Release Notes for NCG CAM v17.0 - NC Graphics · 2021. 3. 2. · Release notes for NCG CAM v17.0.05...

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Release Notes for NCG CAM v17.0.10

7403 Import: Provide SolidWorks 2021 support.


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Release Notes for NCG CAM v17.0.09 Very important! This error can only happen if you run NCG CAM in non English languages like Portuguese, French etc.. In rare cases the software could crash while running the post processor. When the error occurred the software could no longer be used and the database could not be saved. The following error messages popped up:

These are messages of Windows and appear in the language which is set in Windows. The bug was in the software since version 15.0.05. Because it happened very sporadically and only with a certain post processor setting, we could just find and fix the problem after long tests. The error can occur if the parameter in the post processor settings: Performance over spindles RPM check is set to true. With the post processors in Heidenhain format this is parameter 351, in ISO format 375. The parameter number may differ depending on the software version you have installed. If this parameter is set to true on your computer, you should definitely install version 17.0.09! However, we generally recommend installing version 17.0.09.


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Release notes for NCG CAM v17.0.08 7084 Interfaces: Two issues have been resolved when opening Creo files. Creo assembly files (* .asm) could only be loaded in version 17.07 if Load Component Information was selected. Reading these files is now possible again without this option being activated. Creo files containing a structure with multiple bodies now load correctly. If nothing is additionally selected when loading the file, the bodies will be loaded into a single folder. If Load Component Information is ticked when the file is opened, each body is loaded into a separate folder. The name of the folder in NCG CAM corresponds to the name given in Creo. If no name was given in Creo, the individual folders in NCG CAM are called Body 1, Body 2, etc..


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Release notes for NCG CAM v17.0.06 and v17.0.07 Unfortunately an error was introduced in version 17.0.05, making it no longer possible to create drilling cycles. We also found a problem with the machine simulation. This is why we jumped directly to version 17.0.07. Please also note the release notes for version 17.0.05, as these changes are all included in version 17.0.07. 6955: User Interface: The display of a Lolli-pop cutter was not correct if you added a tapered shank, this has now been fixed. 6956: User Interface: There was no preview image of the holder when saving a holder to the tool database from the passes creation dialog, this has now been fixed. 6957: Drilling: It was not possible to create drilling cycles (because of something in v17.0.05), this has now been fixed. 6959: Fixed a change to the diameter of holes when loading a step file. Holes will now be detected as before version 17.0.05. 6969: Prismatic Stock Models: The new cuboid stock created with fewer triangles was displaying the stock in the wrong place for simulation, this has now been fixed. 6988 : Machine Simulation: There was a problem where the translate option was not always working correctly within the machine simulation, this has now been fixed.


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Release notes for NCG CAM v17.0.05 This point release is mostly small improvements, and fixes since v17.0.05 Just a quick reminder to anyone still using Windows 7, support for Windows 7 stopped in January, while NCG CAM will still install, and run on Windows 7, we no longer test in Windows 7, and can not say how long this will last. If you have Windows 7, upgrading to Windows 10 should be considered. 4168: Machining Passes: A problem has been fixed where the point-spacing option did not operate for some sections of passes, leading to large gaps between points. For some controls, this can improve the motion of the machine The picture below shows the calculation before version 17.0.05 on the left with some large gaps in the point distribution, and on the right the even point distribution in 17.0.05.

5493: Fixed a problem where un-trimming a surface lost the underlying transformation. 5741: Import: Improved the checking when importing surfaces through Granite. 5940: Surface Analysis: A mismatch between limits set on the dialog and the colour coded analysis display has been fixed; the limits on the dialog can now be set to 3 decimal places rather than 2.


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6042: 5 axis: We now support tapered barrel cutters in addition to standard and tangential barrel cutters. First select Barrel as an advanced cutter type. Then select: Standard, Tangential or Tapered. The Tangential and Tapered Barrel cutter must have a corner radius, the Tapered Barrel cutter must also have an upper corner radius.

6141: Fixed File associativity problem. When loading a Creo parts file with file extension .prt.<n>, if the geometry in this file has changed it will pop up a message and ask the user "Would you like to update". 6340: Rest Finishing: It is now possible to use differing XY and Z thicknesses for rest finishing passes, with the same thicknesses being applied to both the reference and target cutters.

6553: ModuleWorks: Updated the ModuleWorks libraries to MW2020-04, this also fixes ticket 6661 and ticket 6766. 6590: Fixed the problem when the surface loaded from the Datakit libraries with no colour defined, then used the model body colour instead of using the NCG CAM surface colour.


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6774: Updated the Datakit Libraries to V2020.2. Provides support for Catia version (R30). It also fixes tickets: 6255 (an issue loading some Solidworks files), 6611 (an issues converting to NURBs), 6649 and 6650 (an issue loading some Parasolid files). 6779: Hole detection: Restored the ability to join collinear conical holes. Also fixes ticket 6605.

6783: Compound Cycles: Fixed a problem which stopped compound cycles from loading if the selected drilling data plan had been edited. 6784: Surface Analysis: The redrawing of surface analysis results, such as Draft Angles, Curvatures and Surface Comparisons, could be slow when the limits on the range were changed. This problem has been fixed. 6785: User interface: The Split Toolpath dialog has been updated to be consistent with other dialogs, with a menu tree on the left. 6786: User interface: The Sister Tooling dialog has been updated to be consistent with other dialogs, with a menu tree on the left. 6788: Points: The "Convert to Points" option can now take multiple selected Detected holes or Drilling data plan as inputs. 6794: Drilling: The Drilling depth was not being remembered when rerunning with using Properties and drilling from start of part n, this has been fixed. 6796: Drilling Data: Fixed a problem with editing a drilling data point using properties on the drilling data folder.


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6797: Rest finishing: The use of toroidal target cutters has been enabled.

6798: Toolsheet: The images were displaying the old-style axes, this has now been fixed. 6811: Tool Database: A restriction has been removed to allow the selection of tapered tools of different flute lengths. The edit will also affect the Shaft Analysis and ‘3 to 5’ conversion tool selection. 6810: Analysis: The initial display of the analysis was not always correct; this has now been fixed. 6813: Rest Waterline Passes: Fixed a regression from 16.0.05 which in some cases lead to a worse result for rest waterline passes. 6814: Post-processor: Toolsheet: Added a new tag, <PostProcessorToolpath> to hold the post processor for each toolpath. It is output within the Cutter section of the XML file. 6815: Tool database – Most Recently Used List: Fixed a problem where holders not in the tool database were not being exported when using the Export MRU option 6817: Import: It was possible for NCG CAM to crash if the application was closed while it was reading a geometry file, this has now been fixed.


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6818: Selected Surface Waterline: A problem where passes against non-vertical surfaces were sometimes fragmented has been fixed.

6819: User interface: If you tried to draw a 2D stock model with shaded edge graphics enabled NCG CAM would crash, this has now been fixed. 6823: Detect Holes: Small chamfers could lead to parts of the holes being missed. This has now been fixed. 6831: Rest Finishing: A problem has been fixed where if the user cancelled the calculation of the passes, the program could become unresponsive for a significant length of time. 6836: User Interface: Corrected the warning message which displays when failing to load a file through the Granite interface.


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6838: Detect Holes: Minimum diameter for holes default value increased to 0.05. The min diameter must now be greater than 0 (zero).

6840: Updated Granite to v13.0.0.0. This provides support for Creo 7.0 files. 6841: User interface: The selection of advanced cutter types (Dove, Lollipop, T-Slot, Barrel and Lens) have been blocked for Five-Axis Roughing as they are not supported and cause the plan to fail. 6842: Fixed exception thrown when detecting holes in a part moved a long way from the origin. 6844: Changed the default Bitangency angle used when generating passes to 10 degrees to capture more passes.

This affects: Rest finishing passes (image above) and Pencil passes, / Parallel pencil passes. 6847: User interface: There was a problem where it was possible to select unsuitable toolpaths for Five-Axis conversion from the inputs page on the dialog, this has now been fixed.


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6854: Post processors: Heidenhain: If the Cycle DEF 320 is used; it is now cancelled at the end of the toolpath. 6855: User Interface: Set Coordinate system was greyed out when the Datum was selected in a Triangulation folder. It should have been available; this has now been fixed. 6856: Import: We now support Creo 7.0 parts with multiple bodies loading through Granite V13. 6857: Post processors: Toolsheet: Removed the option "Is cutter ball nosed" from the CSV options as it was not used. 6859: Five-Axis: The Validation of Barrel cutters has been updated to stop cases where the flute length had been set too small which caused an exception. 6863: Adaptive Clearance: New options to the Limits section have been added to allow Z Min and Max values to be derived from Surfaces/Stock/Surfaces and Stock or User defined.

6865: Stock Models: The number of triangles in a closed Prismatic Stock Model (Cuboid) has been reduced, it will now contain 12. Which makes the handling much better, as it needs less data.


