In previous releases the task of viewing and selecting Process Model elements that were inside or behind rendered elements of the model involved a number of SmartCAM interactions.

A graphics clipping method using the new View Section command can be used to expose ‘hidden’ elements, meaning that it is now far easier to view and select them. The technique is particularly beneficial, for example, when creating internal bore toolpath processes in SmartCAM Turning and MillTurn applications.

Before and After Enabling Section Enabled on ZX Planes

View Section reveals bore details in SmartCAM Turning applications

SmartCAM has always delivered very strong customization capabilities. Every license that is supplied includes the SmartCAM Customization ToolKit, or CTK.

The CTK is an extremely open and powerful toolkit which enables customizers to add commands and user interface dialogs and panels that are beneficial to their particular and unique daily use of SmartCAM. Customization and automation can be created for large scale projects or small repetitive tasks that are appropriate to the CNC manufacturing requirements of the facility.

This release adds further macro commands and functions, a summary of the scope of which is:

SmartCAM Workplanes are used to define primary, standard co-ordinate systems and local multi-axis positional datums & orientations including those defined by the user.

The number of workplanes that can be created has been increased to 30,000, virtually eliminating the limit for custom applications, and is also a component of increased support for multi-axis toolpath architecture in SmartCAM in the future.

Here is a small improvement that the Code-Generator writers amongst the SmartCAM Community will appreciate.

The output format for a specified variable need only be defined once in a Code Generator Template file, versus having to format the output upon every use as was previously the case. Examples are:

@DECLARE
#FMT(#V2,D3.5)
#FMT(#current_hv,T2.0)

Not only does this small enhancement make the formatting of CNC code just a little easier, it also means that if a change is required in format during code generator development then it only needs to be changed in one place.

SmartCAM has been updated to use the Spatial ACIS Modeling Kernel 2016. This change also updates several of the CAD file formats supported by the SmartCAM data translation tools.

The optional data translators are updated to import:

The Learning SmartCAM website has been updated and redesigned to make it easier to find the information you are looking for, and to help users learning the applications.

Additionally, the Learning SmartCAM documentation website has been updated to use the current HTML5 interface.