4.0 ????????

[Thomas Phillips]

Any word on MR on 4.0?

Thomas

[Wes Cisco]

No MR, next release will be 4.1, I think they say October, check my 5.0 big ideas thread, a guy from BnS stated in there near the begining of the thread. HTH

Well, I just went and checked, all he said was it was nearing the end of it's 3 month "quality assurance" stint. So you could be afflicted with it anyday now.

[Matthew D. Hoedeman]

Yeah, they WERE using ".xxxx" for 'updates' (V3.2, 3.206, 3.2063, 3.25) then went to MR (V3.5, V3.5mr1, V3.5mr2, v3.5mr3) and now they are going back to ".xxxx" for updates. I guess it sounded too much like it should have been something that you SHOULD get if you have that version, if you paid for an SMA or not. So, now each "MR" will be a "version".

[kbotta]

HUH?!?!

[Mike N.]

I have been playing with the 4.1RC (release candidate)

It is visually just like 4.0 with a few interesting changes.....

I think they are re-thinking the reporting aspect of 4.0 and "might" be re-incorporating the "full report" mode we are all currently used to. I say this because it is in the pulldown as an option but it is currently "greyed out" and non functional in this RC version.

One cool addition is the PPAP report they added. It's not much for the experienced user in terms of a WOW factor but for us new to the report editor it will put us in the right direction when using it as a base for our own customizing.

Other than that I don't have enough time with it to bless or curse it just yet

[Devaney]

I was told at the user group that 4.1 would be out June 19th. There will be no MR for 4.0 all will be fixed in 4.1.

[nkayWAI]

I'm also not aware of a V4.0 MR, but that's not to say they'll never be one. With V4.1 pretty much ready to go though, I'd say it's unlikely.

Matt Said:
"Yeah, they WERE using ".xxxx" for 'updates' (V3.2, 3.206, 3.2063, 3.25) then went to MR (V3.5, V3.5mr1, V3.5mr2, v3.5mr3) and now they are going back to ".xxxx" for updates. I guess it sounded too much like it should have been something that you SHOULD get if you have that version, if you paid for an SMA or not. So, now each "MR" will be a "version"."

I've not heard of any such change. Up until recently, there was talk of a possible V4.0 MR, but as V4.1 was so close, I think it was deemed unneccessary. I don't think this rules out future MRs.

In V4.1, the Status Window is a lot better/more useful in V4.1, and PPAP report (as Mike says) is new. From personal use, I'd say stability is also improved over V4.0. New programming tools have been used to help pinpoint random/hard to reproduce crashes. Also, a lot of work has been done on removing memory leakage and GDI object leakage.

Full list from readme.txt file for V4.1 :-

---------------------------------------Major Enhancements---------------------------------------------

>>> CAD and Graphics <<<
- Graphic display of GD&T objects

>>> PC-DMIS NC <<<
- NC Update Mode - Corrections from a part measurement on a CMM are applied to a machine tool
using CncServer’s communication infrastructure and the Datapage Statistics database with
enhanced scripting supported by a Wizard.

>>> PC-DMIS Vision <<<
- Extended machine support:
- OGP Smartscope
- Support for touch probe and jog box buttons on TESA VISIO 300 machines
- Support for rotary tables on Mycrona machines.
- Unified vision calibration making all vision probe specific calibrations accessed from the same
place.
- Stage Calibration - DCC and edge detection version of the existing manual operation, making it
much quicker and easier to use. Supports new TESA stage calibration artifact.
- Cross Probe Calibration - Allows calibration of the offset between video and contact probes.
- Par Centricity / Par Focality Calibration - Extension of existing zoom cell calibration to
calibrate out changes in X, Y and Z when changing zoom position (TESA VISIO 300)
- Pixel Aspect Ratio Calibration - Calibrates the X and Y magnification sizes separately for
machines with non uniform aspect ratio (OGP Smartscope)
- Extended control over size and quality of screen captures to address issues with the amount of
memory used.

