Turn off the new ribbon and go back to the old style

[Anonymous]

Not a huge fan of Autodesk's new Powermill and FeatureCAM "Let's make it look different, but make it do the same things" initiative... although I am grateful they are cleaning things up... but why the interface?

Is there a way to change the interface back to the "pre-2018" style?

The colors on the icons are just too soft, the ribbon is bulky, the office style menu is a pain and its just not as customizable as it once was...

any help would be appreciated, otherwise ill be sticking with my 2017 version of FeatureCAM for quite some time.

Thanks!

[abhishek.juvekar · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous,

Thanks for raising your concern through Autodesk Forum.

The toolbars and menu options have been replaced with a ribbon to give FeatureCAM a clear visual layout and provide consistency with other Autodesk products.

But if you like to work with the old user interface, you can turn off 'Show Ribbon' from secret menu which you can find by clicking cntrl key and right click of your mouse simultaneously on the status bar, at the bottom of FeatureCAM window. Refer the attached image and let me know if you have any additional questions.

Thank You.

[Matthias.K]

Thanks, this hint made my day! 🙂

[neil_J]

Thanks for the hint,

Tried it but I'll be sticking with 2017 for a while, at least until there are some significant improvements to the functionality not just the corporate vanity BS that 2018 seams to me to be.

Who cares if its in line with other autodesk products if you can't see the icons because the colour is so washed out.

[bhorstTGM48]

Mine too 😄

[wmtcoinc]

  I've been messing with it for 2 days now.  And found it now take 2 to 4 times longer to the simplest things.

 No custom tool bars.  the "SAVE AS", "SAVE NC", AND "SAVE PROGRAM" are in 3 different location on your screen now.

  You want make a curve? You now must use a drop down menu to selected witch type, or to change types instead of the old "one stop" tool bar with everything on it.

   They even put the Sim menu on a drop down, instead of all the SIM options on one, always visible tool bar.  Now you have to pick the mode from a drop down at the top of the screen, then go to bottom of the screen and hit the play button. 

  No more "real" custom tool bars that you can place anywhere you want.   The new layout look like something from QuickBooks.  

  They just took a big step backwards I say 15 to 20 years with this interface!!!

  Russ

[Matthias.K]

See 2nd replay in this topic to get the old custom menu back. Works fine and except for slightly different icons it looks like FC 2017 🙂

[Anonymous]

Brilliant! Thanks

[wmtcoinc]

Ok that worked, now how does one bring back the old icons. the new one are light blue and light gray really thin lines on a lighter grey back ground, so you can hardly see them and what they are .

Any Fix for that?

Russ 

[Anonymous]

Ribbons are a bad move done for cosmetic reasons.

They slow you down but make you look so cool while you click your mouse ten times to create a horizontal line.

You clicker finger will look like Popeye's arm after a day of programming.

[Trackerjoe]

As programs change, I always grumble and then try to "grab on to the new", but as a new user I was just getting comfortable with the 2017 interface and now feel lost again.  Is there a translation table somewhere to show kind of a "used to be there" vs "it's over here now"?

[Anonymous]

See this link

http://help.autodesk.com/view/FCAM/2018/ENU//?guid=GUID-4B7479F4-F220-4D28-97D7-DAD9AA3CB8CB

I haven't switched to 2018 yet, so I don't know if that table is comprehensive.

[wmtcoinc]

  Guys, 

  I've been writing programs all afternoon with this 2018.  I'm completely exhausted from straining my eyes over these new, almost impossible to see icons.  The Colors are so light you can hardy see what they are.  I've jerked around with the color mode and nothing works.  

   If you have a 1 item tool bar, you can't use it. The closing "X" is so big, and the icons so small, every time you click the item, it delete the bar!  Being blinded by Helps popping up, and covering everything your trying to use is nonsense.  

  Yes, I know you can turn it off, But this is mind boggling.  Did anyone even Beta test this thing? Did Quality control even see is before it was released? 

   I can't believe my being forced to go back to 2017 because some snowflake coder want pretty colors for his snowflake pals to see and use.

 In the real world, our key broads and monitors are just as covered with dirt, grease and oil as our hands.  This pastel color crap just does not cut it.  If your a coder, and you want to play with them, I suggest you get a job remodeling baby nurseries!  I mean what the point here?  What are you looking for?  " Gees, the software is much harder to use, But it sure looks pretty......"  That's not going to sell!

Russ 

P.S. Not intending to hurt any snowflakes feeling, so get over it!  

[BGordon1119]

I updated from 2016 FC to 2018 FC back in September 2017. I tried using the Ribbons and then tried the so called revert that makes it kind look like the easily usable FeatureCam. I wasted a week  messing with that junk. I am still using 2016 FeatureCam because nothing Autodesk has done has made it any better. They took away what made FeatureCam great, the ease of use. The ribbons make it take twist as long and double the work to do anything. And the revert is joke because you can hardly tell the different buttons apart. I really love FeatureCam, and I have been using it for 15 years now. AutoDesk has quickly ruined it. (Not A Fan At All) 

[Anonymous]

I'm staying with 2017; I paid for 2018 but will not buy 2019 - I won't buy a downgrade.

The changes were made to:

• "create a clear visual layout"
  • Failed
• "and provide consistency with other Autodesk products"
  • That ads no value to me, but helps them copy/paste their code between their many versions of their software.

I know it's too late and I'm beating a dead horse. I'll shop for another Feature based CAM software.

[Anonymous]

I get where most of you are coming from. Spending numerous years with a product, and having it changed after a sudden change in ownership isn't always the easiest. However spending years with a product that has an interface straight out of windows XP where you have to memorize each little icon in the rows of toolbars isn't what i would call efficient. Most of you who have griped about processes taking significantly longer are probably spending all your time trying to search for the little pictures you once knew and loved. If you take a step back and actually look at the interface, its designed to make sense where things get put together into logical groups instead of long menus of glyph icons. I don't think there are as many grease covered keyboards utilizing this software as you may think. FeatureCAM wasn't improving before, and has now been bought out by a company that develops design software, that for many, has become an industry standard. Now that FeatureCAM is under the control of Autodesk, it has the opportunity to grow. For example, the 2018 release that a lot of you seem to be griping about was pretty bad. It was buggy and crashed too much. But if you would have continued on, you might have jumped to 2019 and realized that it was significantly better. Things are going to grow as the industry changes, its up to you to adapt with it.

[bhorstTGM48]

“If we fail to adapt, we fail to move forward.” John Wooden

[bhorstTGM48]

“If you’re not moving forward, you’re falling back.” Sam Waterson

[BGordon1119]

You have obviously never customized a toolbar if you think you have to memorize what drop down it's under.

I have every button I need for 99 percent of the programs that I wright all in one toolbar.   The ribbon is way more cumbersome and user involved. This is not an upgrade. An upgrade should speed a process up, not make it take longer. Again, it's nice that you offer a revert option to make it work the way it did before . But it makes no sense to then change the colors of the buttons so they all look the same.

If it's not broke don't fix it.  

Ribbons are a definite downgrade.

[BGordon1119]

I bet if John Wooden and Sam Waterson used featureCam, They wouldn't like the ribbons either.