STEP-NC Machine Change History

Changes in release 8.29 (2010-03-05)

• Extended Feed/Speed editing pane to operate on Selectives.

• Forced refresh in the machining time estimates popups after calling the Optimize Feeds operation.

• Lists of tools, features and tolerances in the model tab now include items in selectives.

• Lists of tools, features and tolerances in the model tab only include those in the currently active executables.

Changes in release 8.28 (2010-03-03)

• Added "Haas Mini Mill 3-axis" to the available machine tool models.

Changes in release 8.27 (2010-03-02)

• Relaxed restriction on "Optimize feeds ..." so that it is available on workplans, selectives, and workingsteps.

• Fixed refresh issue after optimizing feeds.

Changes in release 8.26 (2010-02-22)

• Restored display of workpiece color information.

• Added "Optimize feeds ..." option to the workingstep context menu. This adjusts the override curve on toolpaths to an improved feedrate computed using constant chip calculations in the radial direction. You can also specify a maximum feedrate that should not be exceeded.

• Reorganized the various import operations on the workingstep context menu into a new "Import" submenu. This includes "Import Workpieces from STRL", "Import Workingstep from STRL", "Import Cross Section Data", "Replace Workingstep Paths", and the "Replace Workingstep" from MAX5 options.

Changes in release 8.25 (2010-02-16)

• Internal changes to "Read Cross Section Data" handling.

• Fixed handling of cross-section "name" parameter so that it stays in sync with the rest of the values.

• Added "Apply Setup Transforms" checkbox to the tool position window to show coordinates with setup transformations or the raw values in the toolpaths.

Changes in release 8.24 (2010-02-12)

• Simplified Cross Section Parameter display and clarified the parameter descriptions.

Changes in release 8.23 (2010-02-06)

• Internal changes to "Read Cross Section Data" handling.

Changes in release 8.22 (2010-02-05)

• Fixed issue with time and distance computation on workplans.

• Added "Read Cross Section Data" option to context menu on the workplans tab.

Changes in release 8.21 (2010-02-01)

• Fixed slowness when checking/unchecking workingsteps. Also fixed a problem when double-clicking on checkboxes (a .NET issue was causing the checkbox to not reflect the actual checked state)

• When the mouse is places over tools on the tools tab, a popup window indicates the total machining time and distance for that tool.

Changes in release 8.20 (2010-01-29)

• Using the checkboxes to choose elements of selectives now behaves like radio buttons. Only one is checked at a time.

• Adjusted the disabled color for grayed out list items in the tool display.

Changes in release 8.19 (2010-01-21)

• When workingsteps are disabled on the workplan tab, they are now displayed in a grayed out font on the tool tab.

• Removed the version number from the install directory name so that shortcuts pinned to the start menu or taskbar are not broken every time an updated version is installed. Also removed version number from the STEP-NC Machine start menu shortcut for the same reason.

Changes in release 8.18 (2010-01-15)

• Enhanced processing of Selectives so that the following operations that can apply to selective or workplan also work for selective
  • Insert Workingstep
  • Insert NC function
  • Insert Workplan
  • Move Executable
  • Plan Surface Probing

Changes in release 8.17 (2010-01-11)

• Added an "Import Workingstep from STRL" entry to the pop up menu on the workplans tab.

Changes in release 8.16 (2010-01-11)

• internal release

Changes in release 8.15 (2009-12-15)

• Copy STRL to Clipboard now works properly when selecting a workingstep with no toolpaths.

• Restore of position between files now works properly when the project contains workingsteps without toolpaths.

• Go To STRL text box in the toolbar is now active. Entering an STRL in this text box will open it.

• Added an "Insert Workingstep" entry to the edit menu on the workplans tab.

• Added an "Import Workpiece from STRL" entry to the pop up menu on the workplans tab.

• [Bug 503] Fixed ReadCatiaAptFile regression.

Changes in release 8.14 (2009-12-14)

• internal release

Changes in release 8.13 (2009-12-10)

• Added File | Copy STRL to Clipboard option to save the current tool position on the clipboard as STRL text.

• In the Motion | Adjust Mounting Position dialog, removed the maximum and minimum limits on the position spinners because these were not being initialized properly when rotational axes were involved.

• Fixed missing tool display when following an STRL or switching between designs using the Fwd/Back buttons.

• [Bug 493] Fixed NULL pointer crash getting cross section params.

Changes in release 8.12 (2009-12-09)

• internal release

Changes in release 8.11 (2009-12-07)

• Updated machine simulator to support tool changers. When the tool is changed, the machine is moved to the changer location, switches the tool, and returns to the workpiece. The tool changer location is part of the machine definition. Similarly, the tool is withdrawn from the workpiece before the setup change is animated.

Changes in release 8.10 (2009-12-04)

• Initial support for tool change animation.

Changes in release 8.9 (2009-12-02)

• Added initial support for STRL links within workplans. Workingsteps that contain STRLs are now displayed as links. Using the "Follow STRL Link" command on the popup menu will go to the STEP-NC file and position given by the STRL. Manual editing of the STRL can also be done using the Edit STRL option on the popup menu.

Changes in release 8.8 (2009-12-01)

• Now saving and restoring the workplan location when using the forward and back arrows to move between STEP-NC Files.

Changes in release 8.7 (2009-12-01)

• internal release

Changes in release 8.6 (2009-11-23)

• Added a navigation toolbar that allows moving back and forth between multiple files open in memory.

Changes in release 8.5 (2009-11-16)

• Corrected a graphics update issue when restoring a saved tool position.

Changes in release 8.4 (2009-11-16)

• Added a Save as STRL option now saves and restores the toolpath parameterized position properly. Previously, the parameter was calculated for the entire workingstep rather than the toolpath.

Changes in release 8.3 (2009-11-11)

• Added a Save as STRL option for saving the execution position as part of the file.

• When reading a file with an STRL, the explorer will now go to the workingstep and tool position given by the STRL.

• Object IDs are no longer shown with the Workingstep names in the workplans tree.

Changes in release 8.2 (2009-11-11)

• internal release

Changes in release 8.1 (2009-11-05)

• Fixed issue in the new facetting where parts of faces with many holes were missing.

Changes in release 8.0 (2009-11-02)

• Complete redesign of the code which facets STEP surfaces for the 3D display, which should result in better graphics and performance, as well as watertight facetted geometry for use in simulation.

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Changes in release 7.40 (2009-09-24)

• Added "View | Workingstep Parameters" pane listing any higher level process parameters given for each workingstep. Currently covers tapping, multistep drilling, drilling, reaming, and boring as well as bottom, side, and freeform milling operations.

Changes in release 7.39 (2009-09-21)

• Added a "Replace Workingstep Paths" option to the pop-up menu on workingsteps. This will replace the toolpaths on the workingstep with ones from a workingstep with the same name in the specified file.

• The position window now displays units for the axis position, feedrate, and spindle values.

Changes in release 7.38 (2009-09-18)

• The tooltip windows in the workplan tree with time estimates for workplans and workingsteps are now updated when items are enabled and disabled, or when feedrates are changed.

• The main window now saves and restores the position of the split between the tree window and the geometry window between runs. It resets to the default split if the value gets unreasonable.

• Tool identifiers and tool numbers are now displayed separately on the tool tab. Both may be edited.

• Corrected an infinite loop when selecting tools with a tolerance on the tool tab.

• Added methods to the DLL cursor class for setting tool override.

Changes in release 7.37 (2009-09-16)

• Corrected handling of Selectives in the visualization code so that toolpaths now display properly.

• Corrected initialization bug that was sometime preventing datums and tolerances from being displayed. Also changed face hilighting on the Part Properties pane so that only datum faces are shown when a datum is picked in the tree.

• Improved handling of workpiece display when looking at the Features tab. Now shows the to-be shape of the first associated workingstep.

Changes in release 7.36 (2009-09-15)

• Added support for Selective program elements. Generates code for the first enabled workingstep it happens to find.

• Corrected an issue with APT CL read of arcs in millimeters that was causing false errors.

Changes in release 7.35 (2009-09-14)

• Setting the As-Is or To-Be shapes on a workingstep does not modify the previous or next one if they already have shapes. Otherwise for simplicity, setting the as-is will also set the previous to-be, and setting the to-be will also set the following as-is shape.

• Added "To Selective"/"To Workplan" conversion options to the pop up menu on the machining program.

Changes in release 7.34 (2009-09-11)

• Change in the handling of default units when creating tolerances.

