[Big Chips]

Who is upgrading to V27 and why?

The main reason for me is the new features...mainly the parametric ability and history based tree is what I really like but not the only reason. I am already have alot of products i make that I wished had been done in a parametric program...so now i will put them into V27 and it looks like it is going to be nice!

I called today to purchase but it looks like I will go on the list so when the next week arrives I am getting it.

Cant wait. September 8th is the official release date.

Been a long time since I put this in a post...but V27 is worth it>>>>:banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::ban ana:

[LeWhite]

I prolly will after the big midlife update, as I remember what happened with support and updates last time. I sure could use it now as Im having a heck of a time trying to un fillet a solid. Think I'll copy paste the important ententies and start over.

[LeWhite]

..........dp.

[jrmach]

Chip's,,you just barely got V26,you get an automatic upgrade yes/no ?

[Big Chips]

no..not for me...

[magicniner]

V27 might be the version I go for, not straight away but once the inevitable niggles are ironed out ;-)

[SBC Cycle]

It is tempting for sure. The enhancements to the 3 axis Pro toolpaths would really have been handy on some of the parts I've programmed the last few months. Our rush is just about over and soon we will be running repeat jobs to replenish our stock room, not a lot of programming. I'll be on the fence for a while to see what kind of experiences you all will have. I won't be on there long, we ramp back up in November.

Get to work testing it out Chips!

[Big Chips]

I just got V27 and I can tell you this is a HUGE time saver for me! The parametric abilities are very nice....

[Seitz333]

I was all set to upgrade to V26, but the support/patches/bug fixes issue turned me off. Are they still doing the same thing for V27?

Chuck

[LeWhite]

As I understand it bug fixes will be downloadable after your support has ended. Up dates, on the other hand, will not be downloadable after support has ended. The deviations are to purchase extended support for $200 (not bad for what you get) and its up to Bob what a bug really means. (eg chamfer tool minor diameter and offset problem)
I'm diving in about 2-3 mo from now because of this. Would you call that V27.5?

[mmoe]

I'm really on the fence for now. I think they have really hit it out of the park with V27 for those who either are just buying into Bobcad and for those existing customers who use the CAD in Bobcad currently. I love that they have added the dynamic mouse zoom, as insignificant as that might sound compared to the rest of the updates. For me, that makes the user experience many times better, and I think that it will draw new customers in who are used to that style of interface from other CAD systems, since it's the defacto standard in the industry. For most experienced CAD users that are experiencing Bobcad for the first time, not having dynamic zoom is like going back to the stone age and it makes Bobcad feel that much more foreign and dated. I suspect that it turned off many potential customers, so it's great to see this feature (I've asked for it for a very long time). At some point, I'll update just for this feature, but it may be a while out.

The new CAD features are really amazing, and I think it will make Bobcad dramatically more useful as a CAD application for those who use Bobcad that way or plan to. It's still not as useful to me as a dedicated CAD application, and since I have several CAD systems that I know like the back of my hand, I'll continue to do my modeling and drafting there. As cool as the new features are, they just aren't a selling point for me personally. With a few more minor tweaks, mostly involving the use of snaps to aid in drawing 2d geometry, I think Bobcad could really become a package that is highly efficient at both creating geometry and toolpaths, even compared to quality dedicated CAD systems. Certainly, a person who has little CAD experience could now find Bobcad very easy to create basic part in and generate toolpaths from, so this is a huge step.

Both the new and in other cases improved toolpath strategies are fantastic, and this is where I find my choice to be most difficult. The one feature I wanted, and I was on the record asking for it quite a while back, was a morphing style drive curve toolpath just for 3 axis users. That option already exists in 4 Axis Mill Pro, but the cost of that license vs. the 3 Axis Mill Pro is considerable (more than double was the last quote I received). They came really close in V27 with the drive curves function of Equidistant Offset, and also really close with the new Advanced Planar Slice and Advanced Z-Level. Unfortunately none of them offer the same level of finish quality or efficiency that a true morphing toolpath would offer, so I'd still be faced with wanting the 4 Axis Mill Pro just for that toolpath. That's where my choice gets tough. I think I can upgrade my current V26 3 Axis Mill Pro license to V26 4 Axis Mill Pro for about the same price as upgrading to V27 3 Axis Mill Pro. If I stick with V26 and upgrade to 4 Axis Mill Pro, I will get the morphing toolpath that I'd like (plus many more equally advanced toolpaths), making the new 3 Axis toolpaths in V27 a lot less useful in comparison. I'll be missing out on the dynamic mouse zoom, but betwen that and morphing toolpaths, I'd rather have the better toolpaths. There would be times where the new Advanced Planar would be useful, or other times where some of the new parameters of Equidistant Offset might be useful, but I think those would be outweighed by the usefulness of the morphing toolpaths for the work I do personally. If a morphing style 3 axis strategy had been provided, it would be a no brainer that I'd go with V27.

