Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => Mach Screens => Works in progress => Topic started by: ynneb on April 03, 2006, 10:04:26 AM
-
Well here it is in beta format.
Please be gentle with me.
Down Load it from here http://machsupport.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=421.0;id=327
To get this screen set to work you will have to do a few things carefully.
First run the exe file, this will set up a new folder in your Mach bitmaps folder. The folder will be called "Benny Screen"
Once that is done you will need to browse to that folder and drop the "1MACHLED.ttf" font that is in there into your fonts folder. You will find your fonts folder in Start/settings/fonts/ ( right click and open) Just drag and drop the font into this folder.
Once this is done, you will find another file called "controldeskscreen.set" place this in the main Mach3 folder( C:\Mach3 )
Open Mach3 up and select Config/fonts and fro the Dros select the new font that you recently installed. ( You will find it is the very first font in the list, and you may have to scroll backwards to find it.
This font will not become effective untill Mach is restarted. (Restart Mach)
When you re open Mach, select View/ Load screens/ and browse for "controldeskscreen.set"
Once this is selected you should see the screen appear.
This is best viewed on a 768 x 1024 monitor. It is not suitable for smaller res monitors. I suggest if you have mach to auto scale, you turn off this setting. ( Config/state/ untick auto enlarge ( Bottom left) and restart Mach)
If your monitor is set at 768x 1024 you will need to set the windows task bar to either not display on top, or uese the auto hide feature instead. This is done by right clicking on a blankof the bar and selecting properties. You will see the options to change the settings there.
Enjoy :)
-
:)
Great start Benny. Looks really impressive. Here is some feedback.
Install went fine.
The files extracted to my c:\mach3\bitmaps\BennyScreen.
Font installed fine.
On first run I had made the taskbar autohide so the screen could be seen 100%
I had errors on :-
ALL REF HOME button. - Error on line 1. Sub or function not defined: None (*)
ALL SET TO ZERO - Button hides when pressed and does not resume unless page changes
The Dro's will only display 3 digits before decimal point. Does this need to be more ?
The scale access DRO will not display the leading digit if scale is more than 9. Even with scale of 1 the +/_ is almost offscreen.
Edit G-Code does nothing
The font size when looking at program limits on the toolpath display is so small its hard to read. Very.
The DISPLAY MODE button on the toolpath giver the error (*)
Jog increment textbox too small to show all digits.
This is a brilliant start to a screenset that looks impressive. I will add any more problems as they arise.
Great work !!!
(Really jealous as I have been using screen4 for a few days and have nothing like this to show :(
-
Please ignore the comment on font sizes above. I needed to change the font to the new one and restart for it to look ok. ::)
The font on the program limit page is very small however and the G-Code text display is really hard to read.
If I use 1MACHLED.ttf for the DRO's only then use arial narrow on labels and code things are better.
Cheers !
-
Nice work,
I think its a very clean look. I especially like the little tiny highlights on the glass buttons. It shows a serious attention to detail.
I hope you realize that we appreciate the hard work you must have put into this, considering you'll never satisfy everyone.
I think for you to present it at all for our consideration is a sign of respect and confidence in what you're doing.
Thanks again
-
Hi Benny
Bussy downloading your sceenset as I write this..... Looks great!!!!!
I also like to play with the screen designers but Screen4 is not so easy to work with , can you help out with a couple of pointers.
First of all do you have to save all bmp's or png's ...........or what ever graphic file you use in the main Mach3 bitmaps folder even if you are doing a Wizard screen set. I find when saving my bitmaps with the wizard ,the bitmaps does not show in Screen4.
Next qeustion related to Realdraw. I used your DRO skins(red, green,yellow and blue) I need to get them a littel darker in collor.How
about a little tutorial in doing that and how to get a round button's background transparent instead of a white square.
Your help will be greatly apreciated
Thanks
Deon Gerber
-
Ah yes I didnt consider that many people have the windows tak bar to display always on top. Thats a depressing thought to have to move all the graphics. I might tell art to change the default black area in the designer to take this into account. If people want to change the windows tool bar to auto hide, they can right click on the tool bar ( in a blank area, and select properties) You will then see the settings.
Yeh, I am aware some of the buttons might not be working, its the very first beta version and I expect heaps of mistakes and tweaking.
Yes you only need to change the font for the DROs only, otherwise its hard to read.
Deon,the screen designer will not show the pictures unless you press the unhide bmps button at the top. Just a little bug with the designer.
To get round buttons without a black or white square background, use transparent PNG files. RealDraw gives you the ability to export your picture out as these. I will write up a tutorial once I have finished with getting this screen up to scratch.
I have descided to only post the screens here without making a big public announcement, until it is sort of up to scratch.
-
Benny
Thanks for all your efforts on this - both the screnset and the development, with Art, of the infrastructure to make them possible.
A few early thoughts:
(a) The hotspots on a bitmap architecture feels very responsive compared with multiple bitmap buttons and the automatic animation feels very natural - wondeful given that no work is needed by the "designer" for pressed/unpressed renderings etc.
(b) I have tried Arial and the 7-segment font. Arial works fine and is vastly more legible IMO. Users should not be put off feeling they must use the 7-segment version.
(c) Now a problem: I really need to have the S DRO on screen and ideally some buttons to increment/decrement it (My screen buttons multiply and divide by 1.2 to give geometric speed steps). In the current release format the screens are, for all practical purposes, uneditable. One of my principal requirements is to be able to optimise a screenset to the hardware it is controlling (e.g. one needs spindle pulley controls on a multi-geared head, a Tool Change request LED if manual tool change, different coolant options etc.) A universal screen is so crowded as to be useless.
