Mecsoft arose out of CAM programmers who used to be with UGS (akaUnigraphics), UGS being later purchased by Siemens PLM. At Mecsoft, Joe Anand is ceo and Uday Honnalager is technical support manager. I asked them what it is like to work with OnShape, and about their plans for running CAM on browser-servers (cloud).
As background: VisualCAD is the base program on which everything runs as plug-ins. So VisualCAM is a plug-in, as are Visual3DPrint and FreeMill. VisualCAM is also a plug-in for Solidworks and Rhino. Development of theGeomagic plug-in stopped with the 2014 release, but the company now links toOnshape.
VISUALImport for Onshape
MecSoft says it was the very first to support CAM with Onshape. Right now, the link is through the free VisualImport plug-in for VisualCAD. Its job is to transfer your Onshape models into VisualCAD. Following this, you can set up the model for machining with VisualCAM.
To import one of your Onshape models, you start in VisualCAD/CAM. Click the command on the ribbon to bring up Onshape Document Manager. This is a dialog box through which you communicate with Onshape.
The first time you do this, you have to get an authentication code from Onshape. The code allows you to link an external program with your Onshape account. Once authenticated, the Onshape Document Manager lists visually all files you have with Onshape. (See figure 1.)
 Figure 1Onshape Document Manager running in a small dialog box on top of VisualCAD/CAM
Select a part, and then click the Load button to bring the part into VisualCAD. Once there, the model can be prepped for machining. (See figure 2.)
 Figure 2VisualCAM applying CAM simulation to the part brought in from Onshape
Ralph Grabowski: Which formats does VisualCAD read from Onshape.
Joe Anand: Either STL and Parasolid. These is the only ones that Onshape provides for now.
Grabowski: Does using STL and Parasolid mean that information is lost?
Anand: Feature information is lost, and so models come in as dumb parts.
Grabowski: Will Onshape fix this in the future?
Anand: Oh yes. The Onshape API is not yet complete. The API in the future will allow features and other intelligence to be exported.
Grabowski: Between STL and Parasolid, which would you prefer?
Anand: Parasolid is preferred, as it provides edge, faces, and so they can be selected. STL is dumber.
CloudCAM
Grabowski: Tell me about your plans for putting CAM on the cloud.
Anand: Cloud is here to stay, and it is the future for design and for CAM. How far out in the future is debatable. Our company is in it for the long-haul, so it is something we have to look at. I think there will probably be a co-existence between the desktop and cloud.
Grabowski: Is this why you are working with Onshape?
Anand: We are looking at Onshape as a partner to help us get there. Their app store gives us a lot of exposure.
Grabowski: How do you plan to build CAM for the cloud?
Anand: It will take several steps, some of which we've already done:
Step 1 is our free Connector product, and it came out for Onshape last November, the first in the CAM world.
Step 2 is our free 3-axis FreeMill product, which opens CAM to Onshape users.
Step 3 will be released in the next few months. It is a full 2- to 5-axis CAM system. VisualCAM for Onshape will be specific to Onshape, it works with Onshape parts only, and uses their licensing API.
Grabowski: Does VisualCAM for Onshape work on the cloud or the desktop?
Anand: It operates on the desktop.
Grabowski: How much will it cost?
Anand: The pricing will be different from our usual products, it will be subscription-based. Right now Autodesk is dictating pricing with their Fusion 360 product.
Step 4 will come out at the end of the year or early next year. We are looking at a full-blown cloud solution. We are looking at different directions and positions, so there isn't much to say about it at this point.
Grabowski: Are other CAM vendors working on the same thing?
Anand: Others might be working on cloudCAM.
About VisualCAM
VisualCAM is not a single product, but a group of them. Following traditional CAM practice, the pricing is a la carte. The group covers milling ($1,500 - $10,000 depending on the number of axes), turning ($1,250), nesting ($750), and art or relief geometry ($500). These are available in bundles named Standard, Expert, Professional, and Premium. Both VisualCAD and FreeMill are free.
Recall that anyone with Internet access and a modern Web browser can have an Onshape account for free. The current limitation is that ten of your files stay private; more than this, and any other Onshape user can see your models. Removing the limitation to privacy costs you $100/month.
So we've got Onshape free, the 2D/3D CAD program VisualCAD free, and a free CAM add-on. FreeMill is Mecsoft's free milling software. It is three-axis machining software that performs only parallel finishing. Because it comes with all of Mecsoft's 200+ post-processors, it is good for testing machines to see if Visual CAD/CAM will work for your shop, as it generates the G-code. It's also useful for hobbyists.
http://www.mecsoft.com |
|
PROSTEP notes that "server based solutions allow you to integrate 3D PDF creation directly into an automated workflow, as well as providing extensive Digital Rights Management options." On the other hand, "using direct exportation in the CAD software cuts down on the need for more software, more steps during the workflow and generally, more problems."
