Need Help!- mastercam x art

[ghostlx]

hello to all .
have been learning mastercam over the last few months have just now gotten into mastercam art for the first time. some times when i open some of the art files in the sample folder mastercam crashes. i am trying to locate my problem can anyone help me . in the replyback to mc it first tells of the uxtheme .dll overflowes ? my pc is amd 64 3000 2ghz 2 x 512 ram. windows xp pro, net frame work 2., directx 9oc, wonder what may be causing the crash
ghost

[BailableOdin]

Are u running a 64 bit system? if you are you will have to get the patch, so that you can run it.

[ghostlx]

could you explain a little more

[pointcloud]

He is talking about a windows patch that has some kind of glitch, or a mastercam patch (update from 32 to 64 os)...

Or art programs with tool paths are big ram memory users and can crash because of ram.

I do not use mastercam, I use rhinocam/art and on larger art surfaces it'll bog down 4 gig ram, on 2 processors that are 2.4ghz core 2 dueos.

What about your video card?

[ghostlx]

i think you are right my vido card is the culpret. every thing else works fine mill , lathe do what they are supose to. the only time i have any problem is when i use the high end graphics in mastercam art. so i am in the current process of desigining a new pc. any suggestions ? have been looking at the amd duell core processers at 3.5 ghz speed and may be a n-vidia with 128 mb on vidio card and 2 gig of ram for starters, every thing else in the box will be candy.
ghost

[pointcloud]

I use an Alein, it has 2 core two dueos at 2.4ghz, I have 4 gig of patriot ram, 2-512ghz nivida graphics cards(these are sli which is in conjunction with each other), and it is water cooled...And still with rhinocam/art with a g-code will slow it down...

I can make a polymesh on a new layer that'll take 50-60% of the load off of it... Check with mc art for a function like mesh....

[CJH]

So here is a question or two....How well does Mastercam do with large 3D files? Is it a real memory hog? The reason I ask is that we are buying a CNC router and will be using Mastercam with it. We get in some extremely detailed 3D scan data of object that we need to machine on our mill, and they can really cripple our current main CAM software. For handling some of these large files we have Artcam Pro as a companion software.

[pointcloud]

If your buying mastercam invest in a good pc/ram/graphics card.

[cadcam]

what are the 3D files STL's iges? I get large files and have done some preaty big Art files. I do suggest a good computer when ever using a Cad-cam systems.MastercamX2 and higher are not real hogs if it were the old V9 yes and the Art was hog and not as user freindly as now.

[CJH]

The file we get from scan data sets are in .stl format. So they generaly run from 150 to 300 meg, but the average is usually around 200. I was just wondering about the stability. We tend to see a lot of crashing duiring the toolpath processing. We got new PC's and that helps marginally. That's why we are using Artcam for these big files. I'm still learnig from reading the literature on Mastercam since we don't have it yet. Our router comes in about 2 months. So i'll ask is it feasable to think that we may be able to machine large .stl files like I mentioned in MC.

[pointcloud]

You can but the tool path can add alot to the file.. No matter what anybody says about it being a hog... I can post a gcode here that'll bog down your computer using note pad?

What are you trying to machine? Like what large parts?

[cadcam]

CJH, have you thought about taking one of your files over to the local dealer and have him show you how art will handle your file? When people call me I always ask if they have some type of file that I can work with. this way as I demo it's on your file not something I did.
if there are some other questions feel free to ask.