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6868: It is now possible to create coordinate system objects from datum points input from geometry files. This was possible before, but got disabled in error, in an earlier v17.0

6870: User Interface: When NCG CAM was closed it was writing some Toolbar data to the registry in the wrong location, this has now been fixed. 6872: Surface Analysis: A problem has been fixed where manipulating on-screen objects could cause surface analysis dialogs to flicker. 6873: Surface Analysis: A problem has been fixed where the text showing the analysis value sometimes did not follow the pointer as it moved over the surface. 6879: Compound Cycles: The tool that was defined for a compound drilling cycle could be altered by the program when rerunning the cycle on a different hole. This has been fixed. 6885: Fixed record exception thrown when selecting a surfaces folder as the protected surfaces input for Waterline passes. 6886: Curves: The curve joining has been improved to reduce the creation of small connecting curve sections when handling disjoint data. 6887: Modify Curves: Planarize and Z limits are now in rotated space (the same as for Extract Curves plan) 6892: Toolsheet: Classic plus: The cutter name and holder name have been added to the toolpath details. For a neater layout, the 'Required Cylindrical length' has been moved to below the 'Required body length'.


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6893: Drilling: Fixed an exception when calculating drilling data 6896: Import: File names with xxx.prt.number are now interpreted as ProEngineer / Creo files, not Unigraphics files. 6897: Import: Fixed an exception thrown loading a file with bad data 6898: Ruled Surface: If you tried to create a ruled surface from selected curves and points folder, but the point folder contained no points, it would cause NCG CAM to give an exception, this has now been fixed. 6900: Horizontal Area Machining: Trapped exceptions thrown when horizontal area passes cannot be found. The plan now fails gracefully. 6903: Post processors: The Number of decimal places for the feedrate could be set in the options but was using a single value. This has been changed to be consistent with the general Number of decimal places where you can set: “metric number”: “imperial number”. It is unlikely, but could affect post processors, if you post process to imperial units.

There was a similar issue with the number of decimal places for the NCView file, this too has been made consistent for mm / inches output. 6905: Toolsheet: Added an option in the Toolsheet post processors to allow the number of decimal places to be set for the toolpath length. It will permit one value for metric and another for imperial.


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6906: The toolsheet options allow the number of decimal places to be set, and a single value. This has been fixed to allow a “metric”: “imperial” format, to be set.

6907: Rotations are now handled correctly when creating coordinate systems from a datum point. 6915, 6871: Machine simulation: The collision check in the machine simulation using the fast forward button is now much faster. In some cases it takes only a sixth of the time compared to previous versions.

6923: User Interface: The 2D Stock Model option was falsely enabled if a prismatic stock model was selected as input, this has now been fixed. 6925: Curves: Curve thinning is now switched off as default when planarizing curves. However, if curve thinning is applied, the results have been improved. 6928: Curves: Fixed a problem with joining curves which could lead to low quality arcs. 6929: User Interface: The default Edge Shade colour has been changed to black. 6935: Post processors - Added support for the tangential and tapered barrel cutters, so the data can be passed to GPost for the machine simulation. Existing machine simulations post processors will need updating to support the tangential and tapered barrel cutters. 6942: Machine Simulation : Updated the Hermle C40 and RoboDrill Machine Simulation posts processors to be compatible with the changes in ticket #6935


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Release notes for NCG CAM v17.0.04 This point release is mainly small improvements, tweaks and fixes since v17.0.03 6167: Coordinate System: The re-running of plans when transforming with 'Re-triangulate when setting datum' enabled has been improved. 6363: Graphics: When calculating machining passes the display was not being updated as the passes were created, this has now been fixed. Also fixes ticket 6488 6536: Rest finishing: A regression introduced at version 17.0.0, where end-cap passes are curtailed, or missing altogether, has been fixed.

6595: Fixed an issue where colinear holes would join incorrectly. This has been fixed by placing a restriction on the distance checked when joining holes. 6675: Linking: Fixed a problem which could lead to gouging ramping moves being created, when the ramp extension was set to 0. 6684: User Interface: When running Cutter Animation or Cutter Simulation and activating a different graphics window to the one which is currently running the animation, NCG CAM would crash, this has now been fixed. 6688: Tool Database: The Zoller interface has been updated to fix the following issues: 1. Fix in our release management for the setup sheet to save the project name. 2. Fix for the selection of the Technology data sets during the import. 3. Fix during the creation of the setup sheet for the comment of the tools. 6694: User Interface: There were occasions where the program would lock when using the plan inputs page, this has now been fixed. This also fixes ticket 6758 6698: Machine Along Curve Passes: Fixed issue with the gouge protection for Machine Along Curve Passes. 6692: NCG CAM does not crash when restarting the application after hiding the ribbon by hitting Ctrl-F1. Hitting Ctrl-F1 again may be needed to show the ribbon after restarting the application.


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6699: Cutter Simulation: It is now possible to select Stock Models created from Triangulated Surfaces to be used in simulation. 6706: User Interface: There were occasions when plan dialogs were taking a long time to appear, if we had a large number of user variables, this has now been fixed. 6715: Cutter Simulation: There were examples where the Display mode was set to Gouge colours. Colours could be shown incorrectly / greyed out. This has now been fixed. 6723: User Interface: There were occasions where an Invert Selection was not working correctly, this has now been fixed. 6728: User Interface: The filename that appears in the recent macro file list, now shows the last used file correctly when using the ribbon interface. 6730: User Interface: Toolpath analyse will now work on multiple selected input plans 6731: User Interface: Geometry analyse will now work on multiple selected input plans 6732: Detect Holes: Rotations close to the Z-axis are now less likely to be rounded to the axis itself. This should allow for small angles to be correctly detected. Also fixes ticket 6754 6736: User Interface: There were occasions where dialogs were slow to appear if selected folders contained a large number of nested folder definitions, this has now been fixed. 6737: User Interface: When using the Three Point Circle option it was not drawing resulting circle before the dialog is displayed, this has now been fixed. 6751: Adaptive Clearance: The speed has been improved, as we do not retriangulate the surfaces anymore. 6755: User Interface: The 'Use ModuleWorks advanced page' option now only works for Five-Axis operation, not Adaptive Clearance. 6759: Linking: Along Curve Passes. When cutter compensation is active the lead extension must be greater than zero. This is to prevent the cutter compensation being applied / removed on the lead in / out radius. 6700: Boundaries: There were occasions when the Detect Rest Areas option was greyed out incorrectly in the menus, this has now been fixed. 6702: Cutter Simulation: The selected Surface Triangulation folder is now undrawn before the simulation starts to enable easy viewing of any gouges. 6709: User Interface: Fixed a problem which caused the guide arrows to not display when linking some passes plans. 6712: Linking: Fixed a problem with the use of points plans as input to linking plans 6745: Rest finishing: The very first pass on a steep section, as well as the passes that approach it, would often be missing. This problem has now been fixed. 6763: Along Curve Passes: Fixed an issue that could cause a database with compensated along curve toolpaths to crash when loaded. 6768: Along Curve Toolpaths: If Along Curve Passes are trimmed to a toolholder we now force gouge protection on for the holder and the shank for subsequent operations.


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6769: Post processor: Heidenhain, For the Bore with spindle orientation cycle, the wrong value was output for the retract feed (Q208) this has now been corrected. 6765: Removed the option to join collinear conical holes from the user interface and documentation. This is because the data for some holes could be incorrect. We will restore it as soon as we can. 6771: Graphics: The rotation speed of Shaded Edge graphics has been improved. 6778: The machine tool simulation now supports the Portuguese translation


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Release notes for NCG CAM v17.0.03 This point release is mainly small improvements, tweaks and fixes since v17.0.02

Smaller features and general maintenance tickets. 4359: The listed diameter for a hole is now always the size of the smallest part. Previously the diameter of the last section would be used. The displayed dimeter in the drilling data folder will now be the smaller diameter in the diameter of that hole feature. This also affected the default drill size when creating the drilling cycle. 5966: The NCG CAM data folders are now purged of files that are over a month old when the number of files becomes large. 5974: User Interface: Changed the wording of a folder from "Five Axis Parameters" to "Advanced Parameters" as it is used for more than just five axis operations.

6174: Drilling: Estimated machine times could be wrong for transformed deep drilling cycles, this has been fixed. Also fixes ticket 6606 6433: Coordinate System: Fixed a problem transforming Extract Slice Curves Plans 6453: Rest Finishing: Occasionally NCG CAM could become unresponsive while calculating rest finishing passes. The problem has now been fixed. 6501: Import: We now use the Datakit interface to import IGES files when Convert to NURBs enabled. Please note that convert to NURBs is no longer supported for VDA files. Also fixes tickets 4333, 4552, 5750, and 6199.


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6515: User interface: The Project Settings, Save Files dialogs have been updated to use a more recent Windows dialog.

Above is the v17.0.02 and older appearance.

Above is the new v17.0.03 appearance.

6544: Import: An error message is now reported if the loading of a Granite file fails.


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6556: Post processor: ISO: Some controls to not like having "\" in a comment, if you output the path and file name, it will include "\". Added the option "Substitute the \ in the path for /". This is set false by default so existing post processors will not be affected. If set true "/" will be use in place of "\".

6569: User interface: When using the ribbon interface, icons in the pull down lists in plan inputs page have been updated to be consistent with the interface, the old icons are still displayed in toolbar interface. 6570: Updated the Datakit Libraries to v2020.1. Provides support for SOLIDWORKS 2020.

6572: User interface: It is now possible to save image files as JPEG's. 6573: User interface: The UV Direction arrows were drawn in the wrong colour with shaded edge rendering, this has now been fixed. 6578: User Interface: Axes at coordinate system have sharper cone arrows and are displayed in shaded style. 6583: User interface: Display of UV Direction folders with Wire Frame HLR was incorrect, this has now been fixed. 6584: User interface: Cutter animation: We now only update the nominal feedrate text when necessary, this will prevent the text looking like it is flickering.


