Regenerating cone in Visual CAM that was OK in Alibre CAM

[KMoffett]

For those that have switched from Alibre CAM to Visual CAM for Geomagic.

I am running Geomagic Design 16,0,2,16496/32-bit and Visual Cam Standard for Geomagic 4.0.0.23.
I tried to rerun a part in Visual CAM that I had previously run successfully in Alibre CAM Standard.
The part was a simple cone... a revolved right triangle. Opening it and selecting the 3D Spiral Machining (created in Alibre CAM) produced the path that I had seen in Alibre CAM. When I selected Regenerate the tool path changed to a flat spiral path only on the cone's base.
Through exchanging several emails and examples with Mecsoft Support, it turns that this is a bug with "cones". If the "hypotenuse" is anything other than a straight line, the correct path is created. Support's response:

...."Yes, the issue only seems to occur with cone shaped geometries. We have already made a note of it and reported it to development. The workaround would be to export the part as IGES and import it back to generate toolpaths"...

That worked.

Ken

 

[KMoffett]

An update from Support on the VisualCAM for Geomagic forum:
"We are in communication with Geomagic Design people to see why this is a problem. We will have an update for you soon."

Ken

 

[KMoffett]

Another update from Mecsoft Support on the VisualCAM for Geomagic forum:

As an update, this problem has been resolved in the pre-release Geomagic Design 2015. Consequently our VisualCAM 2015 for GD will not have this issue.

So much for the $400 worth of annual maintenance. With no patch,I just paid for the privilege of troubleshooting their program.

Ken

 

[KMoffett]

Running GM Design 17 and VCAM for GM 15
Still not fixed. Reply in Mecsoft Forum:
"We had verified this issue as fixed during testing phase but now shows up in the release build. This looks like an API issue in Geomagic Design and we have notified our development team.
We also notify our forum administrator to see if upload of .ad_prt file extensions can be supported.

Ken

 

[KMoffett]

Well I just updated to Geomagic Design 2015.0.1/32 bit.They stated that this will be 3DS's last update for 32 Bit versions. I'm running Visual Mill for Geomagic Design 5.0.0.1.
And...it still won't generate the correct tool path for a simple cone from a rotated triangle in GM Design.

Back in April, Mecsoft support stated: "We had verified this issue as fixed during testing phase but now shows up in the release build. This looks like an API issue in Geomagic Design and we have notified our development team."

So, I guess this is just finger pointing between Mecsoft and 3D Systems. And I'm pay for support to both. :cry:

Ken

 

[KMoffett]

Just installed the new version 5.0.0.3. (with Geomagic Design Version:[ 2015.0.1 ] 32-bit) the problem appears to have been resolved. The Regeneration and Simulation work.

Ken