Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: DaveCVI on June 19, 2010, 01:39:24 PM
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Hi,
You may have noticed mention of a new screen set being developed for Mach3 v4… I've been working with Brian to develop a screen set to prototype and support Mach3 v4 functionality (on top of Mach3 v3).
I'm pleased to announce the screen set is called MachStdMill, and that Brian and I will be showing MachStdMill at the CNC workshop next week. Additionally, we've decided to pre-announce release of a v3 specific version of the screen set for use with Mach3 v3.
The v3 version of MachStdMill contains all off the package's functionality which is supported on Mach3 v3 (as of the recent 3.43.6 development release).
If all goes as planned, the MachStdMill screen set will be released for general beta testing the week following the CNC Workshop. The screen set effort started last year and has been in Alpha testing for the last few months, so we're confident that the Beta release of v3 MachStdMill is pretty stable.
In addition to supporting the functionality of the venerable 1024 screen set, MachStdMill provides support for significant additional functionality.
The following are some of the enhancements included in the MachStdMill package:
Updated User Interface (UI)
New visual appearance.
(See screen shots)
Graphic controls consistency.
Work flow driven functionality grouping.
Integrated probing support for work coordinate offsets setting.
Tool handling extensions
RH (repeatable length tool) holders & NRH (non-repeatable length tool) holders
Support for mixed usage of RH & NRH holders
WCO (work coordinate offset) and TT (Tool table) handling extensions.
WCO and TT can be saved to named disk files and reloaded.
Reports of WCO & TT contents.
MachStdMill WCO and TT tables will transfer to Mach3 v4.
Enhanced support for optional hardware
Monitors: both 10x7 (1024x768) & 12x9 (1280x1024) monitor resolutions are supported.
Touch Plates: both “mobile” and TCP (tool change position) touch plates supported.
Integrated support for 3D probes.
Master tool mode
MachStdMill now supports the use of a master tool TLO model.
Master Too Mode includes support (with a TCP TP) for auto measurement of TLOs during a tool change.
Full doc package included
A full set of Mach3 manuals are installed with the package and are accessible from the reference page of the screen set.
The MachStdMill package includes a new “Using Mach3” manual which covers MachStdMill use with Mach3 v3.
User extensible
Source package to be available.
Including graphics source files – so you can easily modify the screen set.
Screen set package is licensed free of charge.
License terms are “BSD like”.
Attached are a couple of screen shots to give an idea of the visual appearance of MachStdMill.
If you will be at the CNC workshop next week, please catch me and say hello.
Dave
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Nice screen set! I hope it remains this clean and does not get a cluttered as the current 1024.set is.
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No worries there - the visual appearance has been stable for a couple of months during the alpha testing process. We don't foresee any significant changes along those lines happening at this point.
Dave
Nice screen set! I hope it remains this clean and does not get a cluttered as the current 1024.set is.
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Nice job Dave. This one is certainly very easy on the eye and looks professional. I am looking forward to V4 to try it's new functions.
Zafar
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Dave, absolutely beautiful set as mentioned above but a quick question if you don't mind? Why are the all DRO's clipped at the bottom? Is this because of the way you have Windows set up on your PC? Reason I ask is because I have my fonts set up larger than normal because of my monitor resolution and that's how it shows on Mach 3 for me as well (with the bottoms clipped).
Thanks for all your hard work!
Dave
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Nice and clear, unlike the current screen set. Good job, Dave and everybody who's been involved!
Daniel
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Whoops - They will not look that way on a normal machine.
It's an artifact of the test machine I took the screen shots from - and how it has windows options set up. I run my development machine with the windows fonts in display properties/settings/advanced set to "large" (120DPI, or 125% of normal). As my eyes get older, I find that more comfortable.
I forgot to set the fonts back to normal size before grabbing the screen shots this morning...
With normal font resolution, the bottoms of the chars are not clipped.
Dave
i.e.
Dave, absolutely beautiful set as mentioned above but a quick question if you don't mind? Why are the all DRO's clipped at the bottom? Is this because of the way you have Windows set up on your PC? Reason I ask is because I have my fonts set up larger than normal because of my monitor resolution and that's how it shows on Mach 3 for me as well (with the bottoms clipped).
Thanks for all your hard work!
