[spock]

Considering that a new version just came out, forums seem to be pretty quite about it. I am using 26 very successfully but I am interested in some of the new features, so just asking how its going.....

[Bazzer]

Considering that a new version just came out, forums seem to be pretty quite about it. I am using 26 very successfully but I am interested in some of the new features, so just asking how its going.....

Hi Spock

I am using V29 every day, just upgraded from V28 and to be honest the transition is seemless. I would say that is why there is no forum traffic.

I dont think I have specifically needed any of the new features in V29, so cannot comment on those.

I would say that I would like BobCAD to tidy up the CAD side of things, I have a hunch that the CAD is actually quite powerful, in particular at assisting the CAM module with boundaries etc.

However the CAD is far from intuative to use and is poorly laid out in particular with regard to menu's and accepting entity selections, my guess is that the developer of the CAD had a fairly untidy mind!!

My worry now is that BobCAD are pushing integration with Solidworks very heavily. Whilst I can understand that, I do feel that a good part of the BobCAD user base are likely to be wedded to other CAD systems, Geomagic Design and MOI in my case.Ii hope we do not get cast to one side!!

Baz

[eaglemike]

The lathe side has some improvements that make life easier. Just started using it a couple of days ago...... looks like mill side has some cool stuff too, but haven't gone there yet.

[magicniner]

I'm wondering if this is the version where everything has actually been tested and the bugs fixed before release?

If so I'm very tempted to build a 64bit machine and request a trial, the silence on the forum could be an excellent indicator but it would be nice to hear from some "Power Users" before making the leap,

- Nick

[SBC Cycle]

You could count me in on the crowd that doesn't mind if BobCAD spends their dollars more on the CAM side. There are so many good CAD programs out there and inter-operability doesn't seem to be the factor it used to be.

If you've ever used a SolidWorks CAM plugin you will know why many people prefer it. I'm just getting my feet wet in the SW CAM environment but I'm liking it a lot. I don't have BobCAD's plugin (BobCAM) but I did mess with it a bit and geometry selection is infinitely easier and more flexible. And associativity is the real golden nugget. So far it's proved to be as good as I imagined it to be. I can modify a sketch and the toolpath is instantly marked "dirty" and I can choose what to do about it. One click will regenerate every toolpath.

As far as V29 goes, I agree with Bazzer that no news is probably good news. The forums used to be flooded after a new release (usually with complaints) and that just hasn't been the case for the last few versions of BCC. I was pretty happy with V26 but got a good deal to upgrade to V27 right at the end of the lifecycle. It was just as good, even better, and I haven't had a strong urge to update since.

That's not to say there isn't some really nice stuff in V29 that I've wanted for a long time. The file open options is great for SW files with configurations. Backplotting toolpath in the CAM window for a quick verify is super sweet and would save a lot of time. "Update all geometry" addresses some of the associativity shortcomings of previous versions of BCC. Threading is *finally* up to modern standards supporting Machine Compensation and tapered threads. CHECK SURFACES/GOUGE CHECKING. This can't be understated how huge this feature is. You can eliminate complex boundary creation altogether with a little creativity with "Check Surfaces".

Lathe completely overhauled - again. I don't have high hopes there but it's worth mentioning. Multi-axis I didn't have so I can't comment there either.

V29, IMO, has way more reasons to upgrade than V28. It is again probably the best BobCAD ever.

[Bazzer]

You could count me in on the crowd that doesn't mind if BobCAD spends their dollars more on the CAM side. There are so many good CAD programs out there and inter-operability doesn't seem to be the factor it used to be.

I would like to be able to easily make CAD changes in BobCAD, I am unlikely to ever have a Solidworks license (they cost around $6500 in England) thus preventing me and many others going down the integrated route, which I agree is preferable. So some tidying of the CAD menus and selection processes would be good IMO.

I have used some V29 features now and I am very happy, Backplot is useful and simulation files without the large exe file have been popular for customer interaction.

Bazzer

[BurrMan]

I would like to be able to easily make CAD changes in BobCAD, I am unlikely to ever have a Solidworks license (they cost around $6500 in England) thus preventing me and many others going down the integrated route, which I agree is preferable. So some tidying of the CAD menus and selection processes would be good IMO.

I have used some V29 features now and I am very happy, Backplot is useful and simulation files without the large exe file have been popular for customer interaction.

Bazzer

Just FYI... solidworks partners can sell a product called "solidworks parts and assembly". So bobcad can sell you that for something like 24 or 25 hundred bucks... its more like "the pure modeling" parts of solidworks...

[Bazzer]

Burr

I did enquire in a very loose way to Kevin Hughes about their offering on Solidworks, to be trueful it was a half hearted enquiry and I think it got lost in the V29 release noise.

I am done for a while on spending money on software, I have a pretty good suite of programmes.

I think you know about MOI, what an amazing programme that is. Geomagic Design is nice and clean, the STP exports from GD handle really nice in BobCAD.

I think that with BobCAD CAD you have to be prepared to relearn CAD, probably no worse than starting off with AutoCAD but a steep curve nevertheless.

Regards

Bazzer