Naturally, they lean towards both sides with their server- and client-based 3D PDF conversion software -- PDF Generator Pro and 3D PDF Pro.http://www.prostep.com/en |
|
Read the blog at WorldCAD Access as I write more about the CAD industry, and give tips on using hardware and software. You can also keep up with the blog through RSS feeds and email alerts. These are some of the articles that appeared on WorldCAD Access during the last week:
- CIMdata's Developing a Sustainable PLM Strategy Q&A
- Visual CAD/CAM 2016 from Mecsoft
I'm also on Twitter at @upfrontezine throughout the day with late-breaking CAD news and wry commentary, such as....
upFront.eZine (@upFronteZine) Jan 11: "Oleg Shilovitsky is now CEO and co-founder of Newman Cloud. Others at the firm include Vic Sanchez and Christopher Chaulk." |
|
Re: Don and I Talk About Computers
I bought a 17" notebook a couple of years ago from Puget Systems. It has been a workhorse for CAD/CAE, running Inventor, FEMAP/NX Nastran, Rhino, BricsCAD, Mathcad, and TK Solver.
The short version of the hardware spec is it has a 300W [watt] power supply. I maxed the RAM [random access memory] at 32GB [gigabytes]. The sales rep persuaded me to go with a 500GB SSD [solid state drive] system drive for Windows 7 Pro (he has my thanks). It has a 3GB Nvidia graphic board. I do not recall exactly what the processor is; I just went for something a step or two down from the top.
The display is amazing; I believe they call it high-color gamut. It only has four USB [universal serial bus] ports (one high speed), which is a bit limiting with a mouse, two software dongles, and a USB HD [hard drive] to plug in on occasion. It does have an SD [secure digital] card reader though. Needless to say it, has a DVD [digital versatile disc] drive and a 1TB mechanical HD.
It is heavy and the power supply is bulky, but that is of negligible importance to me. I believe it was just under $4k. Incidentally, I also have a Surface Pro 3 and like it too, but for very different uses.
-Philip Craven
The editor replies: 32GB! That's impressive. Even my desktop has only 16GB.
Mr Craven responds: "My desktop only has 8GB. It's the FEA [finite element analysis] that I usually run on my notebook that really benefits from as much RAM as possible. You may enjoy this: I remember man years ago impressing my Autodesk reseller the 8MB of RAM in my new Gateway 2000 tower system. He was setting me up with Mechanical Desktop v1.0. Some things do improve with time I guess!
- - -
I always enjoy reading upFront.eZine, but I particularly enjoyed your article about choosing computers. However, I appreciate progress that gives me less weight and bulk to carry around, even if I forgo a little backwards compatibility, such as going without an optical drive and carrying it separately for the rare occasions it is needed. Somewhere, I have a USB 3.5" floppy disk drive, although it's a while since it was used.
An indication of progress is that my current notebook weighs less than the carrying bag for the company computer with which I was issued 15 years ago.
These days I get to choose (and pay for) my own computers and endeavor to research the strengths and weaknesses before getting out my piece of plastic. I then do the world a favor and publish my findings. Put my name and "Dell E7450 review" into your favorite search engine to read about my latest investment. It's now got 16GB RAM, as well as a 1TB SSD and I'm currently in no hurry to look for a successor.
Keep up the good work and happy New Year,
- John Ratsey
England
The editor replies: Well, me too. I have a portable USB3 DVD burner for when the need arises. I suppose the question is, how little is too little, such as a single USB C port. Reminds me of the saying, "How much cheese do you save from a pizza before it no longer is a pizza," cheese being the most expensive ingredient.
Mr Ratsey responds: I agree that one port for external devices is too few. That's tablet territory! i would take one look and then look elsewhere. I suspect the answer is to look at range of business notebooks, which tend to have a lot of inertia [in terms of design changes], because of vendors not wanting to alienate their customers, some of whom are big enough to matter, by introducing incompatibilities with existing hardware.
- - -
Tell Don they still do make laptops for power users. I have a Lenovo W520 that has 32GB of Ram, a 1TB SSD, a 256GB card in the microSD slot, and still retains the DVD writer. I use the ExpressCard slot for serial ports or extra USB 3.0 ports when needed, though a small SSD can be put in there as well.
The current model of the W series is W540 with a faster clock speed and slightly improved features.
- Steve Mitchell
The editor replies: Thank you for the lead. Don doesn't trust Lenovo after their spyware scandal of last year. I am no longer fond of them either, given the awful post-warranty service I experienced; seehttp://www.worldcadaccess.com/blog/2015/12/why-ill-never-buy-another-lenovo.html.
Re: What Do Developers Want?
Was there any mention or discussion about ray tracing?
- Jon Peddie
The editor replies: The survey did not ask about ray tracing.
|
|
"I'm always conflicted when a new social net comes along. On the one hand it's ridiculous and people are morons. On the other hand, follow me."
- Farhad Manjoo on Twitter @fmanjoo |
|
|
|
Comments