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6587: User interface: When using the ribbon interface, the Entity icons in the Compound Cycle dialog have been updated to be consistent with the interface, old icons are still displayed in toolbar user interface.

6588: Coordinate System: Setting a coordinate system no longer creates duplicates when applied to multiple inputs with the Re-triangulation option enabled. 6599: Detect holes: When a hole is detected on the Z-axis it will now snap to it, if sufficiently close. 6600: Detect holes: Now correctly applies axis restriction to all types of rotation model. 6601: Drilling: The drilling plan label was not always updating correcting when the Start of Part and End of Part options were changed. This has been fixed. 6603: Stock Models: Prismatic Stock Models are now created closed by default. 6607: User interface: The update functions for the Boundary ribbon have been improved. 6609: Drilling Data: Dragging holes into an editable drilling data plan wasn't handling the drilling shapes correctly, this has now been fixed. 6613: Detect Holes: Removed functionality in checks done to detect holes designed for counterbores as it seemed to create bugs. 6615: User Interface: There were occasions when setting a co-ordinate system would redraw the shaded edge rendering incorrectly (out of position), this has now been fixed. 6616: Cutter Simulation: If the shank clearance is zero we no longer output a warning dialog for shank clearance failure. 6618: Adjusted the size of the create coordinate system dialog and made the semi colon spacing consistent. 6620: User interface: The content tree folders for Tool, Hole Shape and Recycle Folders could be moved into sub-folders. This has now been blocked. 6621: User Interface: There were occasions when pasting parameters between incompatible plans was causing a crash. This has now been fixed. 6622: Stock Models: There was a problem where it was possible for stock model plans to fail due to boundaries and toolpaths having different rotations, which were essentially the same, this has now been fixed. 6626: User Interface: When displaying with Wireframe HLR rendering, selected surfaces were not drawn in the incorrect colour, this has now been fixed.


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6630: User Interface: The Detect Hole Feature icon has been added to the Geometry ribbon, the Set Coordinate System icons have been added to the points ribbon, and the Direction Arrow icon has been added to the Curves ribbon. This is to reduce the need to move between different ribbons.

6631: User Interface: Icon intensity does not change now when quickly moving mouse over the icons many times on contents tree. 6636: Surface Comparison: We now round down the minimum value to avoid display issues. 6640: User Interface: Detect Holes: A Maximise view was not respecting the wireframe of detected hole shapes. This has been fixed. 6643: Tool Database: The Zoller Tool Management System has been updated to support the new "SortToolsByPostProcessor" option. 6644: User Interface: Changing the size of the tool guide with the mouse wheel now obeys the direction setting in mouse options. 6647: User Interface: The Cutting Parameters Plan was not honouring the "Preserve Root Folders" option when multiple toolpaths were selected, this has now been fixed. 6648: Cutter Simulation: When using a clipping plane the graphics for the simulation were incorrect, this has now been fixed. 6653: Update function for Detect Holes improved. 6658: Boundary Projection: If you tried to project an empty boundary folder onto the surfaces NCG CAM would crash, this has now been fixed. 6662: There was a problem when creating a coordinate system from points that could cause NCG CAM to crash, this has now been fixed. 6669: Cutter Simulation: There were occasions when simulating a transformed planar toolpath would cause a crash, this has now been fixed. 6672: Cutter Simulation: Any Shank or Holder Clearance failures are now output to the Log window and not to a dialog that popped up before. 6684: User Interface: When running Cutter Animation or Simulation and activate different graphics window than the one which is currently running the animation NCG CAM would crash, this has now been fixed.


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Release notes for NCG CAM v17.0.02 This point release is mainly small improvements, tweaks and fixes to v17.0.01 Being able to set the rotation model in the project settings is a new feature, it should help reduce some mouse clicks for 3+2 machining, boundary creation.

New features. 6393: Added the “Rotation model” option to the project setting. Also replaced the control options dialog with rotation model control options dialog, as they now work with the Rotation model setting. When using advanced option to create a boundary or machine passes, the rotation model can be set as None, Apply current view rotation or Apply the project setting. Also added new page for rotation model control options dialog.

Mini guide. This allows the axis of rotation to be pre-set, to aid boundary creation for 3+2 machining. This will eliminate he need to keep selecting BC (or AC, AB … ) button before creating a boundary for 3+2 machining. It will be possible to have ‘any’ rotation, but still apply the requited rotation.

The chosen selection should match the machine tool. (For this mini guide BC is selected).


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Here an angled face has been selected (shown in orange). Later a silhouette boundary will be created with the required BC rotations.

Then N + mouse left click on that surfaces, so the view is normal to that surface. As BC was not preselected in the ribbon / toolbar, while the view is Normal to that surfaces, the rotation is actually AC. This is OK

With the Ctrl, pressed, pick: Silhouette boundary That will show the dialog like the image to the right. Ensure “Apply project settings rotation’ is selected, and click OK

Apply project settings rotation:

This will create recalculate the current rotation to use the axis of rotation set in the project settings. (BC for this example).

Apply current view rotation: This will use the rotation for the ‘current view’ and ignore the rotation preference set in the project settings. This would be of little use for machining, but perfectly good for editing, or creating a planar patch.

None: No rotation will be applied with this option selected.


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Because the ‘Display advance dialogs’ was enabled, the bounding box dialog will be displayed. Notice that the rotations being used are BC We can OK that and the dialog for aperture and resolution control.

In the contents tree, the Silhouette boundary folder will also show BC rotations.

The detect holes will also pre-set the Rotation preference based on the Rotation model in the Project settings.


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Smaller features and general maintenance tickets. 2784: Post Processors: A Thread Milling cycle has been added to the GPost macro, so we can now emulate or use a cycle block. 3119: Drilling: The editing of drilling data plans is now consistent with editing of points plans. The ‘Add Drilling Data’ dialog now works in a modeless manner. Drilling Data plans can be organised into new Drilling data folders (See ticket: 6541). 4966: User Interface: Created a modeless version of the cutting parameters dialog 5643: Improved detect holes to reject composite holes that can only be drilled from the wrong end. Also fixes ticket 6429 5805: User Interface: For dialogs that permit the creation / editing of a cutter or tool holder, we now shrink the image to 97.5% of the original scale. This will avoid the image being too close to the frame/edge. 5944: User Interface: Added a pull-down menu to the editable boundaries dialog to allow the machine's rotation (AB/AC etc) to be changed. When this parameter is changed the rotations are updated to satisfy the new constraint and maintain the same tool axis.

5955: Import: If B spline Surface is periodic, convert this surface to B spline surface again, this will give a non-periodic B spline surface. Also fixes ticket 5877 5977: Hole detections: If two holes meet from opposite angles that are a small degree off being co-linear they should be detected as blind holes. This is now detected correctly. Also fixes ticket 6140 5987: Import: Fix a bug in the reading of an IGES file. In some instances, a cylinder could be created when a fillet radius was expected. 6031: Drilling data is now created correctly when BA rotations are selected. Also fixes ticket 4826


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6194 & 6493: The Axis are displayed with a wider line in graphics window, and the Axes arrowheads are now drawn as cones instead of 2D outlines. Datum points are also displayed with a wider line when clicking 'Create Coordinate System' button. The line width of the Axes and coordinate systems can be set in Axes Options page. The default width is 2.0.

6284, 6374, 6522 & 6533: User Interface: The context menus now use the new icons from the ribbon interface when ribbons are active.

The Entity icons in process manager dialog and passes inputs page are also updated to be consistent with the interface. The icons are updated when switching between ribbon and menu/toolbar interfaces. Old icons display in menu/toolbar interface, new icons display in ribbon interface. 6304: Updated Granite to v12.0.2.0


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6313: Cutter Simulation: Stock models used for simulation must now be closed. If the stock model is not closed, Cutter Simulation will be greyed out. 6329: Drilling: Fixed a problem which caused inconsistent (depth) labelling of Drilling Cycle and Drilling Toolpath folders. 6347: User Interface: Deleted items no longer appears as available on the Plan Inputs page. 6263: Cutter Simulation: Erase any selected stock model before simulation starts to ensure the simulated stock is visible. 6375: Updated Datakit libraries to 2019.4. Also fixes ticket 6305. 6380: Toolbars are set to default positions when the program is run with the toolbar interface for the first time. 6381: ModuleWorks: Update with a patch for MW2019-8 to fix Five-Axis conversion and Adaptive Clearance problems. Also fixes ticket 6378 6390: User Interface: Only retain the name of editable boundaries when used as plan input if the name has been changed from the system default. 6396: Post Processors: Heidenhain, ISO, and Seimens posts, the estimated machining time could be output as a comment, with the text: "Estimated overall machining time (hh:mm:ss) is: nn:nn:nn". But having the extra (round brackets) inside the comment could cause a problem on some controls. Using [square brackets] inside the comment should prevent the control showing an error. 6403: Cutter Simulation: The display mode is now remembered between simulation sessions. 6409: User Interface: The Inspection Results were not being displayed correctly in the graphics window, this has now been fixed. Also fixes ticket 6415 6410: The desktop icon has been improved / made to look more defined.. 6412: User Interface: There were occasions when copy and pasting parameters by value, caused validation values for string and point parameters, this has now been fixed. 6413: User Interface: An option has been added to enable the use of the advanced ModuleWorks page by default. This option is located in: Options > Preferences.

