The CAM experts at Vero Software delivered enhancements to the flagship WorkNC product as well as transforming the WorkExplore product into PartExplore to cover the entire family of Vero CAM products.
Vero Software releases major updates for WorkNC, launch PartXplore at Industrie 2015
CIMdata ranked Vero Software as the largest CAM vendor with more twice the installed licenses of the nearest competitor. And the market leader showed off new features for key products at the Industrie 2015 event in Lyon, France. PGW met with Vero's Jean-Louis Humbert and he explained the enhancements and new features of WorkNC and PartXplore.
Jean-Louis Humbert, International Technical Director at Vero Software, presents the enhancements to WorkNC and PartXplore.
For version 24 of WorkNC, Vero Software has delivered features that increase precision, reliability, and productivity. These include very precise visualization of excess material, smoother tool-paths, easier & automatic transformations for milling setup, direct import of NX format files, and faster collision detection processing.
Easily visualizing excess material with customized settings
Seeing clearly the areas with excess material after milling can speed up the finishing process. The new version of WorkNC allows the operator to see areas of left over material on the part of different thicknesses and viewed using different colors. The setup allows completely customized granular coloring of left over material. The simplicity of the feature is matched by its usefulness. It allows the operator to optimize the cutting as well as the finishing.
Optimized tool-paths avoid peaks and eliminates potential flaws in machining
One of the best ways to improve the finishing process is to avoid the finishing process. Version 24 of WorkNC has new algorithms to generate tool-paths which avoid peaks and possible cutting problems altogether. At Industrie 2015, Vero Software displayed a fighter pilot head which was milled using the latest release. The part had extremely smooth surfaces and fine details – no polishing operations were needed after machining.
WorkNC accelerates programming and setup with improved tool-path duplication based on rotation, transformation, or symmetry.
Mr. Humbert demonstrated the ease with which tool-paths could be duplicated based on symmetry, rotation and transformation in axises other than the original view axis. The selection is simple and the program provides bounding boxes and default parameters. It then generates sub-programs in the tree-manager which in turn allows running collision checking on the new, automatically generated tool-paths.
In addition to these features, version 24 of WorkNC also reads NX files directly, and executes collision detection faster. Collision detection also includes the machine environment such as the tools and fixtures.
PartXplore : a new name and new features
The program many know as WorkXplore has been renamed PartXplore and is available to support customers of the entire family of Vero Software CAM products. PartXplore is, fundamentally, a CAD file viewer. But to think of it only as a viewer would be misleading. The product has features to facilitate manufacturing which allow customers to do part diagnostics & analysis, to prepare 3D models for manufacturing, and to verify models before machining.
PartXplore 2015 adds a new “batch processor” for converting CAD files into the PartXplore format. This allows customers to convert a large number of files automatically in a background process while they continue other work in PartXplore.
Vero Software also added a tool for patching CAD models. This is useful for tasks like volume analysis. The software analyses the CAD model and shows the user where patches are needed and allows the user to patch these areas.
Previously, PartXplore could visualize ISO files. The new version can also use the ISO file to simulate how the part will be machined which can catch problems before production.
The animation engine has been reworked and now uses an intuitive timeline for defining animations. More robust animations are now possible and also easier to create.
Our perspective :
Vero Software developers have been delivering new features for many years. The enhancements made for WorkNC v24 and PartXplore 2015 are very useful features. They increase quality and reduce time & effort. Better quality, faster is a great combination for a competitive business environment. It looks like a 2015 release designed to keep the company in the Number 1 position.