Changes in release 7.33 (2009-09-11)

• Code export now uses the digits of precision rather than a fixed epsilon to detect and suppress repeated coordinates on Fanuc, Siemens, Haas, Okuma, Heidenhain, and MDSI.

• Fanuc and Haas output now explicitly declare units using G20/G21

• Added support for Siemens G700/G710 unit declarations.

Changes in release 7.32 (2009-09-10)

• Corrected issue with workplan setup placement that was resulting in an error message "Could not find workpiece for setup"

• Improved tool axis interpolation in the graphics display animation to use Z axis as axis of rotation where possible when and we have a 180 degree rotation of the tool axis.

Changes in release 7.31 (2009-09-09)

• Corrected problem saving workingstep names containg quotes. Double quote appearing in XML attributes were not properly escaped, causing problems when read back in.

• Corrected gcode output of arc moves when a setup transformation is present. In all output styles, transformations were not applied properly to the Z axis of trimmed circles, and when outputting MDSI style lathe code they were being applied when they should not have been to the tool axis direction.

• Extended Siemens output for G2/G3 to emit A3/B3/C3 axis directions to specify the plane of the circle when not in the XY plane.

Changes in release 7.30 (2009-09-08)

• Transparency is now handled correctly when a workpiece is shared as the as-is and to-be shape of two different workingsteps.

• Corrected an error in the display of as-is/to-be shapes that could mistakenly hide a workpiece to when switching between steps if it is the as-is of one workingstep and the to-be in another.

• Extended DLL api with four new functions to the Cursor so that you can change the feed of every toolpath in a workingstep that uses the same technology and/or every toolpath in a project. Same for speed.

Changes in release 7.29 (2009-09-04)

• Improved the display of datums when multiple workpiece models are present. Datums are now shown on any as-is or to-be workpiece as well as on the Part Properties, and the show/hide checkboxes match the datums on the workpieces being shown.

• The enable/disable workingstep checkboxes on the "Workplans" tab are now initialized properly when reading a new file or inserting NC functions or other elements into the workplan.

• Enhanced workpiece import to more accurately determine a unit (English or Metric) for the imported part.

Changes in release 7.28 (2009-09-03)

• The graphics display now animates the tool movement when switching between workingsteps, including setup changes.

• Fixed the "Setup | Workpiece Properties" command under to work with MasterCAM block data.

Changes in release 7.27 (2009-09-02)

• In the code generation, transformations were applied in the wrong order when a setup placement on a workplan and a toolpath placement on a workingstep were both present in the data. The code was applying the toolpath transform to the setup one, rather than the other way around. This affected the Boxy data and should now be corrected.

• Fixed case where we were not transforming the toolaxis when the toolpath did not provide an axis curve, was just passing through the default 0,0,1 axis untransformed.

• Added "Program Comments" box to the CNC export dialog giving the ability to control the level of commenting in the output, with options for workingsteps, toolpaths, even points.

• Make Datum now clears the selection when the dialog is first brought up to avoid adding unintended faces to the datum, and also clears it after creating the datum so that the face color can be seen. Made similar changes to Make Surface Tolerance.

Changes in release 7.26 (2009-08-26)

• Added a new line on the tool tab to display the workpiece shape associated with each tool.

• Added ability to import and export tool shapes from the pop-up menu on the tool tab. Now shows an overwrite confirmation when importing on top of an existing tool shape. Also checked for exporting a tool shape when one does not exist.

• Changed the handling of setups to use the setup origin rather than a workpiece placement to specify the global machine transform.

• First attempts at applying setup transform during CNC code export.

Changes in release 7.25 (2009-08-26)

• Internal development checkpoint

Changes in release 7.24 (2009-08-21)

• The Feed/Speed window now shows feed per tooth when displaying all of the feeds for a workingstep or individual tool.

• Dialog prompting whether to save your changes now gives the option to cancel whatever action prompted the dialog (application close, open a new file, etc)

Changes in release 7.23 (2009-08-20)

• Toolbar on the workplans tab controls editing operations. A lock unlock button enables or disables editing. A second button turns the checkboxes on or off for selecting workingsteps.

• The Edit menu on the toolbar allows new worplans or NC functions to be added to the program and provides another way to edit the setup location.

• Program can be reordered by dragging and dropping workingsteps into their new location. Items can be moved up or down or deleted using buttons on the toolbar. See the docs for a full description at:
  • http://www.steptools.com/support/stepnc_docs/

• Improved behavior of "Import | Tool Shape" so that the tool to import the shape for is found by looking at the currently selected workingstep, or the tool selected on the tool properties page.

• Fixed problem where tools were not displaying after CL import. Also corrected geometry refresh problem after workpieces import.

• Improvements to numerous icons throughout the application.

Changes in release 7.22 (2009-08-19)

• Internal development checkpoint

Changes in release 7.21 (2009-08-18)

• Internal development checkpoint

Changes in release 7.20 (2009-08-17)

• Internal development checkpoint

Changes in release 7.19 (2009-08-12)

• Fixed another problem with the AnegC tool kinematics.

Changes in release 7.18 (2009-08-11)

• Fixed problem with the A-C tool kinematics that shows up when simulating the Boxy part.

Changes in release 7.17 (2009-08-11)

• Corrected crash at startup when restoring the Feed/Speed pane.

• Added an "Edit Setup Placement" option to the right-click context menu for workplans. This will add, remove, or modify the setup placement on any workplan.

Changes in release 7.16 (2009-08-10)

• Added different icon in the machine program tab to indicate workplans that have a setup associated with them.

• Corrected problem editing the project name on the program tab.

Changes in release 7.15 (2009-07-31)

• Corrected a crash when displaying feeds and speeds for nested workplans and some initialization problems could cause the Feed window to come up blank.

Changes in release 7.14 (2009-07-31)

• Corrected some problems that occurred up when the Feed window was toggled between shown and hidden. The feed window is now restored to the last known shown/hidden state on startup.

Changes in release 7.13 (2009-07-30)

• Feeds and Speeds can now be viewed and edited. Click on the "Feeds" toolbar button or select "View | Feeds and Speeds" to bring up the feed window. Using a dropdown menu at the top of the pane, you can see the feeds/speeds used by a particular tool, workingstep, or workplan. Values can be edited for the entire program or changes can be scoped to a particular tool or workingstep. We have also added a how-to article explaining feed speed editing at:
  • http://www.steptools.com/support/stepnc_docs/

• Changed the comments at program start for all known styles that support comments so that they include the STEP-NC source filename before the timestamp.

• Errors when saving, such as a write protected file, are now being properly reported to the user.

• The size of tool windows is restored between sessions when they are made smaller than original size. Previously, size was only restored when they were larger. Default sizes are still restored if the window is shrunk below 25% of the preferred size.

Changes in release 7.12 (2009-07-29)

• Internal development checkpoint

Changes in release 7.11 (2009-07-27)

• Internal development checkpoint

Changes in release 7.10 (2009-07-16)

• Added Speed and Feed overview window to examine all speeds and feeds used by a program, highlight workingsteps that use them, and display toolpaths which use them.

• Added alternative Trunnion AC machine model that prefers to tilt the table in the negative A direction rather than the positive A.

• Added limited support for workplan setups.

• Corrected name editing in the workingstep tree so that it no longer includes the object ID in the initial text.

Changes in release 7.9 (2009-07-15)

• Internal development checkpoint

Changes in release 7.8 (2009-07-15)

• Internal development checkpoint

Changes in release 7.7 (2009-07-13)

• Fixed issue where the nudge increment for Adjust Mounting Location would end up as zero. The Trunion AC table is in meters, so nudges were a fraction of a meter and we were rounding to integer values.

Changes in release 7.6 (2009-07-10)

• Added ability to change the location of the workpiece on a machine tool model during simulation. The Adjust Mounting Location dialog on the Motion toolbar menu provides X, Y, and Z controls to shift the part from the center table default location. Values are in the units of the machine tool model.

Changes in release 7.5 (2009-07-02)

• Added Setup | Custom Tool Settings dialog so that users can specify flute counts or machine maximums that differ from the nominal values in the STEP-NC data. This information is only kept for the session and will be used to adjust feeds for different machine or tools.

• Added "Adjust feed based on actual tools" option to the CNC export dialog. This scales the feed to maintain constant chip load if the actual tool flute count difers from the planned one. The ".cnclog" file notes where and why each individual feed has been scaled.