6414: Stock Models: Multi-Axis stock models were not honouring the constraint boundary, this has now been fixed. 6419: User Interface: The selection code for modeless dialog mouse input has been modified to make it more likely a mouse click will pick a proximal vertex or edge than a general surface point when working in "non-wireframe" view.


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6421: Linking: Improvements have been made to the linking of helical passes to reduce the number of retracts and improve the fitting of horizontal lead arcs. 6422: Linking: We will try to produce non retracting connecting moves even if a conventional (ie minimal or full) retract is selected for Waterline Passes and edited area clearance passes if the ends we are connecting are within distance restrictions, defined by the ‘Clear surface by’ value. 6427: A user can click minimise, maximise and close icons and drag the program window when first running the application on a new or clean PC. 6431: Post Processors: GPOST was not outputting a LOADTL statement for Tool Number Zero, this has now been fixed. 6432: User Interface: The UV passes icons have new icons, there is a green tick on all UV Direction icons.

6444: The Ctrl + Alt + X/Y/Z combination is now used in place of Alt + Shift + X/Y/Z to avoid a conflict with a Windows function when multiple languages are installed.

6445: User Interface: The spacing on the Five-Axis Flank Machining dialog has been corrected. 6446: User Interface: Set Coordinate System moves the part from being in reference to the coordinate system to the global origin. The inverse can now instead be done, by holding Ctrl or Shift and pressing Set Coordinate System. The part will then move from its position to the global origin to a new position in reference to the coordinate system.


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6447: Cutter Simulation: We now distinguish between ramp up and down moves when simulating with the move colours option, previously it was always using the RampDown colour. 6450: Cutter Simulation: On examples where the toolpath being simulated is on a flat plan with a constant Z depth could cause the simulation to crash, this has now been fixed. 6454: User Interface: When setting a coordinate system the view will no longer rotate. 6455: The Translation Grid of Create Coordinate System now takes just the selected surface or curve when calculating the grid. 6457: Cutter Simulation: The cutting tolerance in the simulation is now set correctly so that the gouge checking gives the expected results. 6458: Cutter Simulation: The correct colours are now used for simulation with the Move Colours option. 6460: Cutter Simulation: The stock model created from the current simulation was not always as expected, the bounding box was incorrect, this has now been fixed. 6461: Rest Waterline Passes: Fixed a problem where some passes were not being edited out. 6462: User Interface: The selection by box was demonstrating a lag when moving the mouse, on Windows 7, This has now been improved. 6463: When giving rotations for a coordinate system the program now accounts for the preferred rotation model. 6464: Cutter Simulation: There were occasions where graphics rotation after skipping to the end of the toolpath was very slow, this has now been fixed. 6466: Transform: We were allowing editable points plans to be transformed without converting them into non-editable versions. The transformation of editable boundaries plans with a sub-selection and the option "Merge with untransformed" was not working. Both have been fixed. 6469: User Interface: The update functions for Fillet Surfaces, Detect shallow Areas, Detect Rest Areas, Detect Contact Areas & Detect Theoretical Rest Areas, have been changed to allow for the selection of a tool plan as an input.. 6470: User Interface: Cutter Animation could appear slow when the ribbon view tab is active, this has now been fixed. 6472: User Interface: There were some occasions when the Edit Transform Reverse Linking dialog was slow to appear, this has now been fixed. 6473: Setting the inverse of a coordinate system now works correctly for tool paths. 6476: When selecting two coordinate systems and / or a toolpath now directly transforms from one to the other when pressing set coordinate system. 6477: User Interface: Local datum axes can now be drawn with dotted lines when coordinate systems are blocked by surfaces or are always drawn in front when options are set. 6478: Linking: Changed the validation for the Helical Ramp diameter so the supplied value must be greater than zero. 6479: The Tips file now displays correctly in all languages when starting NCG CAM.


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6480: User Interface: Added field to Options > Defaults to specify the number of user variables displayed in the project settings.

6481: User Interface: We now pop a warning dialog if the user tries to set UV direction curves for surface types we cannot UV machine. 6483: Linking: Helical Passes: We were mistakenly using the helical ramp diameter in some cases where we should have been using the horizontal lead in radius. 6486: User Interface: Users can now apply an "inverse" transformation to datum points in addition to coordinate systems. This can be done by selecting the toolpath and new coordinate system, the using Ctrl + Set Coordinate System. 6487: User Interface: Some machining plans were being enabled when supplied with unsupported input plan combinations. This has been fixed. 6489: When cutter compensation for along curves is applied the cutter offset is now correctly as the greyed out parameters are now ignored. 6490: User Interface: To move the part by specifying the datum point with Ctrl + Shift + Mouse right + (X/Y/Z)t now works again. 6492: Post Processor: Heidenhain: There are two options added for the External thread milling cycle 267. There is a "Cycle 267 - Surface coordinate prefix" and "Cycle 267 - Surface coordinate prefix" to allow some additional parameters to be output if needed. By default, these options are empty, so not to affect any existing post processor.


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6494: Graphics: We no longer draw Stock Models with Shaded Edge, the shaded edges are omitted. Also fixes ticket 6509. 6496: Stock Models: There was a problem when creating a stock model with toolpaths which contained C only rotations, this has now been fixed. The cutter is now extended to infinity for Multi-Axis toolpath stock models. 6498: Cutter Simulation: Failures due to Shank & Holder clearance were not being reported correctly, this has now been fixed. 6504: Shaft Profile: When shaft profile is run on roughing style passes we now display a warning message and brief explanation in the database window.

6508: User Interface: Cutter Simulation was not on all required context menus, this has now been fixed.

6511: Post processor: GPost, when checking for a C axis only rotation, the check is to 6 decimal places now, before it had to be exactly 0.0. 6512: User Interface: The order of the libraries on the management page have been changed to be: Tool Database, Hole Shape Database, Materials. 6516: User Interface: There were occasions when using Ctrl + P (print) in the graphics window was causing NCG CAM to crash, this has now been fixed. 6518: User Interface: Silhouette Boundaries: It was possible to display the options dialog twice by holding the Ctrl key and pressing OK. This has been fixed. 6523: Cutter Simulation: There were occasions when the Holder/Shank collision dialog was still being displayed after using the "Ignore all" option, this has now been fixed. 6528: Project Settings: The layout of the project settings dialog has been changed so Materials Database and Cutting Speeds are together. 6529: User Interface: If the "show tips on startup" is off, and “Tip of the day” is selected from the ribbon or menus, the correct tip is now displayed.. 6530: User Interface: The Passes tab on the ribbon has new icons which are consistent to the entity icons in ribbon interface. 6534: User Interface: Made improvements to graphics to speed up drawing of axes and selection box.


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6541: User Interface: Added Create Drilling Top Folder to the Context Menu

A single or group of drilling data plans can be selected. Then pick Create Drilling Data Folder …

That will create a new Drilling data folder with just those drilling data plans.

6550: User Interface: The tree view icons for Shaft profile on the ribbon interface have been improved. 6551: Linking: A problem with the linking waterline constant stepover passes which meant some horizontal lead in arcs could be incorrectly discarded has been fixed. 6552: User Interface: Improvements have been made to the performance of the update functions which enable/disable options in the user interface, depending on what is selected in the contents tree.. 6554: User Interface: Minor redesign of the project settings dialog to avoid translation layout errors by making the first column wider. 6564: User Interface: Updated copyright to 2020. 6567: User Interface: When a coordinate system is created the preferred rotation will now depend on the rotation model selected in the view.


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Release notes for NCG CAM v17.0.01 This is a major release, so you will need a new licence code. There are a number of major enhancements as well as the more minor tweaks and fixes One of the biggest changes you will notice is the User interface, where there is now a ribbon in place of the toolbar.

New features. 4911: New feature: User interface: The user interface has been updated to a ribbon style. This is most likely going to be the first thing you notice about v17.0, everything is still there, but the layout is different. The toolbar has been replaced with the ribbon interface, and the icons / buttons have changed.

The old toolbars are still there for any who prefer the toolbar. In the top right of the NCG CAM window, there is the option to pick: Menu/Toolbar interface

Which will make the user interface look like v16.0 If you have the Menu/Toolbar interface displayed, it is possible to change to the ribbon interface

The Style menu will allow the Ribbon interface to be selected.

Mini guide. Really the ribbon is not that different to using the menus in previous versions of NCG CAM. After picking the required menu, the options are displayed horizontally in the ribbon, and the required function picked from there, rather than a vertical list. Each button has a tool-tip too, something you do not get with the vertical menu. Irrespective of what menu is selected / displayed, just as with the toolbars, if you do not have the correct items selected the button will be greyed out.


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Depending on the width of the NCG CAM window, some buttons in the ribbon may be reduced in size, to occupy 3 rows. For the Boundary menu below, Rectangle, Circle and From Text are place on 3 rows

The View menu is the menu first displayed when you open a part. The viewing options are here, but some are repeated on other menus because they are used so often. Other tools like the Clipping plane, Three point circle, Axis, Surface comparison and Curvature tools are here, along with the AB, AC, BC options for limiting the rotations for 3+2 work.

The selected menu remains displayed until you change to a different menu. There will always be a menu displayed, after opening a part, then default menu will be the View section.