At this point, I'm swaying more towards upgrading from 3 Axis Pro to 4 Axis Pro in the V26 I already have, which I know is very stable and honestly would do everything I need with that upgrade. Upgrading to V27 Mill Pro without the 4 Axis Pro level, which is honestly about what my budget is seems like more of a side step for me, but again I have no use for the improvements in CAD which would be huge if I did all my modeling work in Bobcad like many do. I'll be pushing for Bobcad developers to add a morphing between curves style 3 Axis Mill Pro specific option to either Equidistant Offset or Advanced Planar, and then maybe I'll be upgrading at V28 if it shows up. I think they are right on the cusp of being able to add that feature, so I think it's not just wishful thinking that it might make an appearance in V28, but I do think it probably won't show up in a V27 update, so again an upgrade to 4 Axis Mill Pro in V26 will probably serve me better for now.

[WILDMAN2]

I agree they hit V-27 out of the park. But V-26 is still a kick but system also

[woffler]

I will be waiting for some time yet to let them fix there bugs first, about six months from now,as others have mentioned for obvious reason's .
Having mill pro, lathe and another it is pretty costly to upgrade i do little 3 d work mostly 2 d and a whole lot of lathe work there needed to be some some real improvements made to lathe program that are still not functioning.\\
The speeds and feeds and material definitions still do not work and other functions ,this will be my last lathe V26 version i will be moving on to another more functional program that has more fun tool paths and everything actually works.

Bob is not bad for a hobby lathe program but it is time to move on to better software it has been fun BOB but it's time to move on.

[BurrMan]

Looks like someone needs to start a "who is NOT upgrading" thread to fill the void. Although that's going to be a terrible read....

[Big Chips]

i have no regrets from upgrading...i really like v27....

[BurrMan]

i have no regrets from upgrading...i really like v27....

It really is nice....

[SBC Cycle]

I WILL be upgrading as there are CAM improvements that will make it more than worthwhile. Some of the improvements have been on my wishlist for years, such as Z level Finish Zig Zag (I think that's in there), Z level Finish Bottom to Top, and the Advanced Slice Planar.

My reasons for not upgrading now are simple. I have a lot of work coming up that is "revision" style and I need to be able to open files done in previous versions and not have parameters change on me haphazardly. V26 still does it, particularly with the Advanced Rough stepover values. After my laptop crash in January I haven't reloaded previous versions of BobCAD (V24-V25) so I have no way to know what my stepover was originally. That is a little frustrating but I know to expect it. There was some mention of some compatibility issues with V27 and previous versions that is giving me pause, at least until I'm through this rough period.

Beside that, the Boss is going to hit me over the head with a stick when he sees me playing with new software while we are this busy (chair)

[The Engine Guy]

Looks like someone needs to start a "who is NOT upgrading" thread to fill the void. Although that's going to be a terrible read....

Burr

Lets not go there, I`m with you, wouldn`t want to see it

P.S. I probably will when finances allow

Regards
Rob
:rainfro: :rainfro: :rainfro:

[mhackney]

Hey folks, I'm evaluating CAM options now - primarily for lathe but, while I'm at it, looking at 3 axis milling support too. I have evaluated all of the apps in my target price range (VisualCAM/RhinoCAM, SprutCAM, EZCAM and a few others) but BobCAD was not on that list because the lathe and 3 axis mill pricing is double the others I've evaluated. At the encouragement of one poster on this thread I downloaded the demo last night. It all looked reasonable but I ran into an issue with importing Rhino 3dm files for 3D milling (I know that the lathe module wants a 2D drawing and that's fine). I didn't realize that V27 is so new so perhaps this is a bug. I've already told BobCAD-CAM about it, I had a live demo this morning too and they have my problematic file. I attempted to create some really simple geometry - a cube! I also downloaded the sample 3dm files from Rhino to test. None of them show anything in BobCAM. So, could someone else check if you can open a 3dm file please? I'm really curious.

If I export the Rhino model to step, that opens just fine and I was able to work with the demo to produce reasonable looking paths and gcode.

cheers,
Michael

[BurrMan]

So, could someone else check if you can open a 3dm file please? I'm really curious.

cheers,
Michael

Hi Michael,
Rhino can be a complex program... A rhino 3dm file can contain a lot of data "other than NURBS" that wont import into a regular CAD importer.. A lot of downloadable sample files are only "mesh data" which wont import...

Post one of your samples here and we can tell you what it is....

The answer is "yes, I can import 3dm files into V27".... But, I would also like to see what's in one of your failed attempts, to rule out some issue with the importer, like a file version issue....

If I export the Rhino model to step, that opens just fine and I was able to work with the demo to produce reasonable looking paths and gcode.

Doing an export to step, will strip out any unsupported entities and only carry the entities supported in a generic step file....

3dm is mcneels open nurbs format... It's a great format for nurbs geometry, but it is also "their native format"...