Changes in release 7.4 (2009-06-29)

• Corrected user interface bug with Machine Parameters that was swapping the spindle feed and spindle power values.

Changes in release 7.3 (2009-06-29)

• Changed the handling of facetting and rendering of tools and workpieces to avoid partial draws during machining animation playback while still remaining responsive to user input.

• Added an advisory message when changing the default unit.

• Updated Setup | Machine Parameter so that the expected units are displayed even if no values were previously set.

Changes in release 7.2 (2009-06-27)

• Added flute count to the parameters on the tool pane. Nominal values can now be edited via a right click popup for flute count, diameter, length and radius.

• Added Setup | Machine Parameter to set the expected machine capabilities for the program (Max fees, spindle, power, etc)

Changes in release 7.1 (2009-06-15)

• Modified the handling of datum colors so they do not conflict with the selected face color.

• The annotations on/off checkbox now controls tool annotations as well, simplified handling internally so that it is controlled by a separate scenegraph attribute.

Changes in release 7.0 (2009-06-12)

• Reworked license key handling so that machining partners can use a read-only free download version of the application to view STEP-NC data sets, simulate, and do basic CNC export. New data sets can be created in memory, but only development partners with an STEP-NC Machine license key can save them, use custom CNC interfaces, or other advanced operations.

• Changed main form initialization so that palettes are no longer restored before the main window is up. Previously they would appear while the splash screen was still present.

• Added Help | Latest News and Updates to link back to the website.

• Swapped the order of the origin and target parameters when calling the Align Workpieces by Datum or Face operations.

• Tools are now shown using the color information provided by the STEP file, rather than overriding it with the default gold.

• Fixed the "center on tool" operation so that it now works in all motion modes rather than just the virutal gantry.

• Added support for assembly data where the shape_rep_relation does not directly reference the two shape_reps of the NAUOs product definition. Instead there is another shape_rep_relationship between the two. This occurred in Alibre/Airbus data.

• Added initial simulator support to allow the workpiece to be moved around the table.

• Revised the placement dialog so that it is now resizable, which should make things clearer when dealing with long numbers. Also made the logic robust if called for a nonexistant workpiece, rawpiece, or fixture.

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Changes in release 6.25 (2009-06-01)

• Fixed problem where general points were turning to the default color.

• Updated drawing of machine simulator to insure the WP is drawn first, then the tool, then the machine.

• Corrected problem with buffer switching where the clip region was getting retained when it should not have been.

• Fixed bounding boxes initialization/validation bug that was preventing AP238 models w/o workpieces from displaying.

• Graphics display now stays responsive during faceting operations. In this mode, an hourglass cursor is displayed, double buffering is disabled, the Windows message queue is periodically processed.

Changes in release 6.24 (2009-05-15)

• Extra display points (geometric sets) are now turned on or off with the rest of the annotation display.

• Improved preservation of view state when flipping between simulation models and the product panes.

• Fixed reload issues that was causing a crash when a workpiece was deleted.

• Made the toolpath color assignment deterministic. Also, eliminated grey as a choice for toolpaths.

Changes in release 6.23 (2009-05-12)

• Fixed regression in graphics panning behavior.

Changes in release 6.22 (2009-05-11)

• Added toolpath picking notification.

Changes in release 6.21 (2009-05-08)

• Added block number upper limit capability to wrap sequence numbers that exceed an upper value, such as N99999 for Okuma.

• Added support for Okuma output using O238 and OTCG macros for the program start and cleanup as well as tool changes.

• Internal improvements to facetting.

Changes in release 6.20 (2009-05-05)

• Added override to turn annotation display on and off.

• Internal improvements to facetting and interference checking.

Changes in release 6.19 (2009-05-01)

• Annotations are now displayed with presentation colors if given.

• When replacing a workpiece, any transform applied to the old one is added to the new one.

• Added option on the popup menu for workplans to go through all workingsteps and associate with the closest faces. The feature tab is also now refreshed properly after adding faces to a workingstep.

Changes in release 6.18 (2009-04-28)

• Initial implementation of interference checking for the machine simulator. Enable and disable using the "Collision" toolbar button. A machine tool model must be in use or else it is ignored.

• Improved shell integration so that double clicking on a stepnc file will now launch STEP-NC Machine.

• Added a "Browse Simple" option to the p28view utility that disables usedin information, popup display of attributes, highlighting of the current object, and other Javascript features for better browser performance on large files.

• Changed p28view so it no longer self-registers its file type in HKEY_CURRENT_USER every run because this causes problems with outdated paths shadowing the proper paths in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. Updated the installer to clear those old paths, so things should work better for anyone who was experiencing that problem.

• Fixed graphics regression where tool movement was out of sync with the machine simulation.

Changes in release 6.17 (2009-04-21)

• Extended geometry display of workpieces and machine tool models to show the presentation information found in the underlying STEP data.

Changes in release 6.16 (2009-04-14)

• Added G90 and clear work offset to Okuma startup. Added G56 tool offset in Z to Okuma tool changes.

Changes in release 6.15 (2009-04-10)

• General Point Sets are now displayed on their associated product geometry. Datum targets are also now displayed with both Workplan and Part Property tabs.

• Extended Okuma CNC output to use G15 to specify work offset and G20/G21 to describe whether inch/mm units are used.

• Extended CNC output for all machines with a descriptive comment before each tool change listing the tool parameters in the STEP-NC data (length, diameter, etc).

• Added Setup | Placement | Align by faces option to move workpieces around by selecting two sets of three faces to align.

• Added Setup | Placement | Align by datums option to move workpieces around by selecting two sets of three datums to align.

• Added Drag And Drop reordering to the face selection lists.

• Updated toolbars and the main window menu strip to support "click through" when the window does not have focus. Previously, a toolbar button or menu needed two clicks, once to give focus to the owning window and a second time to activate the button/menu.

Changes in release 6.14 (2009-04-07)

• The add/remove face and datum creation dialogs no longer lose focus when selecting geometry in the view window. Added a toolbar to both dialogs to simplify moving between pick and rotate/pan modes.

• Updated the Define Surface Texture and Define Tolerance Dialogs with the improved interface for selecting faces, and reworked to create with multiple faces rather than having to add faces afterwards. Added a toolbar to simplify moving between pick and rotate/pan.

• Set target cpu type of the .NET assembly to be x86 to force the COM components to be run on WOW64 on XP 64. Otherwise, COM can not find the registration for the factory and throws error 80040154. Likely also the case for Vista 64.

Changes in release 6.13 (2009-04-03)

• Improved the add/remove face user interface so that deletion is clearer and selecting faces in the geometry viewer is reflected in the list. Also reorganized the code so this interface can be used elsewhere, such as in tolerance/datum creation.

• Reworked Add Datum interface to allow datums with multiple faces to be created rather than having to add faces afterwards. Now supports datums with labels other than ABC.

• The workpiece properties dialog now displays and sets material for both the workpiece and rawpiece.

Changes in release 6.12 (2009-03-25)

• Improvements to handling datums. Datum deletion now works properly. When creating datums, least material condition is now supported. On the part property pane, selecting a datum or datum target will now switch the geometry display to the relevant part.

• Corrects geometry refresh issue.

Changes in release 6.11 (2009-03-20)

• Fixed inadvertant removal of AP203e2 dimension and presentation information when importing workpieces.

Changes in release 6.10 (2009-03-20)

• Datums and datum targets are now displayed on the Part Properties tab along with the tolerances for each workpiece. Faces can be added or removed using the context menu. Deleting datums using the context menu is enabled but does not work correctly at the moment

• Presentation and drafting annotations are now properly categorized into application objects and saved in the STEP-NC file.

• Toolpath rendering is now deferred until first access which will improve load speed.

• Bounding boxes now reset when switching between machine models.

• Corrected issues with tools disappearing when switching back and forth between the parts property tab.

• The facetting tolerances are now adjusted for better quality on small parts without slowing larger parts.

Changes in release 6.9 (2009-03-12)

• Faceting of STEP models is now done the first time they are drawn rather than at load time. This should result in faster load times in files with many different models, but occasional pauses when showing new models.

• Fixed issue where tool was sometimes rendered far too high a resolution resulting in slow behavior.

• Fixed issue where moving parts of machine tool models were unpickable.

• Fixed crash when processing (illegal) toolpath curves consisting of a single point.

Changes in release 6.8 (2009-03-10)

• Various internal changes stemming from a scene graph reorganization and changes in the color/transparency state handling.

• Corrected odd message overflow in the status line when canceling the face/edge/part selection.