Here the Boundaries menu has been selected. There are some of the common viewing options that you may well want while creating a boundary. Then there are the boundary creation options like: Create new boundary folder, Bounding box, Silhouette boundary that you would expect to see. There is also the common boundary editing functions like intersection subtraction and offset.

On the Passes menu, with the surface and boundary selected in the contents tree, the required type of passes can be selected. The toolbar had 3 axis and 5axis operations under machining, this is now split to Pass for 3 axis and 5axis for, five axis machining.


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To the right of this part screen grab, there is also the Linking button, so you can link without changing to the Toolpath menu.

You may be wondering where the File menu or the Tools menu and Window menu have gone. They still exist but are accessed in a slightly different manner.

The application button (the image of the end of a slot drill) will display a File menu and give access to things you would expect to find in the Tools menu. Just like a typical File Menu, the difference is at the bottom right. There are some extra buttons for accessing for accessing Options, Libraries and the units Picking Options will pop a familiar looking dialog up, but it will be missing Tool Database and Material. Clicking on Libraries will offer the Material, Tool database, and a Hole database (more about the Hole database later, its new for v17.0.)


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To access the Windows menu, you will find Windows in the title bar on the right.

In NCG CAM window title bar, there is a Ribbon Style option list. This allows you to select your preferred colour theme. It changes the background colour of the ribbon. Office Blue is the default theme, but Office Black has been selected here.

There is a little toolbar in the NCG CAM window title bar. This is a ‘Quick access toolbar’ and has some buttons you may want quick access to, like File Open, Save, the Process Manager.

If you click on the little button on the right hand end of the Quick access toolbar, you are able to access the Customize Quick Access Toolbar There are some ‘standard’ functions like New, Open, Save that you can enable or disable. The More Commands options will allow the adding (or removal) of other options.


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If you click on More Commands, the dialog (shown left) will appear. You can use the “Pick Commands from” to select the menu you want select a button from. That will change the list of Commands. To order the quick access toolbar, it is possible to select an item in the righthand panel and use the up/down arrow buttons to move it.

As an example, Insert Geometry will be added to the Quick Access Toolbar. The relevant ‘menu’ for the required button needs to be selected from the Choose commands from list. Select a button / command from that list of Commands in the left-hand panel. Buttons need to be moved individually.

Use the Add>> button to copy it to the righthand panel (this is the quick access toolbar).


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It is also possible to select an item from the right-hand panel and use the up / down arrows to move it. If there is a button in the Quick Access Toolbar that is not wanted there. Select it in the right-hand panel, and then click Remove. It will always be in the left-hand panel so can always be put back if needed. Once you have the buttons you want, just click OK

That button will be in the Quick Access Toolbar each time you open NCG CAM.

Keyboard shortcuts It is also possible to define your own keyboard shortcuts, which may help for some things that you use frequently. The following example will use Shift+n to open the file open dialog to Insert another model.

Click on the little arrow button on the end of the Quick Access Toolbar, and then pick More Commands…


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Click on the Customise button beside Keyboard shortcuts.

That will open the Customise Keyboard dialog. The relevant menu needs to be selected from the list of Categories Then select the command the short cut is to be created for (Insert Geometry).


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Click in the Press new shortcut key For this example, Shift+N will be used. Press and hold Shift, and then press N, shift can now be released. Shift+N will now be visible in the ‘Press new shortcut key’ field. To ‘save’ that short cut it needs to be assigned by clicking on the Assign button. The short cut will move from the ‘Press new shortcut key’ field to the Current Keys list. The customise keyboard and customise dialogs can be closed. Shift+N will now pop the File Open dialog to insert another part.


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5481: New feature: Compound Drilling Cycles: has been added to simplify the drilling of composite holes. This can be used with the Hole Shapes Database which is also a new feature. Both are covered by this ticket. The Hole Database allows a hole shape to be saved, some of the hole depths can be variable, so a M10 hole (blind) could cover a range of depths, if the hole is blind. Or a M12 counterbored hold could cover plates of different thicknesses and different counter bore depths. They will in most cases be used together but can be used independently. Mini guide – Hole database. Adding hole shapes from a detect holes folder. The holes were detected in the normal manner, for this example the Filter axis A0 B0 C0 was set to only get the holes from the top. The drilling data folders were then created.

With a hole size / type selected in the drilling data folder, it is possible to pick Add to hole shape database in the cycles ribbon. That will pop the hole shape database window

On the right of the dialog, there is an image of the hole. To the left, it is possible to select the database to use (like the tools databases, you can have several). The hole shape needs a name, it wants to describe the hole so you can identify it later. So for this hole “5.00 reamed and chamfered” may be suitable. In the table of diameters and depths, there is a ‘Depth (min)’ and ‘Depth (max)’. The default values are as the hole originally selected. But these can be modified to include the same basic-shaped hole through a thicker or thinner


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plate. Here the Depth (min) has been reduced to 5, and the Depth (max) increases to 40. Now this hole shape can be used for a hole that is 8.0 deep 33,2 deep or 40.0 deep, but it must have a 0.75 x 45° chamfer., and be 5.0 diameter

When you click OK, the hole shape database management dialog will be displayed, and the hole shape will be listed In the image right, there are several other hole shapes that were added previously. It is possible to pick a hole shape and modify it, for example you may want to increase the depth (max) for a hole shape some time ago. Or a hole can be deleted. Click the Create button, this will add the hole shape to the Hole shape folder in the contents tree. Then click OK. The hole listed in the Hole shape folder, in the contents tree.


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If you know the hole shape already exists in the Hole shape database, it can be added directly to the Hole shape folder. Ensure the Hole shape folder is selected in the contents tree, and then pick Hole shape database from the Cycle ribbon.

Select the hole shape (or hole shapes, as a multiple selection is possible), and then click on the Create button.

With the hole shape added.

With a desired hole shape selected in the Hole shape folder, it is possible to pick: ‘Select same shape holes’ from the mouse right menu. Then you can define the cycle(s) required.


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Mini guide – Combined cycles. Historically, a 5.00 dowel hole, would require several operations to be defined, spot drill, drill, chamfer and ream. Then you would have to do the same for the next job, and the following job. Monotonous work! With the new Compound cycles feature in NCG CAM v17.0, those four operations can now be boxed up, and even saved for use another time, which should reduce the amount of user input needed. They can also be used later for a similar hole. Ensure the hole type is selected, either via the hole shape database, or from the drilling data folder. From the mouse right menu, pick: Compound cycles…

The Compound cycle dialog will be displayed. On the right you can select the type of cycle from the buttons. As you define the cycle’s they will be listed to the left of the cycle buttons If needed they can be reordered or even deleted using the buttons below the list. Once the cycles have been defined, they can be saved, or you can load a pre-existing cycle. So good naming is needed to make the most of this, you need to identify it today, next week and next year. The Output options will allow you to control hole the cycles are grouped. This could be helpful when selecting cycles for the post processing. You can also say if the Waning or Danger messages are displayed. You could be drilling a lot of holes and a warning could be shown for a lot of holes.

Example, cycles for a 5.00 reamed hole will be created: Split drill 1.5 deep, peck drill 4.7 to depth, chamfer, ream to depth-6.


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Click in the Spot drill button. A spot drill is defined, along with a holder. On the cycle page, a suitable depth is defined for the spot drilling, 1.5 in this case. Then you can click OK

The cycle is added to the list of Compound cycles. It has not yet created any cycle or added a plan to the contents tree.


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Deep drilling can now be picked, and the 4.7 drill defined, and then the cycle details. To make this compound cycle more versatile, Drill to depth is enabled. So, if the hole is 20mm deep or 32mm deep, it will still be drilled to depth. Again, when OK is picked, the Deep drilling cycle is added to the list of Compound drilling.

Pick Spot drilling again, a 20 diameter drill with a tip angle of 90 is defined to represent a countersink bit. On the cycle page, Drill to depth is selected again. When the drill touches the chamfer surface it will stop, but this would generate a warning message (for each hole) saying it had not drilled to full depth. That is way not showing the warning messages can be helpful, as you would need to OK each one. Click Ok


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Pick Reaming Define a 5.00 reamer and holder. The Depth adjustment is enabled, and a negative value entered so to stop shy of the bottom of the hole In the cycle page, Drill to depth is enabled again, but it will be 6mm shy as -6 was set for the depth adjustment.


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Now there are four cycle defined in the Compound drilling folder. It is possible to link the passes now, automating another task.

Select the first Spot drilling cycle in the Compound drilling list. Then Link… can be picked from the buttons on the right. Any linking preferences can be set. This can be repeated for the other three cycles

With the linking set, it is possible to set the cutting parameters, but this may depend on your way of working. If you use present pockets / tool numbers, so a spot drill is always T61 and a 5.00 reamer is T76, this should be OK. But if you start with T1, then the next operation is T2 and so on, it may be better to set the cutting parameters manually each time, as you won’t know the tool number and it will change job to job.


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Here the cycle, linking and cutting parameters can be seen. You can create the cycle, link, and set cutting parameters before moving to the next cycle. Whichever method you prefer.

Click on Save and give a suitable name / description. Remember, you may want this tomorrow, next week and next year,

That name / description should show under Save Compound Cycles now. Then you can also export that routine, with the Export button


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Now there will be four cycles in the contents tree, and you will see the toolpaths on the part. There will also be a green tick beside the holes the compound cycle was run.

