10bulls
08-29-2007, 06:32 PM
I am pleased to announce the next public release of CamBam.
http://www.brusselsprout.org/CAMBAM/
More details on this new release may be found here...
http://www.forum.cambam.org/index.php?topic=103.0
There have been many internal modifications to this release so be wary. I have been using it a fair bit but I would expect a few wrinkles here and there!
Important fixes :
* Tolerances should be less of an issue now. There are only 2 tolerance settings used now. One for the machining options and another in tools, options. A move to high precision variables everywhere means this can be set to a comfortable low 1e-7 or lower. In english, this means the toolpath generation should be more reliable for very detailed geometry (typical with vectorized art) or if you are just making really teeny tiny stuff!
* An annoying bug which resulted in new machining operations not 'accepting' the selected geometry has hopefully been squashed. Previously this required a reboot of CamBam.
* The confusing Machine Op : Stock parameter has been renamed to RoughingClearance to denote the amount of stock to leave between the last cut and the geomtry. As an added bonus, I discovered you can put a negative amount in here as well to slightly oversize a cut. Very handy for hole or die cutting.
* The file tree refreshing is a bit smoother now.
New Features !
* A new machining operation called Bas Relief is introduced. This enables you to take a 3D surface such as a 3DS file and generate a height map of it. This is the method we have been using to generate the foam sculptures mentioned in other threads. It has some limitations and can be painfully slow for high polygon surfaces, but optimisation and other tweaks are planned.
CAM Improvements
* I have made a start with toolpath optimisations by simply ordering the cuts a bit better.
More optimisations are planned.
* Machine operations can now be renamed and enabled/disabled. This makes machining much more
manageable.
CAD Improvements
* Polyline editing can now backspace to remove last point. Middle mouse button ends the polyline and shift will close the polyline.
* A few more polyline operations such as detecting interection points and breaking polylines allow drawing of reasonably sophisticated geometry.
UI Improvements.
* Cut and Paste is here now (Yay!)
* A File open MRU is there (about time!).
* A rudimentary right click menu has appeared in the drawing window.
* Can drag an drop files onto the drawing window to open them.
A lot of fixes and features in this release have come directly from listening to your comments on these forums so for that I thank you and keep up the good work! :cheers:
And a big thank you to the CamBam death wish release beta testers. Brave souls all! :D
I hope you enjoy using this release as much as I am.
Now get out there and make some stuff!
Regards
Andy (10bulls)
http://www.brusselsprout.org/CAMBAM/
More details on this new release may be found here...
http://www.forum.cambam.org/index.php?topic=103.0
There have been many internal modifications to this release so be wary. I have been using it a fair bit but I would expect a few wrinkles here and there!
Important fixes :
* Tolerances should be less of an issue now. There are only 2 tolerance settings used now. One for the machining options and another in tools, options. A move to high precision variables everywhere means this can be set to a comfortable low 1e-7 or lower. In english, this means the toolpath generation should be more reliable for very detailed geometry (typical with vectorized art) or if you are just making really teeny tiny stuff!
* An annoying bug which resulted in new machining operations not 'accepting' the selected geometry has hopefully been squashed. Previously this required a reboot of CamBam.
* The confusing Machine Op : Stock parameter has been renamed to RoughingClearance to denote the amount of stock to leave between the last cut and the geomtry. As an added bonus, I discovered you can put a negative amount in here as well to slightly oversize a cut. Very handy for hole or die cutting.
* The file tree refreshing is a bit smoother now.
New Features !
* A new machining operation called Bas Relief is introduced. This enables you to take a 3D surface such as a 3DS file and generate a height map of it. This is the method we have been using to generate the foam sculptures mentioned in other threads. It has some limitations and can be painfully slow for high polygon surfaces, but optimisation and other tweaks are planned.
CAM Improvements
* I have made a start with toolpath optimisations by simply ordering the cuts a bit better.
More optimisations are planned.
* Machine operations can now be renamed and enabled/disabled. This makes machining much more
manageable.
CAD Improvements
* Polyline editing can now backspace to remove last point. Middle mouse button ends the polyline and shift will close the polyline.
* A few more polyline operations such as detecting interection points and breaking polylines allow drawing of reasonably sophisticated geometry.
UI Improvements.
* Cut and Paste is here now (Yay!)
* A File open MRU is there (about time!).
* A rudimentary right click menu has appeared in the drawing window.
* Can drag an drop files onto the drawing window to open them.
A lot of fixes and features in this release have come directly from listening to your comments on these forums so for that I thank you and keep up the good work! :cheers:
And a big thank you to the CamBam death wish release beta testers. Brave souls all! :D
I hope you enjoy using this release as much as I am.
Now get out there and make some stuff!
Regards
Andy (10bulls)