Changes in release 6.7 (2009-03-09)

• Added support for tool reference direction added by the AP238 technical corrigendum. The geometric display will orient the tool properly. The GoToXYZ_IJK_REF_ABC() function has been added to the DLL API to create this type of data.

• Inproved geometry display of trimmed b-spline curves and made the ellipse processing more tolerant of marginal data.

• Corrected exception at startup time if the machine model directory was not present.

• Many context and other data creation fixes prompted by external testing as well as internal testing with ap238check. Updated the cross section area parameters use a 7D geometric representation context instead of a generic one. Changed the CUTTER CONTACT and CUTTER LOCATION TRAJECTORY surface_normal to use unitless 3D context like the tool axis instead of units.

• Changed the following properties to use a geometric unit context:
  • ANGULAR_LOCATION_DIMENSION.orientation
  • APPROACH_LIFT_PATH.fix_point
  • APPROACH_LIFT_PATH.fix_point_dir
  • APPROACH_RETRACT_STRATEGY.tool_orientation
  • AXIS_TRAJECTORY.commands
  • BIDIRECTIONAL.feed_direction
  • BIDIRECTIONAL_CONTOUR.feed_direction
  • BIDIRECTIONAL_TURNING.feed_direction
  • BIDIRECTIONAL_TURNING.stepover_direction
  • BORING_OPERATION.waiting_position
  • CONNECT_SECPLANE.down_dir
  • CONNECT_SECPLANE.up_dir
  • CONTOUR_BIDIRECTIONAL.feed_direction
  • CONTOUR_TURNING.back_path_direction
  • CONTOUR_TURNING.feed_direction
  • CONTOUR_TURNING.lift_direction
  • CONTOUR_TURNING.stepover_direction
  • GROOVING_STRATEGY.grooving_direction
  • LEADING_LINE_STRATEGY.its_line
  • LINEAR_DISTANCE_DIMENSION.orientation
  • LINE_PROFILE_TOLERANCE.affected_plane
  • MACHINING_OPERATION.start_point
  • MACHINING_WORKINGSTEP.toolpath_orientation
  • MILLING_MACHINE_FUNCTIONS.oriented_spindle_stop
  • PARALLELISM_TOLERANCE.affected_plane
  • PERPENDICULARITY_TOLERANCE.affected_plane
  • PLANE_CC_STRATEGY.its_plane_normal
  • PLANE_CL_STRATEGY.its_plane_normal
  • POSITION_TOLERANCE.affected_plane
  • STRAIGHTNESS_TOLERANCE.affected_plane
  • SYMMETRY_TOLERANCE.affected_plane
  • TOOL_PROBING.offset
  • TURNING_MACHINE_FUNCTIONS.oriented_spindle_stop
  • UNIDIRECTIONAL.feed_direction
  • UNIDIRECTIONAL_TURNING.back_path_direction
  • UNIDIRECTIONAL_TURNING.feed_direction
  • UNIDIRECTIONAL_TURNING.lift_direction
  • UNIDIRECTIONAL_TURNING.stepover_direction
  • UV_STRATEGY.forward_direction
  • UV_STRATEGY.sideward_direction

• Changed the following symbolic properties so the descriptive rep items are now treated as constants and reused:
  • BIDIRECTIONAL.its_stroke_connection_strategy
  • BIDIRECTIONAL.stepover_direction
  • BIDIRECTIONAL_CONTOUR.rotation_direction
  • BIDIRECTIONAL_CONTOUR.spiral_cutmode
  • BIDIRECTIONAL_CONTOUR.stepover_direction
  • BORING_OPERATION.spindle_stop_at_bottom
  • CONTOUR_BIDIRECTIONAL.rotation_direction
  • CONTOUR_BIDIRECTIONAL.spiral_cutmode
  • CONTOUR_BIDIRECTIONAL.stepover_direction
  • CONTOUR_PARALLEL.cutmode
  • CONTOUR_PARALLEL.rotation_direction
  • CONTOUR_SPIRAL.cutmode
  • CONTOUR_SPIRAL.rotation_direction
  • CUTTER_CONTACT_TRAJECTORY.its_contact_type
  • FREEFORM_STRATEGY.cutmode
  • FREEFORM_STRATEGY.pathmode
  • MACHINE_PARAMETERS.table_indexing
  • MILLING_MACHINE_FUNCTIONS.mist
  • MILLING_TECHNOLOGY.inhibit_feedrate_override
  • MILLING_TECHNOLOGY.inhibit_spindle_override
  • MILLING_TECHNOLOGY.synchronize_spindle_with_feed
  • TAPPING.compensation_chuck
  • TECHNOLOGY.feedrate_reference
  • THREAD_DRILLING.helical_movement_on_forward
  • THREAD_STRATEGY.cut_in_amount_function
  • TRAJECTORY.its_direction
  • TURNING_MACHINE_FUNCTIONS.chip_removal
  • TURNING_MACHINE_FUNCTIONS.coolant
  • TURNING_MACHINE_FUNCTIONS.coolant_type
  • TURNING_MACHINE_FUNCTIONS.follow_rest
  • TURNING_MACHINE_FUNCTIONS.steady_rest
  • TURNING_MACHINE_FUNCTIONS.tail_stock
  • TURNING_MACHINING_STRATEGY.allow_multiple_passes
  • TURNING_TECHNOLOGY.inhibit_feedrate_override
  • TURNING_TECHNOLOGY.inhibit_spindle_override
  • TURNING_TECHNOLOGY.sync_spindle_and_z_feed
  • TWO5D_MILLING_STRATEGY.allow_multiple_passes
  • UNIDIRECTIONAL.cutmode

Changes in release 6.6 (2009-03-02)

• Fixes the units issue for workingstep planes, and setup origins.

• Makes sure a default toolpath feature is defined for workingsteps finished by a change in spindle speed.

Changes in release 6.5 (2009-02-26)

• Fixed crash when writing entity instances with no attributes, such as the empty COLOUR() entities used in some presentation info.

• Corrected unexpected exit when trying to read a completely empty (zero byte) file.

Changes in release 6.4 (2009-02-19)

• Performance improvements when saving large files.

Changes in release 6.3 (2009-02-16)

• The Hide Selected and Transparent Selected options can now be used to control parts of the machine tool models.

• Machining times in the tooltip popups are now reported in the most appropriate unit based on their size (days, hours, minutes, or secs) rather than always in seconds.

• Renamed machine-model.xml to trunnion.xml

• Status messages from the geometry control are now displayed.

Changes in release 6.2 (2009-02-13)

• Added movie capture. Use the movie menu in the lower corner of the main window to capture either live movies or tool motion animations. Tool motion animation capture a frame after each move in workingstep playback, while live mode captures multiple frames per second.

• The executable now accepts a filename on the command line.

• Now includes machine model for Northwood BC Gantry Router, as well as DMU nutating BC machine, and a trunnion AC table machine.

• The overall tool length for tools may now be changed on the tools tab by right-clicking on the length and selecting "Edit Overall Tool Length" from the pop-up menu.

• Now building executable with /NXCOMPAT:NO to avoid issues running ActiveX controls on Vista. This will prevent an error of the form "Windowless ActiveX controls are not supported" during startup on Vista machines as well as XP machines with DEP enabled.

Changes in release 6.1 (2009-02-05)

• Changed helix output for siemens controls so that the center coordinates are tagged as absolute values.

Changes in release 6.0 (2009-02-03)

• Implemented nutating BC machine support, multiple machine simulations, and the ability to switch between them.

• Added initial support for AP203e2 drawing annotations.

• Improved facetting of geometry.

• Changed handling of show/hide and transparent options on pop-up menu to support geometry from different files (for machine models).

• Now requires an STEP-NC Machine v6 license key.

---

Changes in release 5.56 (2009-01-02)

• Corrects problem switching to the machine model. Candidate for STEP-NC Machine 6.0 release

Changes in release 5.55 (2008-12-31)

• Interim release for debugging machine mode. Exits in the DLL when switching to the machine model.

• Updates to include machine tool model and simulation. Only one model is currently used, located in the install directory under the "machines" subdirectory.

Changes in release 5.54 (2008-12-22)

• Updated DLL to improve experimental depth estimation function.

Changes in release 5.53 (2008-12-19)

• Added experimental depth estimation function to the popup menu on workplans in the part properties tab.

Changes in release 5.52 (2008-12-12)

• Fixed divide by zero in time calculations for empty workplan.