Dave
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Yep, just as I thought, thanks for that Dave! :)
Too Bad that can't be modified :(
Dave
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Here is a run page screen shot - same machine, same software, just using the normal 96 DPI fonts.
Dave
Whoops - They will not look that way on a normal machine.
It's an artifact of the test machine I took the screen shots from - and how it has windows options set up. I run my development machine with the windows fonts in display properties/settings/advanced set to "large" (120DPI, or 125% of normal). As my eyes get older, I find that more comfortable.
I forgot to set the fonts back to normal size before grabbing the screen shots this morning...
With normal font resolution, the bottoms of the chars are not clipped.
Dave
i.e.
Dave, absolutely beautiful set as mentioned above but a quick question if you don't mind? Why are the all DRO's clipped at the bottom? Is this because of the way you have Windows set up on your PC? Reason I ask is because I have my fonts set up larger than normal because of my monitor resolution and that's how it shows on Mach 3 for me as well (with the bottoms clipped).
Thanks for all your hard work!
Dave
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Looks fantastic Dave!!!
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Dave,
Nice job on the screens and a new manual to boot!
Surely a lot of effort and must say thanks to those involved.
Does that mean TURNING may be on the horizon?
RICH
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Don't shoot the messenger, just some first impressions
Both the Speed and Feed DRO's values are clipped. Seems like the DRO boxes are too wide for the font used.
Not sure I understand The green button theme, does it mean (go/ be careful / look at me / I'm special)
I'd always hoped you would have put the graphics screen next to the gcode. Find myself looking back and forth from one side of the screen to the other when finding a start point after an issue. (Wish there was a search feature, find tool number# or jump back to Z+1 clear plane)
I do like the Yellow Axis labels, classy.
Overall it is an improvement, tedious work. Good job
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Doesn't look too bad. Sure wish there was similar development work going on for lathe also. Glad to see you did not go overboard with faked glare and shadows on the DRO's and buttons. On the office PC the glare and shadows looks great, however on the shop PC the glare is already bad enough that a screen sure doesn't need to add any additional faked glare. There is almost too much induced glare and shadow on the buttons as it is. I'm sure many like my self are monitoring the screen from several feet away when milling on a job.
High contrast screens work much better in that type of environment even though they don't look as pretty when sitting directly in front of the screen.
Screen sets that use glare on the DRO's quickly end up in the PC trash bin here.
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Sorry, I can't help with info re turn plans.
Please understand that while I can talk about this project now that it's close to general beta, it's not my prerogative to discuss ArtSoft's product plans one way or the other - you'll have to inquire to Brian for that.
Dave
Dave
Dave,
Nice job on the screens and a new manual to boot!
Surely a lot of effort and must say thanks to those involved.
Does that mean TURNING may be on the horizon?
RICH
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HIYA DAVE, any plans for a simple HI-RES, low light, poor eyes, cheap glasses version for use in the shops(;-)
Just an oldie
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Hi,
Re the clipped DROs - please see an earlier prior post I made re that question - the clipping is an artifact of the development machine I took the screen shots from - the DROs are not clipped in the release candidate software.
I posted a revised screen shot with the normal fonts to show the regular appearance.
Re the yellow axis labels, - actually they are tri state axis labels - if an axis is disabled, it is dark grey to make the axis label blend into the background; if the axis is enabled and not referenced, the axis is yellow; when the axis is referenced, the axis label is green.
I'll ask folks to hang out a a bit for the beta release - there is a consistency and logic to the controls (well at least to those that are used to it - like me <grin>). Think of the buttons as internally lit - when they are off, the internal light is off and the button is grey, when on they are lit with a color - generally green. There are a few cases where yellow or red are used when you have selected "unusual conditions" - to remind the operator of the current state.
Dave
Don't shoot the messenger, just some first impressions
Both the Speed and Feed DRO's values are clipped. Seems like the DRO boxes are too wide for the font used.
Not sure I understand The green button theme, does it mean (go/ be careful / look at me / I'm special)
I'd always hoped you would have put the graphics screen next to the gcode. Find myself looking back and forth from one side of the screen to the other when finding a start point after an issue. (Wish there was a search feature, find tool number# or jump back to Z+1 clear plane)
I do like the Yellow Axis labels, classy.