5792: New feature: Cutter Simulation: A new feature has been added to simulate the cutter showing dynamic material removal. This can indicate, Gouges, Collisions and Climb/Conventional milling.

Mini guide. Like the cutter animation, this simulates a single toolpath, but also optionally takes a boundary or stock model as an input alongside the toolpath. For the initial operation or if no stock model is provided a Prismatic stock model will be shown based on the extents of the toolpath. So, having a constraining boundary is recommended. Any toolpath after the initial toolpath will in most cases require a 3D stock model of all toolpaths up to the toolpath being simulated.

This is just a simple core roughing toolpath, that we want to use the Cutter Simulation on, to watch the stock being removed.

Both the boundary and the toolpath selected. From the Toolpath menu, pick: Cutter Simulation.


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The Cutter simulation control panel is the same as the cutter animation at first glance. So the speed control, position, pause, step back, step forward should all be very familiar. In the image (left) you can see how the stock is shown being removed.

For a following toolpath, a 3D stock model would be required, but do not have it displayed. To simulate the cutter now, select the 3D stock model, and the toolpath, then Cutter Simulation can be picked from the Toolpath ribbon.

By default, the cutter simulation will show by tool colour. It is possible to display the cutter simulation in different ways: Climb / Conventional, Gouge colours, or Move colours. This allows different states or conditions to be shown by different colours. In the Cutter Simulation control panel, the Display menu allows the options to be picked. The image left shows the Climb / Conventional colours being shown.

There are some new options under the Tools menu. It is possible to enable gouge checking; this will highlight where any gouge is detected. But remember, if machining something undersize intentionally, like an electrode, that will be classed as a gouge.


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One of those options in the Tools menu allows the stock model to be saved The typical stock dialog will be displayed, so the resolution can be changed if needed and the Z min Max can be adjusted if needed. The stock model will then be a plan in the contents tree. But, if the toolpath is adaptive clearance or a 5 axis toolpath, then stock model would need to be saved from the Machine simulation. The Cutter simulation stock model can be saved as an STL file also.

The Options page did exist before but now includes the Simulation colours. They can be customised to your own preferences. Values can be set for shank and holder clearances too


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5964: New feature: Boundaries can now be drawn as a 3D curve projected on a chosen surface. This is intended as a visualisation aid, for when boundaries need to be drawn freehand, and you want to reduce any overlap between the boundaries, but also ensure there are no gaps to leave any areas un-machined.

Mini guide. The plan is to machine the back edge, into the corners. To get into the corners, two 3+2 boundaries will be used.

A boundary folder has been created with a rotation, and then a boundary was created. This boundary is on a flat plane clear of the part. Looking down the tool axis is fine, you can see where is its relative to the part, but if you dynamically rotate the view, you can only guess where it is on the part. Projecting the boundary to the surfaces, is to help overcome this.

With the boundary and surfaces selected, Pick: Project boundary onto surface. That will create a new ‘Boundary Projected onto Surface’ folder in the contents tree:


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With the view dynamically rotated, the projected boundary can be seen on the surfaces. This can make the creation of the next boundary a little easier, there is less guess work as to what area the previous boundary covered.

With the view dynamically rotated, and new boundary folder is created, and then another boundary is created, using some of the projected boundary as a guide (highlighted).

That boundary was also projected onto the surface. From a machining point of view, it is still the boundary and surfaces that are used. The projected boundaries are just for visualisation. Do you have to create the projected boundary? No But if you want to create the boundaries before any of the passes, or if the part is large / complex, being able to see the limits of a boundary on the surfaces from a different view could be useful.


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It is possible to project any boundary onto the surfaces.

5988: New feature / revamp: New Local Coordinate System type adds rotation to position of datums. The datum point plans now include rotation information. Before (v17.0), by using Ctrl + Shift + Mouse right the user could draw an axis and the surface would be transformed by this new position. It is still possible to have this same functionality or the new Local Coordinate System. The automatic transformation can be toggled on and off, using the Auto transform button, by default it is off. When set off, the part will not be transformed, but a datum point will be created. If the Auto transform button is set on, the part will automatically be transformed as it was in v16 and earlier versions. Also fixes ticket 6001

Mini guide. It is possible to toggle between Auto Transforming or creating a Local Coordinate System, using the Auto Transform button in the Points ribbon. When depressed (as in the image right), it will automatically transform the selected items. If not depressed, then the l Local Coordinate System is created.

To use the new Local Coordinate System, ensure the Auto Transform button is not depressed.

Here the part was modelled with the datum in the middle in XY, and on the bottom for Z. The plan is to set a Local Coordinate System, perpendicular to the yellow surface With the bottom left corner (looking at the image right) as X0 Y0


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To define the Local Coordinate System, first change the rendering so the part is displayed as Wireframe mode. Anything else and it is likely to fail or not be accurate. Zooming in so you can see the lines needed to snap to will help, as will dynamically rotating the view.

Ensure the triangulated surfaces folder is selected in the contents tree. Place the cursor on the wireframe where you want the origin point (1 in the previous image) press and hold Ctrl + Shift (do not release Ctrl + Shift), press and hold mouse right (DO NOT release mouse right) release Ctrl + shift. With Mouse right still depressed, move the cursor along the wire frame for what will be the X axis (to 2 in the previous image, and press X (DO NOT release mouse right). next move the cursor to a suitable place for the Y axis (3 in the previous image), and press Y Now you can release mouse right., if you release mouse right too soon, you abort the creation of the Local Coordinate System.

Showing the X axis having just been defined.

Now there will be a ‘Datum Points’ folder in the contents tree. In the graphics window you should see the axis for the datum point, the look like the axis, but do not have the XYZ labels


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A bounding box was made just as an example, with the part at the original position. The existing geometry (surfaces, points, curves, and bounding box will be moved to the new Local coordinate system, in the next steps.

Select the items that require the new Local coordinate system, and then Datum point to be used.

From the Geometry ribbon, pick: Set Coordinate System.

The selected items (but not the datum point) will be transformed.

A different method


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Here the part is loaded, and the datum / origin is in the middle of the part in XY, and the bottom in Z

From the Points ribbon, pick Create Coordinate System. That will display a Datum Points dialog

Here a translation of 50 has been set for X. Then 90 for A (a rotation around the X axis). This will set a datum point 50mm to the right and rotated 90 around the X axis.


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It is now possible to select the items you want to use then new Local coordinate system, and then Datum point to be used. Then pick Set Coordinate System which is in the Geometry ribbon.

Smaller features and general maintenance tickets. 7: Post Processing: Options have been added to the Cutting Parameters dialog to include an optional stop at the start or end of the toolpath when creating a NC file.

1174: When the geometry file for a database has been moved with Associativity turned on, and the user specifies the location of the moved file, the geometry is now updated using the new location.


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2789: Provided Export context menus for pages on the Options and Libraries dialogs. Each menu has "This Page" and "All Pages" options. The export creates a registry editor (.reg) file that will restore the contents of the page.

It is accessed via the mouse right button The registry file can then be used as a backup, and or to apply the same settings on another PC 3147: Edit to Surfaces: Editing passes back to a stock model, (post creation, not integrated) was incorrectly considering the non-cutting sections of the cutter leading to passes incorrectly not being edited out. This has now been corrected. This also fixes ticket 5505. 3305: User interface: For a 3+2 boundary, passes or toolpath it is possible to use Ctrl+Shift+X/Y/Z to view along the axis respecting the rotation. It is now also possible to use Alt+Shift+X/Y/Z to view along the axis in the opposite direction while still respecting the rotation. 3356: User Interface: make the default entity colour for drilling data darker. 3592: Along Curve Machining: Cutter compensation: It is now possible to display a dotted line that represents the offset / compensated toolpath next to an along curve toolpath. This uses the cutter compensation side and cutter diameter for the position of the dotted line. Also fixes ticket 6292

4390: User interface: coordinate systems can now be used to set the view. By selecting a coordinate system and pressing CTRL + SHIFT + X/Y/Z changes the view like what is currently possible for boundaries or toolpaths.


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4677: User interface: The "Reset all dialogs" button has been moved from the "Graphics" page to the "Default" page on the options dialog.

5025: Sometimes holes could be detected in fillets even when "Allow detection of part holes" is not selected. Hole detection has been changed so that such cases should no longer detected as holes. 5304: User Interface: When a single surface is selected with a left mouse click the status bar now shows the RGB values for the surface's colour. It is an option that can be enabled from the Options > Preferences settings.

The ‘Show RGB on status bar’, needs to be enabled if you want this feature


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The yellow surface is the selected surface. In the status bar, the RGB values can be seen.

5406: Detect holes: A new option "Join collinear conical holes" has been added to detect holes dialog. If enabled holes on the same axis will be joined into one hole regardless of diameter.

Mini guide.

A simple example of a part with crossing holes. Shown here in translucent mode.

The holes were detected with the standard settings (as they would be in v16 ore earlier). With the surfaces erased, it is possible to see some holes have be detected for each section when the hole breaks through another hole.


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Detecting the holes with the: Join colinear cylindrical holes. There is also a: Join colinear conical holes.

Here you can see where the holes had been split up previously, they are now a continuous hole.