• Refresh geometry view window when deleting a workplan and reworked other refresh events.

• Other geometry fixes.

Changes in release 5.51 (2008-12-04)

• All workpieces should now be viewable on the part properties tab, and the workpiece and toolpath display should switch properly when moving between tabs.

• Reworked internal change notification so that value changes should be more quickly and consistently reflected between the tab panes. Corrected numerous cases where changes would not propogate, such as the changed name of a workingstep not showing up on the tools tab.

Changes in release 5.50 (2008-11-26)

• Extended popup menu on the part properties pane to delete workpieces and tolerances.

• The root element of the workplans pane is now the Project rather than the main workplan. Also changed the icon used for the project.

• Removed the "Workplan Toolpaths" entry from the View menu because it was no longer being used.

Changes in release 5.49 (2008-11-24)

• Added Motion toolbar menu to control the tool and part motion during toolpath playback.

• NC Function display state now saved properly between runs.

• Changed AS-IS and TO-BE checkboxes to "Raw" and Finished"

Changes in release 5.48 (2008-11-21)

• Replaced use of GetAllFaces with GetStatusFaces

• Internal geometry fixes.

Changes in release 5.47 (2008-11-17)

• Added Tool Contact pane which examines the simulation data and flags when the tool comes in contact with the part.

Changes in release 5.46 (2008-11-10)

• DLL update to correct assembly placement problems.

Changes in release 5.45 (2008-11-07)

• Changed default unit code to make sure that it saves the current state in the registry.

• Added export as CC1 menu option.

• Part Properties pane now displays the workpieces in the file by themselves. The tool workpieces do not turn on at the moment but all others show fine.

Changes in release 5.44 (2008-11-03)

• Merged the AS-IS/Stock and TO-BE/Part checkboxes and updated the logic to better handle the changing parts.

• Part Properties tab now includes all workpieces in the tab. The main workpiece and rawpiece are shown first, then all other pieces, fixtures and tools are shown in subcategories.

Changes in release 5.43 (2008-10-21)

• Many graphics improvements (bounding box for trimmed ellipses, support for poly_loop trim curves, non advanced_face faces, trimmed NURBS as trim curves, quasi_uniform_surface NURBS surfaces, surface_curve, shapes w/o associated product_definitions)

Changes in release 5.42 (2008-09-29)

• Tolerance values now displayed with units and more managable precision. Now updated when current values are changed on the probing pane.

• Corrected popup display of optimized times in the workplan window.

• Improved performance on display of probing (and other) workingsteps by deferring update of non-visible feature, tolerance, tool, and probing tabs.

Changes in release 5.41 (2008-09-26)

• Changed import/export filename conventions for the probing results.

• The toolpath display for workplans now includes all nested workingsteps and shows/hides enabled or disabled workingsteps.

Changes in release 5.40 (2008-09-26)

• Reworked probing menu with options to export initial data and then import and export result data. Another option controls the units assumed for the data.

• Added ability to replace a workingstep using MAX5 APT data. Use the popup menu on the executable tree.

Changes in release 5.39 (2008-09-25)

• Added ability to enable/disable workingsteps for export. Use the popup menu on the executable tree to turn on the checkboxes and then select or unselect as needed.

• Added ability to force the use of base feeds (instead of optimized speed curves) by workingsteps during export. Use the popup menu on the executable tree to select or unselect as needed.

• Changes to boeing-fanuc style to force IJK components.

• Added a siemens-traori style to handle Siemens TCP control by calling TRAORI(1) directly without any of the WSMODEON/OFF macros.

Changes in release 5.38 (2008-09-23)

• Added support for Custom code export styles in the export dialog.

Changes in release 5.37 (2008-09-22)

• Datum targets are now refreshed correctly when updating geometry.

• Small improvement to tool pane reload times.

• Corrected issue with highlit text for probe results. Also updated the probing pane with an "Evaluate" button that computes the state of any associated tolerances.

• Turning parts on and off now toggles the entire product, which means that setup placements are handled better.

Changes in release 5.36 (2008-09-12)

• Added toolbar buttons to display the standard views for top/bottom, right/left, front/back, and isometric. The display can also switch between Othographic and Perspective display.

• Changed handling of C axis on Heiedenhain to eliminate sudden wraparound. The axis is no longer limited to -180 to +180, but moves the shortest distance, possibly winding up to multiple full revolutions.

Changes in release 5.35 (2008-09-10)

• Added visualization for setups.

Changes in release 5.34 (2008-09-08)

• Tool direction vectors are now properly transformed by the destination transform. Previously, only the tool location was being transformed.

• Configuration files extended for setups.

Changes in release 5.33 (2008-09-03)

• Added ability to make selected items in the graphics display transparent using the right-click popup menu.

• Corrected the handling of workingsteps with toolpath placements in the tool position window.

Changes in release 5.32 (2008-09-02)

• Added ability to hide selected items in the graphics display using the right-click popup menu on the graphics window. There is also a show all menu option that restores the hidden items.

• Added ability to temporarily color selected items in the graphics display using the right-click popup menu on the graphics window.

• Stock, as-is, to-be, and delta shapes are now displayed in transparency when shown together with the workpiece.

• Updates to CNC interface to handle workingsteps with placements to give a new origin for their toolpaths.

Changes in release 5.31 (2008-08-29)

• Corrected handling of datum on/off for datum targets

• Stock now displayed in transparency when shown together with the workpiece.

Changes in release 5.30 (2008-08-29)

• Intermediate checkpoint.

Changes in release 5.29 (2008-08-28)

• Improvements to the graphics engine for better visualization.

• Initial visualization support for datum targets.

Changes in release 5.28 (2008-08-26)

• Corrections to AS-IS, TO-BE, and Delta in-process geometry.

Changes in release 5.27 (2008-08-22)

• Added capability to import and display AS-IS, TO-BE, and Delta in-process geometry for workingsteps.

• Initial support for datums defined by targets.

• Many improvements to the graphics engine for better visualization.

Changes in release 5.26 (2008-07-29)

• DLL API changes and fixes.

Changes in release 5.25 (2008-07-22)

• Changed feature properties to use tolerance version of GetFeatureAll

• DLL API changes and fixes.

Changes in release 5.24 (2008-07-21)

• DLL API changes and fixes. Export workpiece updated to include a wp_id. ExportRawpiece and ExportFixture deleted. Tolerance algorithm for finding features updated to ignore toolpath features with no faces. Define datum function updated to fix bug.

Changes in release 5.23 (2008-07-18)

• Corrected some issues with import of APT 5-axis arcs.

• Updated import menu to make it clearer that the Catia, Pro/E and UG entries import APT from those systems.

Changes in release 5.22 (2008-07-17)

• DLL API changes to support as-is and to-be workpieces.

Changes in release 5.21 (2008-07-14)

• Improved face hilighting when selecting items on on the new feature tree tab.

• Corrected display of workingstep names after editing them on the workplan tree tab.

Changes in release 5.20 (2008-07-03)

• Added feature tree tab to the main window.

• Graphics improvements.

Changes in release 5.19 (2008-07-02)

• Added work offset support for the Fanuc and Haas outputs.

• Disabled the More/Less option on the G-code export dialog.

Changes in release 5.18 (2008-06-30)

• Refinements to Haas import and export.

• Graphics improvements.

Changes in release 5.17 (2008-06-27)

• Eliminated the configuration file.

Changes in release 5.16 (2008-06-25)

• On the "workplans" tab, the names of workingsteps, workplans, and the workpiece can now be changed using the right-click menu.

• Rendering improvements.

Changes in release 5.15 (2008-06-24)

• Corrected issues with deleting workplans.

• Internal DLL simplification.

Changes in release 5.14 (2008-06-24)

• Internal debugging release.

Changes in release 5.13 (2008-06-18)

• Internal graphics updates.

Changes in release 5.12 (2008-06-17)

• Extended the cross section parameters pane to show values calculated directly from the simulation data. The cross section pane now shows stored parameters, calculated original parameters, and calculated proposed TC parameters.

• Corrected issue when saving STEP-NC data as Part21 rather than XML.

Changes in release 5.11 (2008-06-13)

• Rendering improvements to reduce the gaps between facets, improve speed, and calculate the senses of patches correctly.

Changes in release 5.10 (2008-06-03)

• Internal graphics updates.

Changes in release 5.9 (2008-05-22)

• Changed tooltip display for operation time and distance so that it is initialized once rather than for every mouse event.

• Internal graphics updates.

