Has solidcam improved?

[thebowman]

Solidcam use to be very slow and would often freeze for a few moments when clicking on different choices. Has the verify improved where it can now be rotated while the part is being simulated? Does all the cam data save in the Solidworks file or does it still create a separate file? Sorry if this is outdated questions as it has been a few years since we looked at Solidcam.

[Brakeman Bob]

THe short answer is "yes". I use SolidCAM every day for quite intensive 5 axis programming and I can say that the interface is fast and relatively freeze free - the only time I see the screen freeze is down to SolidWorks and the overloading of our server (this problem is well documented on the SolidWorks user forums). SolidVerify does allow the rotation, zooming and moving of the part during simulation, though its speed gets somewhat compromised by the complexity of the surfaces being generated - the more curvy the generated shape, the more triangles needed to model it, the slower SV gets. I find it tops out around 17 million triangles, but there are workarounds. What do mean by CAM data? There is a part inside the SW assembly called "CAM" where I put boundary sketches etc. and this isn't a problem; I also add parts to the assembly containing masking faces for my five axis stuff. The file structure of a SOlidCAM part is the .PRT file and a Folder containing all the SolidWorks stuff plus all the associated files to do with CAM generation and as a consequence this folder can get very big - I have pushed a Gb in the past.