Overall it is an improvement, tedious work. Good job
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Hi Terry,
OK, you're tugging at my chain again I see... ;)
Let's see, how about a scenario where you paint one wall of the shop bright reflective white, and we use a hi-res projector hung from the ceiling.... Of course those require a darkened room for best effect ( that satisfies the low light criteria), then we really spiff it up and require the use of 3d glasses - you know, the new LCD shutter type that delivers different images to each eye (but I'm not sure how "cheap" we can get those to be, but that's just a supply chain issue dependent on volume commitment) - then we really animate things - like make the estop cause a monster to roar and walk across the room to drag you back to the machine.... Hum, I guess we'll also need a good 5.1 sound system loud enough to be heard over the machine noise....
I'm thinking that this way we could all get new home (shop?) theaters AND be able to write it off as a shop expense.... ::)
Dave
HIYA DAVE, any plans for a simple HI-RES, low light, poor eyes, cheap glasses version for use in the shops(;-)
Just an oldie
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Gee I was just hoping for a simple Hi Contrast screen like all the new CNCzzzzzzzz I see out there.
I does looks nice if you are into Gaming (;-) But us oldies like a nice easy to read simple screen. All that fancy stuff is confusing to an old worn out brain.
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Terry,
You should really give one of the screen designers a go, as that way you could make a screen set look any way YOU"D like it to.
With the knowledge you certainly have, I would think that would be a breeze for you ;)
Dave
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I like the new screens, they look professional and plenty of bling ;).
Use of technology by persons above a certain age should be made illegal as it compromises the functionality for the rest of us slightly younger (under the ilegal age to use tech) and makes it a much more difficult task for the programmers ;) ;D ;D
I'd like to see the tool path next to the code as when using a wide screen projector, its like watching a game of tennis. ;D
Great job, I can't wait to use the new set.
ATB
Derek
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Dave not to wory (;-) I DO HAVE a simple hi contrast screen set. One for mill one for Turn one for router one for plasma,etc. I also have a copy look alike of MOST of teh commercial controllers as best as it can be done. (;-)
I was just tugging on SuperDaves cape (;-)
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lol! I see, I figured as much-
Dave
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Heck with "Mach Screen" it is a treat to do screen sets COMPARED to Scream4 (;-)
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Hello,
was the cnc workshop already done ? what happen goods in this workshop ?
Thanks for some feedback,
Fabrice
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Hi,
We demonstrated the MachStdMill package at the CNC workshop last week and the reactions were very positive.
The router that ArtSoft had at the show ran MachStdMill all week.
In addition to the equipment in the ArtSoft booth, two sessions at the workshop showed the software. It was part of Brian's "futures of Mach3 talk" and I gave a 2 hr talk on using the features in MachStdMill (which the audience stretched to 3 1/2 hours) ;-)
During the week a couple of things did crop up & they have been fixed.
Yet, there are still a couple of known issues that we want to sort out before the general beta release.
Additionally, there is also a fellow doing another detailed proof read of the manual - and I'd like to get those edits into the doc before release (it takes a while to proof read 160+ pages of technical info).
We had hoped to release the package this week, but my crystal ball says that with the combination of July 4th weekend, my time to get the open issues written up and sent to Brian, and then Brian needing some time to look into them, well, I honestly suspect the beta release it will slide into the week after the holiday weekend.
Stay tuned - we're close!
Dave
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Starting to drooll in anticipation...... :)
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Hi -
Status update:
I have the MSM part 99% ready to go.
Brian has the hard part at the moment... There isn't a revised 3.43.x yet so the release will be held up a bit.
(During the past week Brian said something about a heat wave in Maine and something about he and the computers melting into puddles. As I live in Calif, my understanding is that in Maine, a heat wave is anything above freezing <grin> ).
In any case, as soon as there is a revised Mach release, I'll do the MSM testing of the changes to verify the targeted bugs are gone and then we will get the package posted.
Dave
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Dave, I attended your sessions at the workshop and came away very impressed. I'm looking forward to getting V4 installed on my Bridgeport and actually cutting some metal!
Andy
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For those watching this thread, the MSM beta is now available from the machsupport site.
The announcement is at
http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,15366.0.html (http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,15366.0.html)
Dave