>>> PC-DMIS Laser <<<
- Support for Perceptron on PH10 wrists and toolchangers (Task 102341)
- Support for laser warm up stands mounted in toolchangers (Task 102342)
- Support for auto exposure with Perceptron scanners

>>> Point Clouds <<<
- Increased point capability (up to 20K points) per part program (Task 102290)
- Improved both time and appearance of colormap results (Task 102291/102302)
- Support for cloud tessellation and STL output

>>> Scanning <<<
- Scans now store all defined paths internally for better repeatability (Task 102288)

>>> Autofeatures <<<
- Hit dragging available for square and round slots (Task 102281)

>>> Probe Calibration <<<
- Updated calibration DLL (version 1.32) for Renishaw SP25 probing system. This DLL is faster
and returns better results.

>>> Round/Flat Guess Toggle <<<
- Due to an enhancement to the feature recognition routines (guess mode) for portable devices
there is no longer a need for the flat/round guess toggle buttons found in versions prior
to 4.0.

************************************************** ************************************************** **
************************************************** ************************************************** **

5) Release Notes


Version 4.1 of PC-DMIS is a significant development release of the software.
Initial Release Date: May, 2006.

**** Prior to the release of Version 4.1, Version 4.0 was last official release of PC-DMIS by
Wilcox Associates, Inc. and the Brown & Sharpe Metrology Group of Hexagon Metrology.

Notice: PC-DMIS Database support for Microsoft Access does not exist in Version 4.1

Miscellaneous enhancements:
101762 - 2D rotation with mouse
102280 - Ignore Re-Measure of AutoFeatures while in Manual Mode
102275 - In the case of a failed find hole, move back to the theo pre move position before cont.
102274 - Clearplane option should be greyed out
102272 - Disable non-compatible elements when af dialog is open
102281 - Complete hit dragging for all autofeatures (Only slots)
102320 - CTRL + click to select or deselect CAD elements in all scan dialogs
102298 - Make scans store their paths not just turn them into hits
102342 - Support the laser warm-up stand for laser probes
102341 - Support Perceptron on PH10 wrists
102288 - Turn the COP ID field into an editable combo box
102291 - Improve color map
102302 - New tessellation algorithm
102290 - Add point optimization to COP so we can handle more points
101663 - New PPAP Report template
102308 - New CAD image object for label templates.
102307 - New Histogram object for label templates.
102311 - Ability to selectively remove mods from reports.
102313 - New menu item for general Printer Setup
102312 - Option that allows user to turn of background colors when printing
102324 - Generic Parser for converting ASCII files to IP files based on rules.
102319 - Scroll bars added to the Status Window.
102316 - User defined groups in the Edit Window
102318 - Leader lines in CAD object can be set to end at a measured point or a nominal point.
102335 - Color dialogs available for selecting colors (instead of color combo boxes)
102315 - New Move Vector Command and dialog box
102306 - Module for editing the number of labels used with the Cad Reporting Object
102310 - Graphical analysis object is activated and mods for modifying the graphical analysis object
102317 - Status Window is Dockable in the the Graphics Display Window (Cad Window)
240851 - Support for Wildfire 3.0 added to the ProE DCT

Known corrections and improvements from Version 4.0 that have been resolved:

