PyCAM / News: Recent posts

The initial release of pycam++ is available for download in the files section.
Source code is available in the GIT repository.
Beware that this is a port to C++/Qt of the algorithms for testing...

This release fixes a bug of the standalone executable for Windows. Users of single-core CPUs were not affected by this bug.

This new release of PyCAM contains one important new feature (extrusion of 2D models) and many small fixes and improvements. Windows users will enjoy a more modern look of the GUI theme and Linux users will be happy about a packaging with better integration into the desktop. Additionally the 3D preview performance improved drastically.

Read the detailed list of changes in the developer blog:
http://fab.senselab.org/node/230

This major release features support for single-line fonts, touch off and tool
change handling, multi-layered 2D models, many visualization improvements,
better DXF support, additional model transformations and many more new features.

Read the detailed list of changes in the developer blog:
http://fab.senselab.org/node/222

This minor release fixes a problem of the Windows standalone executable on multi-core systems.

This major release features parallel processing (automatically using all CPU
cores of your computer) and even distributed processing (connecting multiple
hosts to a shared pool of worker processes). This speeds up processing of
complex models significantly.
Additionally a standalone executable for Windows is available (no dependencies
required).
Climb and conventional milling styles are configurable.
The new toolpath strategy "Contour->Follow" can calculate exact contours of
a model (before: only an approximation).
Automatically distributed support bridges keep your 3D model attached to the
outer material.
The path precision (G61/G64) for the GCode interpreter is configurable.
Various interface improvements and minor bugfixes are included.

This major release features support for 2D contour models (in DXF or SVG format)
combined with a new EngraveCutter strategy. Additionally major improvements of
the support grid specification and the commandline interface were added.
Numerous improvements of the GUI and the generated GCode as well as a pile of
minor bug fixes were incorporated.

This new minor release contains only bugfixes for Windows users.

The new release features an optional support grid for holding the
object at its position during the machine operation.
Additionally an approximation of the required machine time for
each toolpath is calculated.
Changing the unit size (inch/mm) now can trigger a recalculation
of the model and other dimensions.

The new release features an optional support grid for holding the
object at its position during the machine operation.
Additionally an approximation of the required machine time for
each toolpath is calculated.
Changing the unit size (inch/mm) now can trigger a recalculation
of the model and other dimensions.

The new release features a new (experimental) simulation mode for
visualizing the material cutting of a toolpath. Comments are welcome!
Additionally minor bugs regarding Python 2.6 and a missing python-tk
package were fixed.

PyCAM v0.2.3 features an improved interface for handling tools, processes and tasks. Additionally the current settings are now automatically stored in the user's home directory. Furthermore the "material allowance" setting is now supported for all calculations, tool definitions can be exported to EMC2, model scaling is easier than before and missing dependencies are reported in a graphical dialog (especially useful for Windows users).
Of course, various minor bugs were fixed, as well.
Last but not least: a fancy logo was added ...

PyCAM v0.2.2 contains a new graphical installer for Windows (including Start Menu items).
Additionally various minor bugs were fixed.

PyCAM v0.2.1 contains various bug fixes for GTK (before v2.16) and features additional view configuration settings.

PyCAM v0.2 contains a new GTK interface that offers various additional features. The original Tk interface is still available, but will be removed in the future.