Changes in release 5.8 (2008-05-15)

• Added total operation time and distance for operations and workplans to the setup sheet display as well as to pop-up tool tips on the exec list.

Changes in release 5.7 (2008-05-12)

• Added new export style for APT text output.

• Added new option to probing plan creation to control the use of the clearance plane between probing operations.

• Visualization improvements.

Changes in release 5.6 (2008-05-05)

• Internal API updates.

Changes in release 5.5 (2008-04-17)

• Internal API updates.

Changes in release 5.4 (2008-04-10)

• Internal API updates.

Changes in release 5.3 (2008-04-07)

• Internal API updates.

Changes in release 5.2 (2008-03-28)

• When creating tolerances, datums can now be given as a string rather than by using checkboxes.

• Added radial, height, width, length, thickness, angle, and curved size dimensions and also curved location dimensions to the list of creatable GD&T items.

Changes in release 5.1 (2008-03-24)

• Extended the Create Tolerance dialog to also handle concentricity, cylindricity, line profile, parallelism, roundness, straightness, and symmetry.

Changes in release 5.0 (2008-03-20)

• Internal tolerance improvements.

• Now requires an STEP-NC Machine v5 license key.

---

Changes in release 4.38 (2008-03-07)

• The Cross Section parameters pane now shows a bitmap image of the tool cross section contact area. This is only shown if simulation data is present.

Changes in release 4.37 (2008-03-06)

• Tool advice no longer a delta, now recommended final value.

• Corrected issue with lower limits when creating linear distance and diameter size tolerances

Changes in release 4.36 (2008-03-06)

• Tool advice delta is now applied to current value if present, or the nominal value if not.

Changes in release 4.35 (2008-03-06)

• Tool advice is now displayed as a delta value and advice is given after tolerances are entered, but not before.

• Now queueing G40 for issue with the next move.

• Restructured surface normal analysis and G41/42 output for cutter contact toolpaths to be more robust in the face of corners and other cases where the normal changes between paths.

Changes in release 4.34 (2008-03-05)

• Internal DLL fixes.

Changes in release 4.33 (2008-03-03)

• First workingstep was still displayed twice during automated playback when starting simulation from a workplan. Previously corrected the same problem when manually clicking Next to move through the workplan.

• The value of the simulation speed slider is now preserved between application runs.

Changes in release 4.32 (2008-03-03)

• Updated simulation speed so that full speed is now much quicker.

• Now refreshing the workplan, part and tool property panes on save to resynchronize with changed ids.

• Added Export | Tool Status XML menu entry.

• Fixed problem in "Edit Faces" and other face-oriented dialogs (make tolerance, make datum) where picking a face would not be recognized if the Position window had never been displayed during the app run.

Changes in release 4.31 (2008-02-29)

• Added Simulate toolbar and View menu entries to show/hide the display of in-process material removal. Currently requires a pre-computed <filename>.sim file in the same directory as the STEP-NC data file.

• Added a Tool checkbox to the Part, Stock, and Fixture boxes on the model window. When checked, tool geometry is shown. When cleared, only a tool axis arrow is shown.

Changes in release 4.30 (2008-02-28)

• Reset tolerances now resets the current values for surface textures as well.

• Added CNC export support for variable feed within a toolpath controlled by a speedprofile curve.

Changes in release 4.29 (2008-02-25)

• Allow setting current value of surface textures on the Tool Properties pane.

• Refresh the tool and tolerance properties panes when adding or removing faces from a workingstep.

Changes in release 4.28 (2008-02-25)

• Extended the Edit Faces dialog with Add Nearby and Remove All buttons.

• Updated Tool and Part Property panes to handle current values for surface textures.

Changes in release 4.27 (2008-02-22)

• Eliminated double display of first workingstep when starting simulation from a workplan.

• Now installing cutting_tool_schema_arm compiled schema file so that ISO 13399 files can be read.

• Added dialog to display the parameters associated with a feature. Simply double click on a feature in the feature tab or right click on a workingstep and select Feature Properties.

• The tool list now shows the name of the tool geometry if present

• Surface texture now shows associated tools on the Part Properties pane.

Changes in release 4.26 (2008-02-21)

• The faces associated with a workingstep feature or a tolerance can be changed by right clicking on a workingstep or tolerance and then selecting Edit Faces. Click on new faces to add, select a face in the list and press Delete to remove.

• Added Tolerance | Apply All Tool Advice menu entry.

• Geometry visualization improvements.

Changes in release 4.25 (2008-02-20)

• Internal fixes to the DLL.

Changes in release 4.24 (2008-02-19)

• Advised values for tool diameter/length/corner radius now refresh whenever a the measured value for a tolerance is changed. The reset tolerance and tool menu commands also refresh the geometry colors.

• The tool properties are now shown on the top level, and the status of recommended and current values are shown with icons.

• Corrected issue with popup context menu on Tool property pane.

• The initial zoom when opening a file containing only toolpaths is now set to show the global bounding box. The geometric rendering is also more stable, several memory issues have been corrected.

• Save file no longer reloads all of the geometry afterwards.

• Improvements to the traceabilty output and updated Siemens 810 output to adjust the $TC_DP compensation parameters for corner radius when the STEP-NC file contains a current value for it.

Changes in release 4.23 (2008-02-18)

• Corrected doubled spindle commands when the operation has a different technology from the first toolpath in the operation

• Added output option for traceabilty timing. Only available with Siemens output. Check the "Use Traceability Extensions" box on the export options dialog.

• The tool properties for diameter/length/corner radius now show the current and advised values, with more detail in a pop-up tool tip.

• If a tolerance appears in multiple places on the Tool Properties pane, all occurrences will be refreshed when the current value is changed.

• Added Reset Tolerance and Reset Tool Properties operations to the Tolerances menu.

Changes in release 4.22 (2008-02-15)

• When setting current tool parameters, if a suggested length, diameter, or corner radius can be computed from the current tolerance values it will be presented in the edit box.

• When specifying a current value for a tolerance or tool property, numbers can now be specified in US-style input (C Locale) as well as the local formats.

• The tolerance or tool property values is now restored properly when canceling an edit on the tool properties pane.

Changes in release 4.21 (2008-02-14)

• You can now enter current values for tolerances or certain tool parameters by selecting the tolerance or tool parameter in the tree list and then either right-click and select the"Edit Current Value" popup menu, or just press the enter key.

• Updated Siemens 810 output to adjust the $TC_DP compensation parameters for length and diameter upon tool changes when the STEP-NC file contains current values for these.

• File | Export | Create Script now remembers the previously used export directory.

Changes in release 4.20 (2008-02-12)

• The Workplan/Part/Tool panes now highlight faces based on the pane selected and the item within that page. The tool pane now shows the workingsteps of each tool.

• Added File menu entries to Import/Export both ISO 13399 tool data and creation scripts for assembling STEP-NC files.

Changes in release 4.19 (2008-02-07)

• Updates to cutter contact code generation for transitions from cutter location to cutter contact paths. Also more robust when given unrealistic numeric values.

Changes in release 4.18 (2008-02-05)

• Extending tool and part properties pane to show relationship between tolerances and the tools used to achieve them.

Changes in release 4.17 (2008-02-04)

• Adding tool properties pane.

Changes in release 4.16 (2008-02-01)

• Now exports CNC code for helixes on all controls, Siemens and Heidenhain use distinct notations, while Fanuc, Okuma, and Haas appear to share the same notation.

Changes in release 4.15 (2008-01-29)

• Update to address visualization and CNC code export for arcs and helixes described by via point.

Changes in release 4.14 (2008-01-22)

• Update the CNC export so that tool change now clears the position and issues a move to the complete XYZ start point of the next toolpath. Previously the codes expected that after the toolchange the tool was located at the endpoint of the previous workingstep and only issued moves for axes that changed in the first point of the next workingstep.

Changes in release 4.13 (2008-01-21)

• DLL update to address null tool string issue.

Changes in release 4.12 (2008-01-18)

• Added some diagnostic code to the workingstep and tolerance trees

• Moved the Define Datums and Tolerance operations to a new top level Tolerances menu and added a mew Define Surface Texture operation.

Changes in release 4.11 (2008-01-17)

• The tool pane has been restored and you can now import and export tools. If a workplan is highlit, then the tool pane can be used to select the tool to import/export, otherwise import/export the tool for the current workingstep.

• If you select a face while not running a simulation, the position and type of the face are shown in the position window. The actual position of the click on the face is shown in the status bar.