5506: Edit To surface: The editing of Axially Offset (for raster, radial, spiral, boundary) passes to surfaces in rotated space was producing the wrong result in some cases. This has been fixed. 5524: User interface: Fixed an exception that could be thrown when preforming a surface comparison on a small number of surfaces. 5547: Detect Holes: There were examples where blind holes with a conical end (for the drill point) were not being detected correctly, this has now been fixed.


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5552: Gouge protection for the Machine Along Curves now contains three different options, holder, shank and flute. These can now be set independently.

5592: User interface: The layout: of what was in Options,> General as the Options is now , the General page has been split up into two pages: Defaults and Preferences.so they are less cluttered. Defaults page:


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Preferences page:

5712: Along Curve passes: Corrected behaviour of cutter compensation and offset. They now match in direction and offset distance cannot be changed while compensation is enabled.

When the cutter compensation is set as Left or Right, the Cutter Offset options are greyed out and not used.

5719: User interface: The "Compact Database" has been removed from the Edit menu, the database is automatically compressed when saving. 5820: Stock Models: The Multi-Axis Stock Models are now created with the ModuleWorks interface. Visually they should be much the same, they are just a single colour, mathematically they are smaller, so the dca file should be a little smaller. 5855: User interface: Drilling: The default Tool Diameters and Lengths have been modified for drilling cycles. the diameter is now taken from the smallest hole diameter, so a Counterbored hole to suit an M6 caps screw, 6.5 diameter clearance hole, 11.0 diameter counterbore and a 1x45 degree chamfer will have a 6.5 diameter drill by default now, previously it would have been 13 diameter, to match the top of the chamfer around the counterbore. For bore milling the cutter diameter would be 75% of the hole dimeter, and for thread milling 60% of the hole diameter. The default body length will be 6x the drill / reamer/ tap / boring bar / cutter diameter.


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5878: Post processor: Heidenhain: If the standard feedrates are overridden (Q-def's are used), the Q-def's are now used in the canned cycles for retract and pre-positioning parameters. (previously the programmed feedrate value was output). 5919: User interface: Changing the input to a post-processor plan on the plan inputs page now works. 5932: User interface: The Materials Database loader was popping a "Save As" dialog rather than an "Open" Dialog, this has been corrected so the wording is correct. 5942: ModuleWorks: Update with new MW2018-12 libraries, including new parameter for Five-Axis Roughing & Adaptive Clearance to define a minimum cut width.

5982: User interface: We now pop the Modify Curves dialog when trimming curves to boundaries so the user has access to the keep interior / exterior option.

5992: We now use the instance name for component names where this is available. 6000: User interface: Wording changed for drilling to depth warning message.


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6009: Colours can now be set for the X, Y and Z axis independently, in Options > System colours. The axis of a datum point matches the colour scheme of the main axis.

In Options > System colours These are the default colours, previously the overlay colour would have been used.

In the graphics window. (with makes shown every 10mm)

6010: Detect Holes: There were examples where the filtering out of conical holes was not working correctly, this has now been fixed. 6017: Post Processor: Heidenhain: Added options for 3+2 toolpaths to simply rotate the 4th & 5th axis before moving to the home point, when it is a XY move only. This is a simple rotation and will not rotate the work plane (CYCL DEF 19.0 or PLANE SPATIAL). It was added for some special cases where long tooling is being used and would not clear the part unless it was rotated. Added the post processor options: "Simple rotation of axis before home point", set false by default so not to affect existing post processors. "Start of simple rotation text", A text string before the rotation "End of simple rotation text", A text string following the rotation "Simple rotation A axis prefix", "Simple rotation B axis prefix ", and "Simple rotation C axis prefix", are prefixes for the axis in the simple rotation. "End of simple rotation home point text", A text following the home point after a simple rotation.

6018: User interface: It was possible to get an exception when setting a local datum, when the surfaces in question were planar patches or ruled surfaces. This has now been fixed.


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6020: User interface: It is now possible to save a Cutter, Holder or Tool as a STL file.

6022: User interface: The options to allow copying and pasting of parameters from one dialog to another has been improved to allow pasting the parameters as the formula or value.

6024: Rest Waterline Passes: Rest waterline passes were not obeying the supplied contact angle restrictions. This has now been fixed.


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6025: Ribbon: Options: The Tool databases and Material Databases have been moved from the Options dialog into their own Libraries dialog.

6040: Machine Simulation: The selected folders for this option have been changed, the selection of Cutting Parameter plans is unchanged, but now the first selected surface folder defines the work piece, an optional second surface folder now defines the fixtures, and you can also select an optional stock model plan. NOTE: Machine Tool Definitions xml file will need to contain a line defining a fixture, for example: <geometry name="fixture" geo="fixture.stl" clrr="0.50196081" clrg="0.50196081" clrb="0.50196081" alpha="0.00" reflectivity="0.00" reflectivityBitmapFileName="" objtype="fixture" /> You may need to speak to your NCG CAM reseller about this if it affects you.

Mini guide. There are two triangulated surface folders in the image right, The part to be machined, in one folder, and vice in another. Machining wise, there is an area clearance toolpath, a 3D stock model and a rest roughing toolpath.

For the Machine simulation it is possible to pass both models, and the stock model over.


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Select the part being machined first, then the fixture, and then any stock model. The order is important.

Machine Simulation can now be picked from the Toolpath ribbon.

6043: User interface: It is now also possible to output a Cutter, Holder or Tool as a VRML file, this was previously limited to the tool only.

6058: Post Processor: Heidenhain: Added options to allows for CYCL DEF 320 Contour. This is a cycle that Hedelius install on their machines for roughing our (Area clearance, Core Roughing, Zig zag toolpaths), it opens the smoothing tolerances, and can only be used for roughing. 6059: When loading files with components involving folders of components, the surfaces are now all drawn at the beginning. 6067: Five-Axis: There were examples where giving the Five Axis machining plans curves which were near zero in length would cause NCG CAM to crash, this has now been fixed.


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6075: Post processor: ISO: Added some extra options to the Height offset, so it can be output in the same block as the tool number: Include height offset with Tool number. There are also options to cancel the Height offset before a tool change, and end of the NC file: Cancel previous tool length before a tool change, Include the tool number when cancelling the tool length, Cancel the tool length at the program end, Prefix to cancelling the tool length, Suffix to cancelling the tool length, These are predominantly to suite Rye machines. By default, these options are set false so not to affect existing post processors.

6076: It is no longer permitted to re-run dependent plans when transforming a post-processor or toolsheet folder. Since version 16.0.00, transforming a post processor or toolsheet folder creates a new post-processor or toolsheet folder with the transformed toolpaths, so re-running the dependent plans is no longer required. 6078: Speeded up the loading of a geometry file where there are more than 1000 components. This is achieved by turning off the generation of the tessellation map, which prevents the creation of duplicate tessellations. To restore correct operation the user should delete the components they do not need, save the database and restart the application. 6079: The program could start up slowly on some computers. This has now been fixed. 6081: Import: When importing via DataKit we now have the ability to ignore the translucency properties of surfaces. 6086: Zoller Tool Database: Support has been added for the Zoller parameters “Multiple listing of tools in the setup sheet” and “Add Post Processor name” when export tools for the Zoller Setup Sheet. 6087: Point Editor: We now ensure the selected row remains visible as it is repositioned within a list of points.


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6088: User interface: Added the "Edit passes" page for finishing plans which currently support editing back to a stock model. So far this includes Raster, Radial, Spiral, Helical, Waterline, and Waterline Constant Stepover Passes.

6091: Performance: Speeded up the loading of files with very large numbers of components. This is achieved by creating a new ‘components plan’. This takes a top entities plan as input and is the input to tessellation plans. The new plan does not have a dialog (since the component description parameter is hidden from the user), and uses the same icon as a top entities plan. 6095: User interface: It is now possible to include an optional tool definition as input to a Shaft Profile Analysis plan. In v16, a Tool folder plan was added to the contents tree, where tools could be defined, they could then be used as an input to a passes plan. Here three tools have been defined,

For this example, a Rest Waterline toolpath was created, and the Shaft profile was enables as the passes were created.


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No tool holder was defined when those passes were created, as the shaft profile is wanted.

With the toolpath and a tool selected in the Tool folder in the contents tree, Shaft profile can be picked from the Toolpath ribbon

The tool select in the Tool folder is the loaded into the shaft profile. This, saves having to define or load the tool separately. But you can not change the cutter / holder details. And clearly the tool selected from the Tool folder must have the same cutter size as the passes. If a tool of a different size is selected the shaft profile button will be greyed out.


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6101: Linking: We were producing XYZ rapid moves toolpaths with minimal retract set in some cases. This has been blocked and instead we will retract with vertical arcs and produce XY rapid moves. 6103: Stock Models: When creating a stock model and one of the inputs is a stock model which has had its input edited on the inputs page, it was possible to get an exception this has now been fixed. 6106: Performance: Speeded up the triangulation where there are a very large number of components by maintaining more information about the triangulations while the program is running. 6108: User interface: Five axis: The "Tilt Snap Distance" parameter has been added to the user interface for the Five-Axis Morph plan when using the Tilt through lines.

