SURFCAM 2004 Release Notes

SURFCAM 2004 is shipping to all Users with a Maintenance Contract Expiration Date of 8/1/2004 or greater

If you do not know your Maintenance Expiration Date, you can check it by clicking the Help | About SURFCAM.

In an effort to improve the performance and usefulness of SURFCAM, Surfware has made several major changes that you should clearly understand BEFORE installing V2004.  While it is impossible to foresee and eliminate all issues at 450+ user sites, we at CAMcad have reviewed these changes by repetitive installations of V2004 Beta software in a number of different configurations over the past six weeks, and have compiled this write-up to minimize any potential problems you may encounter.

1.     Predator Software

Beginning with V2004, Surfware will no longer ship any Predator Software, Inc. technology with SURFCAM.  You are completely permitted to continue to use previous versions if you desire to do so, but we encourage you to use Surfware's new technology wherever possible.  Based upon what we've seen, we agree with Surfware's decision.

Internal NC Verify

A linked version of the OEM version of Predator Virtual CNC, accessed from within the NC Operations Manager, was used and documented as NC Verify and behind the scenes it also supported some 2-Axis and 3-Axis Rest Machining calculations.  This capability has been replaced.

External NC Verify - Virtual CNC

The stand-alone, multi-view port version of the Predator Virtual CNC product, accessed from within the NC Operations manager as "External NC Verify", will no longer be shipped by Surfware.

PEditor - Text Editor & Back Plotter

The PEditor Vx.x text editor and back plotting capability has been replaced.

2.     V2004 NC Verify

MachineWorks OEM

Surfware has entered into an OEM relationship with MachineWorks, Inc. and has integrated the MachineWorks material simulation toolkit into V2004.  This will be the new NC Verify capability, and from what we've seen, you will really like its speed, image quality, and dynamic rotation-pan-zoom features.  Surfware has prepared a feature checklist comparison between this capability and the Predator version so you completely understand what new features you have, and in a few rare instances, what isn't there.

Verify Plus Upgrade for FREE

I am very please to announce that SURFCAM 2004 is shipping with VERIFY PLUS as part of our standard core product at no extra cost.

No External Multi-View

The initial version shipped with V2004 does not support multiple view ports, so don't look for it.  But with the dynamic rotation-pan-zoom features (DURING simulation) we've seen, the need for multiple windows kinda' goes away.

3.     V2004 Text Editor & Back Plotter

NFR Software OEM

NFR Software is the author of what was previously shipped under the Surfware trade name of SEDIT and SDNC, shipped with V2002 and earlier versions of SURFCAM, so most of you old-timers will find it very familiar.  Surfware has chosen to use the NFR software name "editNC", and the "editNC" utility shipped with SURFCAM V2004 contains several new improvements and much better performance.

SDNC Compatibility

For those using SDNC, as far as we can tell, all existing SDNC configuration data should remain intact and this product works pretty much the same as earlier versions.

4.     V2004 Software Installation

NC Verify

The new MachineWorks "NC Verify" software is automatically installed by the V2004 installation routines and you should not have to do anything special, i.e. it should just work.  The V2004 NC Verify menu is new, and there's a tutorial in the "What's New with V2004" document to assist you in getting started.

editNC

This software will be installed in your "..\SURFCAM\SURF2004\editNC" folder.

If you did a NEW install this editor will be your default editor for SURFCAM.

If you did an UPDATE install this editor will be installed but NOT your default editor until you run the editNC Editor Config Utility located at the bottom of the SURFCAM Installation Manager on the SURFCAM 2004 CD.

SDNC

You should not see any changes from V2003 or earlier versions of SDNC if you use the "UPDATE" installation procedure, however, if you chose to do a "NEW" install, you'll need to copy any previous configuration settings to the new folder.

SURFCAM.PST

As always, we recommend that you backup your existing SURFCAM postprocessor support files in a safe place BEFORE installing new software.  A list of these files is published on our web-site, and if we've assisted you or have been contracted to provide postprocessors or other special extensions, we have a backup copy of anything we've provided.

If you are using Mpost (MPost-LPost-EPost) for postprocessing and want to backup your critical files, you'll need to open the POST.INI file in your ..\SURFCAM\SURF2003\MPOST folder to determine the exact path and filename being used by the RunTime system.  You'll need to then copy the files to the location you want them in your new software and edit the new POST.INI in the ..\SURFCAM\SURF2004\MPOST\ folder accordingly.

If you are using SPost the same is true, however, it gets a bit more complicated and we'll be happy to assist you.

In either event, we'll have extra resources on standby to help you with the V2004 conversion process.

5.     Running Predator Virtual CNC

As mentioned previously, you are completely entitled to continue to operate the Predator Virtual CNC software in its current condition on your system.  If you choose to do this, the following syntax can be added to your V2004 SURFCAM.PST file so you can launch PVNC from within your V2004 environment:

PostItem PREDATOR VCNC
 Status Use SURFCAM 2003 External Verify
 Command "C:\SURFCAM\Surf2004\INC2APT" -I "%p%n" -O "%p%N.apt"
 Delete "%p%N.APT"
 ChDir "C:\SURFCAM\Predator Software\Virtual CNC 5.0"
 Task "C:\SURFCAM\Predator Software\Virtual CNC 5.0\pvcnc.exe" /SCAN:"%p%n"