• Improved bounding box computation and corrected display issue with cutter contact toolpaths and tolerance caching issues that caused read problems with some files.

Changes in release 4.10 (2008-01-14)

• The Part Properties pane now displays tolerances and surface finish descriptions for Rawpiece, Fixture, and tools as well. Just select faces from any displayed shape when creating tolerances and they will be properly associated.

• Icons for the various feature types are now correctly displayed on the feature tab.

• Now recognizes micrometer and other surface texture units.

• Handles +/- values so that the minus values are actually negative.

Changes in release 4.9 (2008-01-14)

• The File | Export functions now export AP203e2 with tolerances for Workpiece, Rawpiece, and Fixture.

Changes in release 4.8 (2008-01-10)

• Added the Probing | Define Datum and Probing | Define Tolerance menu entries to pick faces on the part and create datums or tolerances from them.

• Base feed rate is now shown separately on the position pane.

• Now creates a new project at application start.

• When creating a new project any prior geometry is now reset.

• When reading in workpiece geometry to an otherwise empty file, the Part Properties page will be shown.

Changes in release 4.7 (2008-01-07)

• DLL improvements to handle plus/minus tolerances encoded using both qualified_representation_item and Part 47 notation.

• Palette windows now reset their position if they would not be visible on any screen.

• Selecting a workplan in the executable tree now changes the highlit faces in the geometry window to show any associated features for the entire workplan.

Changes in release 4.6 (2008-01-04)

• Extended the toolpath position and speed window to also show the feedrate speed profile override. The final speed is shown along with a percentage indicating how the feed has been adjusted from the base value.

• Changed the default file format for import/export workpiece, fixture, etc from .203 to .stp. The underlying DLL can now import and export AP203e2 tolerances as part of the operation.

• Added the Part Properties pane which can show all of the tolerances and surface textures in the file and highlight the associated faces.

Changes in release 4.5 (2007-12-17)

• Added "Insert NC Function" to popup menu on the executable tree. This can create Message functions, Extended NC functions and others anywhere in the exec tree.

• Added View | Worplan Paths option to show combined toolpaths for workplans, and always show for probing workplans. Unlike the 3.x viewer, this shows the tool, and using the Move Tool mode, you can move the tool around within the combined toolpaths just as you can for a single toolpath.

• Added link to the STEP Tools home page on the help menu.

Changes in release 4.4 (2007-12-11)

• Restored the context menu to geometry window to set the viewing mode and restored the context menu on the executable tree for controlling the display of NC functions, deleting items and showing workpiece properties.

• New DLL api calls for working with cross section data.

Changes in release 4.3 (2007-12-10)

• Corrected some remaining API update issues with setup sheets.

Changes in release 4.2 (2007-12-07)

• Converted to use the updated STEP-NC DLL API

• Added Most Recently Used list to the file menu

• Corrected position and cross-section windows so that they continue to work when closed with the titlebar box and reopened

Changes in release 4.1 (2007-12-05)

• Center on tool position now works properly.

• Saving a file with a .stp/.step/.p21/.203 extension now writes as Part 21 text rather than Part 28 XML

• Simplified handling of palette windows. Now they remain visible when the main window is not active, rather than disappearing and reappearing.

• Minor visual improvements - Updated splash graphic, handling of disabled play button, toolbar buttons to turn position and cross section windows on/off

Changes in release 4.0 (2007-12-03)

• Reimplemented explorer display as .NET application using new OpenGL graphics interface provided by the STEP-NC DLL.

• Added new click to move tool functionality.

• Added display window for toolpath cross-section information.

---

Changes in release 3.61 (2007-12-14)

• Saving a file with a .stp/.step/.p21/.203 extension now writes as Part 21 text rather than Part 28 XML

Changes in release 3.60 (2007-12-10)

• Updating for use with revised STEP-NC DLL API

Changes in release 3.59 (2007-10-26)

• Corrected some issues with probing start points.

• Updated DMIS output so that both "dmis" and "dmis-manual" declare features and tolerances with the features, added GOTO moves between the PTMEAS commands in the feature measurement blocks. Added additional probe declarations and other setup boilerplate at the start of the program. Generating manual mode initial declarations for all datums on the workpiece. Also corrected placement of Cylinder features.

• Changed DMIS output logic so that it emits moves for any workplan that contain any nested probes. Workplans that do not contain any probing are ignored.

Changes in release 3.58 (2007-10-19)

• Corrected some issues with large numbers of speed/feed changes.

• Changed the DMIS manual output so that the position and normal of the features are transformed properly when the workpiece contains assembly placements.

Changes in release 3.57 (2007-10-18)

• Siemens import fixes.

Changes in release 3.56 (2007-10-15)

• Changed the DMIS manual output so that we measure known features directly (PLANE,CYLNDR) rather than create many point features and construct from them. This simplifies the DMIS tremendously. We still define point features if the STEP-NC feature is based on an geometry type that does not map to a DMIS feature.

Changes in release 3.55 (2007-10-11)

• Improvements to APT toolpath import.

• Code generation fixes for Fanuc

Changes in release 3.54 (2007-10-10)

• Added Siemens gcode import.

• Code generation fixes for Fanuc

• Now displays the "selective" element in a program using a special icon.

Changes in release 3.53 (2007-10-05)

• Code generation fixes for Fanuc

Changes in release 3.52 (2007-10-02)

• Corrected the icons for all of the tolerances

• Internal DLL fixes.

Changes in release 3.51 (2007-10-01)

• Select face now displays the geometric coordinates of the face in the position window.

• Plan probing now allows selection of 1D or 2D moves.

• Tolerance lists now show the datums and material condition.

Changes in release 3.50 (2007-09-28)

• Added plus/minus display for tolerance values.

Changes in release 3.49 (2007-08-28)

• Update to the workingstep display pane to show axial/radial depth and bottom/side allowances.

Changes in release 3.48 (2007-08-27)

• STEP-NC DLL Update to recognize poorly-formed units.

Changes in release 3.47 (2007-08-23)

• STEP-NC DLL Update to handle data with meter units.

Changes in release 3.46 (2007-07-01)

• Added ability to import Heidenhain probing result files in either English or French. Probing result import now queries for the result style rather than trying to guess based on extension.

Changes in release 3.45 (2007-06-25)

• Fixes to Heidenhain iTNC530 BC output.

Changes in release 3.44 (2007-06-15)

• Fixes to Heidenhain iTNC530 output. Line numbers were the default, but could be turned off by STEP-NC Machine. Now permanent on. Was not numbering the initial call to G90.

• First attempt at Heidenhain probing output, using the MEASURING cycle. The maximum move distance is 110% of the nominal value and the retract after touch is 10% before it rapids back to the start point. The probing feed is 100mm/min.

Changes in release 3.43 (2007-06-13)

• Fixes to Heidenhain iTNC530 output. Forced block numbers, and whitespace between control words for improved readability. Tool change no longer uses M6, and includes a G17. Forced absolute coordinates at start with G90, as well as another G17, and that spindle and coolant are off at the end. Switched the spindle speed S word and M3/M4 order so that the speed now comes first.

Changes in release 3.42 (2007-06-08)

• Added export option for Heidenhain iTNC530 with BC geometry.

Changes in release 3.41 (2007-06-07)

• Added option to display the origin as a blue status volume

• Updated Heidenhain iTNC530 output to correct issues with the AC axis moves and other things.

Changes in release 3.40 (2007-06-06)

• Create probing operations now support cylindrical surfaces.

• Added options to create angularity, perpendicularity, and surface profile tolerances when creating probing plans.

• Changed the datum A color so that it no longer conflicts with the unevaluated tolerance color.

Changes in release 3.39 (2007-05-23)

• Added Export | Siemens 810 option, which is based on the 840 code but without any of the WS macros.

• Added Export | Heidenhain option for Heidenhain iTNC530 with TCP programming handled by using M128 on an AC configuration.

Changes in release 3.38 (2007-05-11)

• Added Import | Catia (plate) option to create toolpaths from plate cutting operations.

Changes in release 3.37 (2007-05-08)

• Updates to ESAB output.

• Added a View | Main Workplan Toolpaths option to show all toolpaths when the main workplan is selected.

Changes in release 3.36 (2007-05-01)

• Corrected Export dialog to avoid bad calls to workpiece probing transform functions when the transform checkboxes are disabled.

Changes in release 3.35 (2007-04-20)

• Changes to the probing status display to make sure the positions are properly displayed.