6109: Stock Models: When creating a stock model and its input is edited on the inputs page to a Shaft Profile plan, the plan would run and fail with no indication as to why, the plan will now complete with no errors. 6113: User interface: The Rotation preference buttons on the Cutter Animation dialog for Five-Axis toolpaths were not working, this has now been fixed. 6114: Post processors: Corrected a problem with the ISO post processor, were some comments did not respect the "Crop training zeros: Comments" or the "Retain decimal separator: Comments". Also made the Heidenhain and Siemens post processors consistent with the ISO post for comments for: "Crop training zeros: Comments" and "Retain decimal separator: Comments". 6119: User interface: It was possible to select a Dovetail cutter and a surface folder and still be able to select the Along Curve, Helical, UV, Morph and Constant Stepover plans which should not be allowed, this has now been fixed. 6121: Zoller Tool Database: The option to create a Set Up sheet in the Zoller Tool System has been improved. The Surface folder used to create the image is now optional, if this is not included the current graphics window image is used. Also, when a surface folder is included the axes are also drawn. 6127: Rest Roughing: We were incorrectly including the shank within the tool used to edit the passes back to rest surfaces. We now only check for interference using the cutting regions of the tool.


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6129: Import: Updated Granite Reader to v12.0. This provides support for Creo 6.0 files.

6130: Fixed an issue where holes with small rotations were not detected. 6131: User interface: It was possible to include editable points plans as input into the Ruled Surface and some Five-Axis plans, these were not converted to Tessellated points plans when they should have, this has now been fixed. 6134: Blocked zero as a valid stepover and stepdown for rest finishing passes. 6135: User interface: The plan label was not being updated for Tool plans when the body length was modified, this has now been fixed. 6137: Linking: Fixed discontinuity in axially offset boundary toolpath. 6138: User interface: The graphics speed has been improved by speeding up the creation of the Display Lists for surfaces. 6142: User interface: It is now possible to include a Tool Definition Plan for 3 to 5 Conversion and Editing of Passes. 6143: User interface: Removed menu button File > Send... 6146: User interface: The Start hint has been removed from the Five-Axis Roughing Linking page as it has no effect. 6147: User interface: Stock Models: A new option to create a closed Single-Axis stock model has been added. Basically, the close stock model will be capped off at the bottom, the same as a multi axis stock model.

6149: User interface: It was possible to use the "Edit Folder Contents" option on Tool & Recycle Folder's, this has now been disabled.


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6151: User interface: The "Edit Folder Contents" option with an Editable Points folder now creates a Tessellated Points folder first. This is now consistent with Editable Boundaries. 6153: User interface: Fixed a problem in the process manager where the toolbar buttons were sometimes displayed incorrectly. 6157: Updated Datakit Libraries to 2019.2. Provides support for Catia V5 R29, NX 1847 to NX 1867.

6160: Rest Finishing: There were occasions when an exception would be thrown failing the plan, which was caused by dividing zero length fillet sections, this has now been fixed. 6166: User interface: It was possible to get a divide by zero exception when drawing the UV machining guide curves. This has now been fixed. 6168: Cycles: Bore milling: It is now possible to define a Depth Adjustment for Bore Milling Cycle, in the same way as you can for the other cycles. Documentation updated

6169: Zoller Tool Database: Support has been added for the Zoller parameter "UseDescriptionAsTheID" when importing a tool from the Zoller TMS.


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6172: Post processor: Heidenhain: If the spindle speed was over ridden, to use a Q-value, then Q-value was not being output on the Toolcall line (the programmed spindle speed was used). This has now been fixed. 6178: User interface: Not all combinations of input for Five-Axis Flank machining were enabling the right mouse context menu correctly, this has now been fixed. 6181: User interface: Removed the "Online Support" button from the Help menu. It did point to the website, which isn't online support. 6183: Linking: Fixed a problem causing sharp connections to helical ramp moves. 6184: Stock Model: A new option has been added to create a closed prismatic stock model.

6187: UV Machining: Fixed a problem due to a small 'sliver' surface. 6198: Geometry: The Analyse option was not working for 'UV Surface Direction Curves' plans, this has now been fixed. 6206: Post Processor: ISO: If the spindle speed uses a variable, it is was possible to define the variable in the NC file. Added the option "Define spindle speed variable in NC file" so it is now possible, by default it is false.


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6209: Cutter Animation: A new option to disable the drawing of the toolpath during animation (only draw animated cutter) has been added. Toolpath --> None

6216: User interface: A spelling mistake has been fixed in the Options > Preferences page. 6219: User interface: When changing the Visibility of the UV Direction curves when in Four views, the update was not consistent with other graphic update options, this has now been fixed. 6220: User Interface: The toolpath analysis dialogs have been tidied up, so text is not overlapping. 6222: Drilling: "Create Drilling Data Folder" was taking a very long time for examples with many holes on different axes. This has been improved. 6223: Improved the performance when writing large numbers of plans to the tree view, for example when creating drilling data folders and cycles. 6227: User interface: The Open GL Diagnostics dialog now has the X button in the top right to close dialog, to be consistent with other dialogs. 6233: Curves: Fixed a problem with Break curves. 6239: A warning dialog "Cannot overwrite file <name>. Please check whether the file is locked." is now shown when a file fails to be overwritten. This has been observed when updating the most recently used cutter list. What happened in that case is that the list was not updated, and multiple files appeared in the NCG CAM TEMP folder. If the user sees this message, it is important they allow the necessary access / permissions to the file through its properties. 6240: Post processor: ISO: This is for 3+2 machining, mainly for where G68.2 will be used. A new option "Preposition after the first rotation line" has been added, to allow a positional move to be output before enabling G68.2 (tilted working plane). There is also a "Compensate for Rotation on Preposition move" that can also be used for additional control. By default, both options are set 'false' so not to affect existing post processor.


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6241: Axial Offset Core Horizontal Area Passes: Fixed a problem with the axially offset passes which led to the linking order being incorrect. Also fixes ticket 6107. 6246: It was possible to generate an unstructured exception when creating a silhouette boundary for a set of curves from within a macro. This is now trapped, and the plan fails cleanly. 6248: Points: The Point Circle and Point Grid dialogs have been updated. For points on a circle, we now used the diameter (in keeping with PCD / BCD). 6251: User interface: The spacing in the OpenGL Diagnostics dialog has been fixed. 6254: Curves: Fixed a problem extending the start point of curves created using Extract Slice Curves 6256: Fixed a rare crash when generating 2D stock model with edited inputs 6259: A crash that could happen when the import geometry was changed to a macro using selected surface machining has been fixed. 6260: User interface: A mouse right context menu has been added to Cutter Animation options, when invoked from Animation dialog, so you can reset to system defaults and export.


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6264: User Interface and Documentation: In Waterline passes, under the "simplified leads", the Linear extension has been split so there is now a "Linear extension (in)" and "Linear extension (out)" for more control..

6276: ModuleWorks: Updated Libraries to MW2019-08, also fixes ticket 5702 and ticket 5816. 6279: Add dynamic rotation button on the ribbon and also on the toolbar. When dynamic rotation button is active by the middle mouse button the view will be rotated around the point mouse centre was pressed. 6286: User Interface: Context menu on status bar in ribbon interface only has an option to show or hide status bar, but it has options to show or hide all toolbars in toolbar/menu interface.


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6293: Points: Circles of Points: Added validations for the start and end angle parameters, it was possible to enter 900 degrees, it is now restricted to +/- 360 degrees.

6296: User interface: Added a "Normal to circle" check box on the "create three point circle dialog". When this checked, the datum point created have Z axis normal to the three-point circle. Also add extra check for "Geometry - Auto transform", when this option is un-ticked, the "Set as datum" and "Set as datum with Z" option will create a datum plane.


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6309: User interface: The tool-tips for the orthogonal view keys have been corrected. 6311: Increased the number of user variables to 100.

6316: Helical Machining: We now add a waterline style type pass when we start machining part way down a job. The Linking has been corrected to use the Helix Ramp Diameter when ramping onto the job. 6320: User interface: The options for Cutter Animation now have their own page, which is also used when options is selected from Cutter Animation dialog.


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6328: Linking: It was possible to fail to produce a linking connection from Safe Z to the start point in the Clearance Plane in some circumstances when working in 3+2. This has been corrected. 6329: Drilling: Fixed a problem which caused inconsistent (depth) labelling of Drilling Cycle and Drilling Toolpath folders. 6337: Fixed an exception when loading an invalid IGES file. 6362: Turned on advanced search for the NCG CAM reference help. This means that when you search for an item and display its page, the tree to that page is opened in the contents pane and should make finding related items / topics easier. 6372: Cutter Simulation: Add option to set mesh quality, can speed up display if less triangles rendered.

Setting 1 will give the best result, and 5 the worst, but there can be a 20% speed improvement 6387: Convert To Curves: Convert passes to curves was producing the wrong result in the case of edited 3+2 passes. This has now been fixed 6392: Updated supported version number for Catia V5 to 29.

6406: Stock Models: Multi-Axis Stock models now remove material with the Flute & Shank, previously it was just the Flute.

SOLIDWORKS is a trademark of Dassault Systems. Catia is a trademark of Dassault Systems. Parasolid is a trademark of Siemens GPost is a trademark of Austin NC. Granite, Pro/E, Creo are trademarks of Parametric Technologies Corporation. Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 & Windows 10 are trademarks of Microsoft.

Release Notes for NCG CAM v17.0 - NC Graphics · 2021. 3. 2. · Release notes for NCG CAM v17.0.05...

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Transcript of Release Notes for NCG CAM v17.0 - NC Graphics · 2021. 3. 2. · Release notes for NCG CAM v17.0.05...