Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: My CAD CAM evaluations

I think John Comes real close to what I would say...... I'll just add
tidbits.

>>Concerning CAM, what are the:
>>
>>Must have features:
>>
>>

Organized looking. Crisp, Clean, not like it was drawn with big Kiddy
crayons. Gui's are important to me. I have to look at them ! It seems if
I was a developer, I sure would look at the competition and find out
their good points. If it's ugly, I don't like it. Same for what I drive
and the Wife I chose ! ( or did she choose me ? I forget) Some
companies just keep on a "trottin'" down a lonely road, "blinders"
permanently affixed......

User configurable toolbars! Admit it. It's all ergonomics these days. I
don't care if it's "Streamlining" your warehouse techniques, or
adjusting "traffic patterns" in your plant. It comes down to speed. Time
is money.People cost money. If I (or they) have to go thru 3 steps
everytime one wants to do a particular thing in software, that could be
done in one, well, that is a waste of time. Its PAST the '90's !
Toolbars should be fully configurable. Also, "tools" themselves need to
be thought out. Some programs like turbocad have a gazillion tools.
Ashlar displays 1/4 of those and still gets the work done faster. Why ?
they realized they do not need a button for every little function when
buttons can have multiple personalities based on the use of a few key
commands. I mean stuff as simple as Ctrl and Shift. Likely, the
"multibutton boys" never looked at Ashlar.

Better control over toolpaths. First off, You need to be able to "hide"
them easily, and Know what you have hidden. I want to be able to create
a toolpath from any feature of the original part, and "hide" the
toolpath. Turn it on and off with a simple button. This comes down to
better "Layer", toolpath management. This may sound really stupid, but
across the whole bottom of my Lowly Sign Program, is a Color Pallet. The
colors are also numbered. When I define certain "groups" of work I want
to create code for, I give that group a color. I can "hide" that color,
or later "cut by color". Now Vector uses something similar with
Attributes, but had lacked enough colors to make effective. That may
have changed with the new version.

In any regard, The color bar on the bottom and the use of the Shift or
Ctl key depending on what you want to happen, does everything you need
to do without any menu hopping.

Nice to have features:

Built in Verify.... I guess I don't create anything that sophisticated
that I have used one much. I generally make code and cut. I have not
wrecked much either. I guess I feel comfortable with what my usual
methods are, and they work wonderfully. Suprise suprise... I still do
all my 2.5d stuff with Signlab ! I haven't worried about bad code
because I haven't had any with it ! I'd bet few Cad/Cam developers have
ever really looked at how they have done it successfully for so many
years. No hidden loops, decent DXF imports, excellent toolpath handling
and configuration via machine .ini files Great layer handling.

In regards demos... Sheeez, is 30 days enough ? Us working guys with
families, multiple jobs, and typical pressures, why, 30 days goes by,
the demo dies and you feel like your too embarrassed to call and hassle
the offering company for some kind of extension or information as to
just what file stops the demo from reloading. I've been on a year long
search for a new Point of Sale, inventory control system for work. 30
days just is not enough in this fast paced world. Would it "kill ya" to
offer 60 days ??? I had some companies refuse to indicate what file or
reg entry I needed to remove to fire it back up for looking at. Needless
to say, I did not authorize expenditures of up to $100k for their
product. If I was a thief, I'd run programs that TELL me what was
installed and where !

>>Negative features to avoid:
>>
>>

John hit it on the head here.... "Duplicating operations" "Being asked
information and then the program not using it" Or the worst >>Having to
*draw* offsets<<< YA, my pet peeve. When you tell a program to run a
"contour" based on the tooling you have chosen, the program Should
understand that IT needs to make the first contour as a Toolpath, not as
a line in the drawing. Not rocket science. Also, Poor implimentation of
Feedrates and Plunge rates. Rates should be tied as an attribute of the
toolpaths you see on screen, not much different than other attributes
like color, location, etc. This way the information is entered before
code is created.

I agree with John on this too, A lousy Help file is a turn off, and so
are lousy manuals. It is a two edge sword..... Printing costs for these
products gets expensive. Of course we all want the programs cheaper. I'd
say full organized manuals can be offered as PDF files on a CD, and if
you want it printed, go to someone who can duplex on their printer, then
go to office max and have them make it into a book for a couple of
bucks. I'd rather an excellent manual on CD, than a crummy one in paper.

Crashes. They are a pain too...... Especially Demos ! No one whos demo
crashed, has got a dime from me. Sorry. It is hard enough finding time
to try out a new program in 30 days when it runs. Who needs crashes ?

Oh, and DONGLES !!! I hate them and always fear for when they get a jolt
of static that takes them out. I feel like I should be able to use the
program I bought on any one computer at a time. This means I need to
transfer dongles to my laptop.... Scary. I've heard horror storys. No
dongle is best, Network dongles are advantageous when they can control
how many users are active, And if it has to have one, make it USB.

Related... Signlab wants $75 just to swap out my old parallel port
dongle ! Seems like a lot to me.

I wish we had no crooks.... we wouldn't need licenses or dongles.


Chris L

(trimmed neatly for our slow bandwith friends)