work to create simple 2 ½ D tool path in MC. I am still learning and have
resisted the temptation to use SmartCam for any new parts I program. MasterCam
is getting a little easier and feels more familiar but there are a number of
SmartCam features that I miss greatly. The move
and rotate commands in SmartCam are far superior that what MC has. The dialog
boxes make it a lot easier to pick individual points and move and rotate parts
in 3D. Image of move dialog box Image of rotate dialog box In
SmartCam levels are assigned to a color. Easy to tell what geometry is on what
level. In
SmartCAM offset tool path G41,G42 tool is shown on proper side of tool path,
not tool centerline. Stock can
be defined on a multiple layers, when verify is opened the current zoom and
orientation is used. The
feature I miss the most, in SmartCam the WCS is the root level. Everything on a
WCS is masked when the WSC is turned off. In MC I find it very time consuming
to go into each operation group and Alt-T and Alt-P what you don’t want to
post. Things
that just annoy me, but I’m learning to work around. You cannot
move, rotate, or zoom when the Operation Manager is open. If
selecting a chain, or you are in backplot if you hit Alt-O the current command
should be interrupted and OM should open. I hate the ding. I am
learning to work around these annoyances but here are some that frustrate me to
no end. Most of these are file and directory related, I am hoping some of these
are fixed in 9.1. If not 9.1 they will defiantly be fixed in MCX. MC will
not remember the name of the file I just posted, MC wants to always post to the
default file name. MC will
not save to the proper directory; even thought the proper path is displayed in
header bar. MC cannot
see desktop shortcuts in File Get, File Save, but File Converters and Post will
see shortcut folders on the desktop. As for
features in MC that are useful and beneficial and make my job easier, why would
I talk about them, I take them for granted. Tool path
associativity, rest mill, pocket cutting methods, helix entry, reads
parasolids. And the biggest plus, MC is still under development and a new SP
going to be released any day now. That makes me happy. John -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posts: 30
| From: Carlisle, PA | Registered: Mar 2002 | IP:
Logged OPPIZ Member Member #
1877 posted 03-06-2003 07:49 AM
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John, Amen!! You
hit the nail on the head!! I used
Smartcam for 10 years and Nc polaris for 2. I've been using MC for 1 year. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posts: 95
| From: Bradford Pa. | Registered: Mar 2002 | IP:
Logged chico Member Member #
2025 posted 03-06-2003 08:22 AM
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SC - 10
years left at V11.1 MC - 3
years Most of my
work is exclusively 3D. MC level 3 has it all over free-form. I think the
present MC GUI seems cumbersome, but, I think you will see drastic changes in
version 10. I agree with John, the move and rotate feature in SC was far easier
to use and the color/level assignments made keeping track of multiple parts and
surface groups a breeze. However,
the feature I truly miss, is the ability to snap to the perimeter corners and
the center of a surface. In MC you will need to create curves and then snap to
them still leaving the inability to snap directly to the center of a surface. Your
company has definitely made the right move in choosing MC, again, for many of
the reasons John stated in the end. Definitely bookmark this forum. The
individuals here can and do answer everything. This site will probably be your
single most useful resource, especially the search previous posts feature. The
free knowledge is incredible. When you
have mastered some of the tools in MC you will set all doubt aside and be
amazed at the advancement in CAM software. Good luck. George -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----Original
Message----- my
company just wanted something more 'current' with imidiate tech support.they
installed it the other day and ive been playin around with it for a few days.i
go for training mon.they claimed the pocketing was superior and they are able
to keep the tool down(always a prob with sc)but from what ive seen it can stay
down but it travels over the same cut sometimes several times.there also seems
to be a LOT of keystrokes for things i could do quick in sc. |
- [mfg-smartcam] switched to mastercam Cherokeechief79
- Re: [mfg-smartcam] switched to mastercam Bill Payter
- John Coulston
