Windows selection in CAM

[erik]

I would like to request for windows selection in the CAM environment.

This would be a nice feature, when one has a lot of open contours and want to process them all with the same tool.

If implementing this idea, it would be great to have both window and crossing selection.

Something like this with window and crossing selection

Maybe this functionality will have to be limited to only selecting one type of object like the Move/Copy command does. I think that would enhance the selection, but I would probably need to be a command as well to do so.

[Anonymous]

nice idea for CAM .

[randyT9V9C]

Window selection in CAM would be great. Or to be able to select an entire sketch off the timeline. My software at work allows me to select entire sketches and I find it handy. 😉

[porsbym]

The reason that we are not allowing window selections is that it does not update well when you later make modifications to the design model.

Our preferred approach is to make selections like this more "rules" based, and for example select entire sketches, faces or areas.

To get an idea of what I mean try this in the 2D Profile operation which allows selection of whole sketches, and then has logic options to do only inner or outer loops etc.

We are planning to bring this feature to the other strategies as well, and it is my feeling that it will cover the majority of the use cases for window selection.

Please let me know your thoughts on this.

/Mark

[erik]

I think I understand your approach of being very 'rules' based.

But wouldn't it be possible to use some kind of window selection where it only allows one kind of object e.g. sketches, faces or areas or all of the three.

I know from using the API that it is possible to limit the selection to only allow certain types of objects.

Below is an image, where I would like to cut the contour of the faces placed on the first sheet. This is only possible through clicking each face manually which is a tedious task. (This is just an example. There is normally a lot more bodies on each sheet.)

If I was able to window/crossing select the faces it would save a lot of time. This is not easy in this case, because I would like to only select the faces visible to the me, being the ones in the XY-plane having the highest z-coordinate.

I hope this make any sense. Otherwise please let me know.

- Erik

[Anonymous]

Selecting the sketch in the feature tree/browser would be a great option if generating this tool path didn't take 10 mins on a core i7-6700, wasn't horrifically inefficient and didn't ignore about half the contours. Vcarve Pro makes quick work of much more complex patterns. Please please improve. 

[bob.schultz]

Maybe looking at window selection as an "extension" of single selection could be a start.  Each entity within the window could be treated as if they were individually selected.  It is quite difficult to single select hundreds of entities, especially when engraved text is involved.  This improvement would benefit many Waterjet/Plasma/Laser users, where they do not care about associativity, since they are dealing with DXF files and sketches.  Intelligent/associative window selection could be an extension of this simple window selection.

[erik]

@bob.schultz That is exactly why I suggested this idea.

We are working with a waterjet cutter where we both cut a large number of elements from sheets and engrave (cut) numbers into the elements. The task of selecting all the numbers to be cut and the elements to be cut is very tedious and time consuming.

I really hope the team will look into this! 🙂

[porsbym]

@erik did you try the "select same plane faces" option for your workflows?

Note that this selects across whatever is selected for "Model" in the Setup, and so if you select the bodies (or components!) that correspond to what you can machine in a single sheet this should make it a 1-click affair for most common workflows.

If you have example parts where this doesn't apply, I'd be very interested in seeing them.

Meanwhile, we're getting a lot closer to improving the selection capabilities across all strategies. Stay tuned. Sorry for this taking so long...

[erik]

Thanks for the response @porsbym.

The workflow is (mostly)

• Drawing a sketch
• Extruding it in different colors
• Move parts according to color to the sheets
• Define 2D cutting routine

Picture of example drawing:

 

Picture of parts of drawing distributed on sheets:

The above is just an example, and most drawings contain many more parts.

I have created a script to imprint the bodies on the sheets enabling the use of "Select same plane faces".

But I can't use this functionality to cut contour text, which would be really beneficial in some cases.

That is why I would like the window/crossing selection. Another way would to use the CAM API to select all the parts for the cutting routine, but that API is lacking the functionality as well.

I hope this makes sense.

Cheers,

Erik

[porsbym]

Hi Erik,

Thanks for the added details.

I have sent you a private message with my e-mail address. It would be awesome if you could send me an example part.

Thanks again,

Mark