227881 - UG DCI supports assemblies with components of both English and Metric units.
229290 - Increase the speed of adding vertices to a CTessellatedface
231263 - Have Auto Shutter Off option on setup dialog
232184 - Switch controller to "Mode Manual" or "Mode Auto" via automation
237039 - Putting a loop around the toyota basic scripts causing the pc-dmis to crash into the part
237092 - STI does not work when attempting to read dimensions from a part program from 4.0 that has Feature control frames and some legacy dimensions.
238078 - Can't define the reference to a START_LABEL in the iterative alignments by automation
238081 - Auto inspection report don't show color(red) in OOT axis
238154 - When programming features, should retain XYZ IJK of last feature
238167 - importing certain IGES files causes a crash
238315 - Paste with pattern : error
238365 - Points not compensating correctly after alignment with Romer and Hard Probe
238528 - AutoCircle: Pitch is reversed
238562 - Square Slots are not solving in Surface Mode
238572 - Create a vision circle feature in highest mag, and hit Test key in AF dialog, Got an unexpected error message.
238643 - Surface normal fix
238659 - Analysis View commands are not retaining their original rotation after execution
238991 - Cad causing Single Click to fail in V40R
239321 - AutoCircle: F9 causes crash due to uninitialized variable in adjust_hits
239455 - Measuring auto slots prompts for "END" immediately after pre-hit.
239468 - Patch scan with Perceptron: there's a delay on firing the laser between passes, resulting in missing scandata
239472 - Swapping vectors of Auto Edge Point relocates point coordinates and generates a collision path.
239594 - Laser Autofeatures: Feature labels, leader lines are pointing to machine coordinates instead of features
239754 - AutoPlane: After user drags hits, ACTLs are different from THEOs in XY
240068 - During the execution of long COPOPER operations there is no sign computations are taking place
239909 - AutoEllipse: Compensation not working correctly
239732 - Vision Circle and Line Gage Target features don't work as alignment features
240338 - Point cloud color mapping is extremely slow.
240877 - Graph3 will sometimes not properly handle a deleted view, which could result in the app crashing
240492 - Cannot use an unload probe on a vision machine with tool changer
241026 - Vision Draw Path Lines keeps on drawing a line back to the current probe position in between features, and crashes with features with focus
240620 - Uniform filter returns non-uniform filtered data
240981 - Pointcloud disks are not drawn always correctly, as they should be let's say parallel to the
nominal surface.
240974 - Deleting PointCloudOperator filter causes PC-DMIS to hang
240080 - Clicking on any surface with CAD Info. dialog open while UG DCI license is disabled causes
PC-DMIS to crash.

[craiger_ny]

..........
102274 - Clearplane option should be greyed out
............

Give up on a Clearplane option that works well did ya'?

[Matthew D. Hoedeman]

I'm also not aware of a V4.0 MR, but that's not to say they'll never be one. With V4.1 pretty much ready to go though, I'd say it's unlikely.

When I heard that there was not going to be a 4.0mr, but a 4.1, I thought that meant that they were not doing MR's anymore and going back to the V4.0, 4.1, 4.105, 4.145, etc., like it was before. My bad.

[nkayWAI]

>Give up on a Clearplane option that works well did ya'?

Yes, we now plan instead to provide a free parrot with each licence (and free parrot food for those with SMAs), and the parrot will observe the operator, and warn you with "you're a very naughty boy" if it senses you're about to collide.

[craiger_ny]

>Give up on a Clearplane option that works well did ya'?

Yes, we now plan instead to provide a free parrot with each licence (and free parrot food for those with SMAs), and the parrot will observe the operator, and warn you with "you're a very naughty boy" if it senses you're about to collide.

Improvement, you're not all the way there with it but deffinately an improvement. Finally we are getting something for the SMA. Have you guys considered helper monkeys?

[Matthew D. Hoedeman]

I have no problems with the clearance plane (except V3.5 which would ignore them about 75% of the time while programming, but not while executing). I use them for the first tip/feature in a DCC program and about 50% of the time for tip changes. Never had a problem.

[craiger_ny]

I have no problems with the clearance plane (except V3.5 which would ignore them about 75% of the time while programming, but not while executing). I use them for the first tip/feature in a DCC program and about 50% of the time for tip changes. Never had a problem.

They aren't terrible but they aren't great either. You are probably aware of their behavior and program accordingly though seeing as how you use it. I don't like the way they behave when going from clearing one axis to another. It can be deceiving to a new guy where it actually turns off, it is not turned off at the line of code. You can get in trouble with a tip rotation moving to the clearance plane when you don't want it to if you don't know how it is going to behave. Small issues that are worked around easily if you are accustomed to them. But from a syntax perspective of liear programming it should not happen the way it does. Minor gripe I'll admit, but I like what Doberman describes with Calypso's clearplane.

Craig

[T Miller]

>Give up on a Clearplane option that works well did ya'?

Yes, we now plan instead to provide a free parrot with each licence (and free parrot food for those with SMAs), and the parrot will observe the operator, and warn you with "you're a very naughty boy" if it senses you're about to collide.

I like it but my sma is out of date.Do I still get the BIRD? just not the food right..

You take it may as well dish it out .... WTG you even get rep points for that 1

[nkayWAI]

>Have you guys considered helper monkeys?

Yes, but we found by the time they'd written out a warning card, the damage was done.