Have you considered a "release package" including the "object" format files? My personal view would be that as there is no proper standard format and as RealDraw Pro is such a good and reasonably priced piece of software that .RDW files would be the best format.
(d) Finally some details:
I feel that + buttons should be on the right and - on the left when in a pair (e.g. for jogging)
It feels wrong that the page selection buttons are so much bigger than the Cycle Start etc. The latter are too small (in height) for safe use with my fingers on a 17" touch screen.
The screens need to display their "revision data".
It is useful (to me at least) to have the profile name displayed.
I frequently refer to the Modes line.
If you are planning work on Offsets then I have found it useful to display the arithmetic involved (see attachment). The screen shot may be too elaborate as G52/G92 may be little used.
Best wishes
John Prentice
-
Great looking screen.
Some button problems...
On Program Run page
1. In Y-Axis contol box, set to zero button does not work
2. In Jog Settings contol box, under Jog Increment section, the plus (+) button does not work and the minus(-) button actually works as a (+) button
-
My silence over the last few days doesnt mean, I am not reading the comments. I can see lots of valid changes need to be made.
I will wait a few more days for all the comments to come in b4 I make the fixes, and post an update screen.
Thanks for the comments so far.
-
Hi, Benny
Downloaded your screen.set really nice.
I see your having problems as I was with the double click to straight view it only work's on your Diag. screen..
I fixed mine by using Scree4 and Copy/Past the good View/cut screen (Diag.) and replaced the ones generated with Screen4.
There is still a problem with safe Z level red dashed line's getting behind the cut view must be a code error.
Thank's Chip
-
Just curious, how do I do something like this? What type of graphics programs are you using? What type of time is involved? Wish I was smarter!!! Dang!
-
You can download a fully working 30 day trial of RealDrawPro from here http://www.mediachance.com/realdraw/
It is very easy to use. and if you want to buy the program it will only cost $55
Its not a matter of smartness, its just a matter of time, and looking at what others have already created and building on that.
-
Hi Benny, just downloaded and got up and running. They are beautiful looking, stunning!
For the way I persoally use Mach, I would need to see the RPM and speed over ride buttons,
and feed and over ride buttons preferably feed displayed in both IPM and inches per rev ( as in Chis' turn screens)
and the current tool number.
Also a flashing led when a tool change is being asked for.
I'd need a couple more G-code lines displayed.
The small display on the main page is fine, for me the display is about useless anyway.
You already know there are quite a few buttons not working.
Ipresume you've spent many hours on this, and the work shows. Thank you and I hope the comments of mine and others are not discouraging.
Jerry
-
Benny, I'm not running Mach yet but hope to once my replacement computer arrives. I run a 4 axis mill at the moment. I like your screen layout alot esp the configuration of the axis. Here's what I'd like to see for use in a milling application.
Change the Go To Zero button to Go To Position so that the operator can enter a position, whether that be zero or an absolute position. Having an Absolute/Incremental button would be handy so that doing a Go To move could be in relation to Zero or the current position.
On each axis create a means to toggle between Jog Continious/Jog Incremental. I use this all the time when locating an edge, I jog .001" or .0005" when finding an edge. I also like to have a fast & slow continous jog.
Replace the jog '+' & '-' buttons with directional arrows as related to the tool movement. Place the arrows accordingly on the screen eg. < > for the X axis, up & down for the Z & Y axis , my little mind while in deep concentration sometimes needs a prompt to remember which direction is the '+' direction.
Create a seperate Home box for "Home X, Y, Z, ALL" Wtih Home on each Axis control as you have it I'd be crashing Tools like crazy with my clumsy mouse control, I need that stuff away from the regular axis controls, I'm always tweaking movements up, down left, right etc.
Being able to to toggle between the GCode & Graphic screens would be handy while a job is running if the software would support it.
I'm sure I'll have some more input once my computer arrives & I load Mach to give it a try.
-
Benny,
Very nice looking screens.
One minor suggestion, I've elected to install MACH under the "Program Files" directory. When a new version of MACH is installed, it lands in the same spot (maybe Art looks up the location in the registry?). I also think that generic locations for the FONT folder can be indicated by something like %windows system%/fonts or some such thing (remember doing it a while back). If that's too much work, then a choice of "other than" default installation directory for MACH might make sense.
Maybe I'm the only one who "organized" their PC this way (then again, maybe not :-)
Keep up the good work.
Regards,
Jeff
-
Whats the deal here?
I am trying to download this screen set,
but this link keeps looping be back to a log-in screen.
beachbum
-
Hi Benny and John,
Great Job on the screen Benny! I am new to Mach3, converting from AHA. Going through the forums to learn as much about Mach as I can and I came across the post about OffsetsArithDisp.TIF. I am at the point of learning how Mach handles G52,G41 &G42 etc commands, whichs leads to my question to John. Did you nake this screen? If so is it something you would share? It looks like it would be very helpful in trouble shooting tool and work offsets.
thanks, RJ
ps part of what sold me on Mach3 was this forum and ALL the helpful persons that live here. :)
-
Benny, is there any chance that you could just fix the "Display Mode" button on the Toolpath page of this screen set? I just love this screen set and I've spent hours trying to figure out how to fix it but I'm stumped.... :'( :-[
Thanks-
Dave
-
Hi Benny,
i have realdraw pro , are the bitmaps / project files available for your screenset etc , and have you made further progress , as i'd love to expand on your excellent work with a few extras and help with bringing it into a fully functional set etc
following on from your earlier comments , i agree having just obtained realdraw over the weekend it sure makes it easier than using photoshop
Dave