• Minor change in DMIS unit declarations.

• Updated ESAB output to eliminate comments, wrap text marking in a D003/D004 block, and output a feedrate before marking.

Changes in release 3.34 (2007-04-19)

• Added options for DMIS export for inspection. The plain DMIS mode exports goto commands while the manual mode simply exports the point and feature definitions.

• Added option to CNC export dialog to allow replanning of probes based on workpiece complete probing position feedback.

• Changed the probe status volumes to display at the surface point rather than the start point.

• Added menu option to set the machining start point.

Changes in release 3.33 (2007-04-12)

• Improved ESAB full circle output, extended the output to handle NC functions for turning the plasma or marking head on/off, controling bevel cutting as well as marking cycles for scribing geometry, part labels or other text characters.

Changes in release 3.32 (2007-04-06)

• DLL Update.

Changes in release 3.31 (2007-04-06)

• Added preliminary support for ESAB code export.

• Added support for display of Extended_NC_function instances used to represent plate-cutting specific items.

• Added End_Mill_12mm_0rad.stp and End_Mill_12mm_4rad.stp tool models to the tool library.

Changes in release 3.30 (2007-03-21)

• Added export option to turn block numbering off/on. By default this is now off.

Changes in release 3.29 (2007-03-09)

• Get Probe Results should now read files with any EOL convention.

Changes in release 3.28 (2007-03-09)

• Added "Disable TCP" option in export dialog.

• Improvements to Siemens probing output.

Changes in release 3.27 (2007-03-09)

• Display of toolpaths transformed by probing results now works.

• Improvements to MSDI lathe output.

Changes in release 3.26 (2007-03-08)

• Temporarily force display the transformed toolpaths at all times.

Changes in release 3.25 (2007-03-08)

• Added options to display the transformed toolpaths.

• Added ability to show/hide the options on the toolpath export.

Changes in release 3.24 (2007-03-08)

• Corrected probing results refresh issue.

• Corrected DLL internal issues.

Changes in release 3.23 (2007-03-07)

• Added options to the make probe dialog to set U/V deltas to be applied when generating a probing operation.

• Changed the read probe results code to handle siemens XYZ results, and to also display the probe pane whenever there are probe values in the file. This is necessary to be able to see the values that you just read in.

• Internal DLL fixes for computing workpiece displacement from probe results and generating code with the transform.

Changes in release 3.22 (2007-03-06)

• Added options to the CNC export dialog to select the work offset frame, digits of precision, and use of optional stops after every workingstep in the generated code.

• Internal DLL fixes for probing and CNC code generation.

Changes in release 3.21 (2007-03-02)

• Internal DLL fixes for probing.

Changes in release 3.20 (2007-02-28)

• Refinements to CNC export dialog and corrections to MDSI output.

Changes in release 3.19 (2007-02-26)

• Added export dialog for control over the code generation units and other options.

• Corrected units issue when generating code for MDSI.

Changes in release 3.18 (2007-02-23)

• Improvements and fixes on setup sheet and DLL.

• Added "Delete" popup menu on the tree display to remove unwanted workingsteps and workplans.

Changes in release 3.17 (2007-02-22)

• Workingsteps without toolpaths no longer cause exceptions.

• Improved display code for planar face and general outside profile features. Added detail pane for general pattern features.

• Added ability to display and save setup sheets for the project.

Changes in release 3.16 (2007-02-07)

• The viewer now resets to orbit mode after setting a datum.

• When creating a Probing Plan for a surface, now testing for failure of the probe creation before trying to define a position tolerance.

• Saving the design via File | Save or File | Save As now forces a viewer reload because the data has different identifiers.

• Corrected the Highlight Probe Measures to take account of the workpiece placement when displaying the points.

Changes in release 3.15 (2007-01-31)

• Changed Probing | Get Probe Results to use a file dialog to find the results.

• Forced datum checkboxes to appear when setting datums.

Changes in release 3.14 (2007-01-31)

• Added the Probing | Highlight Probe Measures submenu to display status volumes on the part for probes that are out of tolerance. The submenu turns volumes on, off, increases, decrease the size.

• Added View | Highlight Feature Faces option and made the value of that and the View | Display NC Functions option persistent between application runs.

Changes in release 3.13 (2007-01-25)

• Refresh with improvements to probing code generation.

Changes in release 3.12 (2007-01-24)

• Added the "View P28" HTML shell extension to the installer.

• Added Export | Haas option and Import | Fanuc and Haas options.

• Refresh with improvements to zlib compressed STEP XML files.

Changes in release 3.11 (2007-01-22)

• Now supports STEP-NC data in zlib compressed XML files.

• Setting the placement (Setup | Placement | etc.) for workpiece, rawpiece, or fixture no longer overwrites the STEP-NC file. You can save the results or not as with the other things.

Changes in release 3.10 (2007-01-19)

• Improved the backplot play feature so that it continues on to the next workingstep when the current one is complete.

• Now displaying the spindle speed for rapids. Needs v1.25 of the geometry control to work correctly.

• STEP-NC DLL refresh that improves performace when tolerance data is present in the file.

Changes in release 3.9 (2007-01-16)

• Selecting a workplan now displays all toolpaths within the plan. For performance reasons, this has been disabled for the main plan but may be enabled at a later date.

• The probe maker now offers to create a position tolerance. Also remembers preferred probe direction between calls.

Changes in release 3.8 (2007-01-12)

• The Create Probing Plan function now associates probing tool geometry with the plan and reloads the viewer control with the result. The probe tool geometry is currently fixed to be a file called tools/probe.stp in the install directory.

• Now installing a selection of sample tool geometry including the probing tool described above.

• Updated all of the other functions that reload the viewer so that they no longer delete on existing files during the reload process.

Changes in release 3.7 (2007-01-11)

• Added Probing | Create Probing Plan for Surface for initial testing. It recognizes planes and b_spline_curve_with_knot surface types. It is only partially functional -- when creating a new plan, the tree control is reloaded so that you can see it, but the geometry control is not yet reloaded.

• Replaced Zoom All toolbar icon with a more intuitive one. Minor tweaks to the other icons.

• Changed the saved settings in the registry so that they are now all under STEP Tools, Inc. and in sensible subkeys. The recent file list will be reset because it is now stored in a different place.

Changes in release 3.6 (2007-01-04)

• Explorer now does a Zoom All when opening the first step to make sure that everything is well centered when the part is far from the origin.

• Added tooltips for pick/pan/rotate toolbar.

• Added Export | Tool menu option, plus other internal changes to the tool list.

• Tolerance list in Probing pane is now cleared when moving between operations.

• OCX binary compatibility with earlier versions broken because of a number of interface changes.

Changes in release 3.5 (2007-01-03)

• Fixed resize of backplot buttons and speed slider in left column and positioning of the coordinates display in the model window.

• Explorer now goes to the first workingstep with a toolpath rather than looking for one with multiple toolpaths. This means that a probing operation will be shown if present.

• Added the current pick/pan/rotate status to the toolbar.

• Changed the cursors used for picking bodies, faces, and edges to be less goofy looking (was a stickman, smiley face, and an E).

Changes in release 3.4 (2006-12-29)

• Added View | Entity ID for Pick menu option to display pick results.

• Expanded coordinate box to accommodate larger numbers and greater precision.

• Geometry control now supports panning, better switching between the various pick and view modes.

• STEP-NC DLL refresh.

Changes in release 3.3 (2006-12-22)

• Significantly improved geometry display speed for larger toolpaths.

Changes in release 3.2 (2006-12-22)

• Internal release.

Changes in release 3.1 (2006-12-21)

• Visual improvements to the backplot start/stop, forward and reverse buttons and added a slider to control backplot speed. Also reworked the backplot to avoid saturating the CPU on slow speeds.

• Added display support in the workplan tree for more NC Functions (return home, program stop, and optional stop)

Changes in release 3.0 (2006-12-18)

• Added a display pane for Probing operations as well as coloring of features on the part (red/yellow/green) depending on the results of probing returned from the CNC. The model view has checkboxes to display datum faces if present in the part. First demonstrated at the Hershey ISP meeting and since improved.

• Corrected the handling of the "most recently used" file list on the File menu.

• Reworked the internals of the STEPNCExplorer Active X control to remove any remaining references to the StixCOM package. The tool now gets all data directly from the STEPNC DLL. The COM signature of the tool has changed as a result, so the OCX is now version 3 rather than 2.

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Changes in release 2.20 and earlier

• Changelog not maintained.