Hi Guys:

  First, Im retired so none of this is official , but Im sure Scoitt and Brian will be reasonable.

OK, first of all , LazyCam was written to replace a very bad DXF importer. LazyCam as it stands is a
free program. It was added because allot of OEMs needed a "mini" cad package to inport DXF's and
manipulate them. Its been great for that. It isnt heavily supported, nor was it ever meant to be, at its price
point ( free) it is simply to help those it canhelp. ( and I have hundreds of letters showing it does..)

  Second, the "Pro" version was offered because of the many who didnt want to learn cam, but still need to pocket or offset,
and at its price of 75.00 ( almost all of whihc went to purchase the code that does the offsetting and pocketing (none of that was written by me)
it also does the job for many people. I always recommende people try it and see if it is OK for them, before licensing the pocketing
or the offsetting features. This is beacuse its real hard to refund a web license. ( believe me, if you offer a refund on a web license, people will
ask for it, then continue uising the program...) . That having been said, if its driving you nuts, just ask Scott at the license address for a resolution,
he's pretty fair and Im sure you can negotiate a deal thatll make you happy. No need to start spouting about class actiona and such, thats plain silly,
if you can find a cheaper product that can do what it does, you would've.  Your obviously used to dealing with companies that dont particularly care
what you think or if you have trouble.. thats not Brian and Scott, and it definitely wasnt me when I ran things either.

  Remember a couple things, before we created allot of downward price pressure with things ike Mach3 and LCam, you definitely would have
paid that 750.00 you talked about. LCam is kept pretty low priced because it doesnt pretend to be all things, it is a simple import facility, free in its basic version,
and it isnt well supported, but it Does do the job for a great many people, its why its there. If youve been around awhile you may remember what it
used to be like to import a DXF into a controller, its still not easy but its a far cry from what it used to be like. Mach3 is a controller, it isnt supposed to import
drawings, manipulate graphics and do text convcersions, but many people cant afford the full package of Cad/CAM as well as a controller and a machine, so LCam
has allowed allot fo people to find a way to do what they need.

  What comes out of LCam depends allot on what goes in, and DXF's are not like any other file, they differ remarkably depending on what created them..so user experiences with LCAm vary allot.

 Personally, I always recommend SheetCam over LCam when asked, Les provides excellent support as well as an excellent program, its a bit more expensive, but
its obvious why when you have to deal with any issues.

 As I said, talk to scott, tell him your feelings and see if he'll fix you up, or at least meet you halfway.. I suspect youll find he's pretty easy to deal with..I wasnt, and they arent..a faceless
corporation screwing you over..

 

Thanks
Art
 

It is what it is......And it ain't what it ain't.
I bought it as well assuming that it was on its way to being finished. Looks like it may go in the basket with that G-Rex thing.
I had no experience with Cam at the time,(still don't really) and wanted it for a learning tool. I learned a lot....I guess.
Mainly, how the CAM process "SHOULD" work. Sort of wish I had spent my time with a more stable product.
But...along with Chip's free help, I suppose I've gotten my $75 worth.
I hope LazyTurn doesn't end up in the same basket.
Just my 7500 cents worth,
RC

Art,

Put your claws away or I'll sic the bear on you!

All I am saying is that the "added" features do not work or work well. There is no way to evaluate them before taking the $75 plunge, and as you point out with a "Web License" that is a bit too late. There should be a Warning that the software will not work  as expected [/color] [/size], the basic "free" version does what it does, the "PRO" version does not work well at all. Witout a doubt Artsoft has made a big dent in the industry, I had a BobCad-Cam sales guy call me last week offering their new version for $900, then for $700, then for $500, $400 and finally for $300 with added CD video disks!

I've e-mailed Scott, awaiting his answer and also opened a PP dispute just so I didn't get busy and go past the deadline. Mach is a great product, very well supported, it's a shame LC can't be as good.

Kristin Dugan
Clearlake California

"Can you say, Rabid Badger?"

Well, since it's seems we are providing feedback on LazyCam this newbie might as well express 7500 cents worth.

Can't speak on the mill part since I haven't tried it to any great extent.

I purchased the Pro version just for the Lathe capability. If you can generate an "accurately" properly drawn piece out of a CAD program ( Autocadd or Microstation in my case), and have learned a few quirks of Lazyturn to watch out for, you got a rather powerfull tool for generating lathe gcode. Coupled with the turning wizards, you have additional options in turning. Yes, you may need to edit some code sometimes. I have looked and waited a number of  YEARS  for an economical lathe program. Scan the whole WEB for lathe programs, put a price tag on each, tell me you found something better for $75 than Lazcam turn along with the wizards, that the program is solid/ rather bug free/ easy to use program  and i will buy it tomorrow.

Till then, it's  my "MAGIC GCODE WAND" in a bag of tricks
RICH

As predicted by ART, Scott did the right thing a few moment ago. I still stand by my warning that LC is not worth the price and will be looking for recommendations from satisfied users of programs of even twice the price or more, when you take in to consideration how much time and material you can waste with something that is buggy and does not work it becomes a matter of weighing the cost vs. time. I really can't afford a high priced program, I may dual boot and look at what Linux has to offer.

Kristin

Feeling much less like a Rabid Badger Now![/color] [/size]

Hi Kristin:

  No claws.. I promise.

 In all seriousness you have to understand quite a bit about the file formats to understand the issues in LCam.
When I say user experiences vary I really meant it. I have letters praising LCam for what it does in the Pro Features,
but its highly dependent on the DXF program used, as well as the user and his setup in Cad. For example when one says that
a profile is all spearate lines, it means the DXF lines dont connect to each other. ( I have hundreds of example file that do this..)

  Now youd think it'd be easy to fix.. youd be wrong. The math is incredibly difficult because various drawings cannot be fixed. For example,
if a user tells the program that any line thats withing .1" of the next can be connected ( Tolerance of .1) , many drawing will then have 2 lines that are within .1" of the endpoint
of the originating line.. makes it near impossibel to figure out for the user. LCAm was meant to be easy. For those that it works for it isnt far from it, but when
drawings vary in things liek connection and such, pocketing, or even offsetting can fail in many strange ways.. Almost all CAM programs suffer from this in various forms,
and the users who find another that is to their liking often find that simply because that cad program was designed around similar dxf's to the ones they use. (Or its a dedicated program that
is constantly developed to overcome such limitations. ( like sheetcam..). )

   Its why I dont think Id ever like to do CAM seriously, Im more of a chiphead into the drivers , pulsing times, and electronics. Cam is typically expensive for
a good reason. I use some very expensive programs and curse them all allot. Even the $10,000.00 programs can be cursed daily for not doing what I want,
or putting out destructive code. Ive run almost every program in existance , and if you really really hate LCam, I can tell you you can pay much more to
get pissed off. Make sure you test any program your looking at a great deal before jumping, CAM is like a religion, you wont want to switch to a different program
after you spend the time getting used to whatever you pick.

   I guess what Im saying is that your experience with LCAm was a bad one, it really menas more that its not a good match for you, but then its meant for
very simple things, and with DXF's that match its input philosophy. It could use a good manual, rather than just the videos' , but Ill leave that for the future deveopers..

  If your looking for good full featured CAD, Sheetcam is great, VCarve is the master. A bit expensive for low end users perhaps, but VCarve is the true winner in the evolution sweepstakes over the past few years, I cant recommend any product more highly that VCarvePro. Tony and the Guys are great as well and very trustworthy.

  I kinda figured Scott woudl fix you up, when I passed on MAch3 I did so only after a long releationship with Briian and Scott, and they both have my respect as honerable people.
No hard feelings over any of it, my skin is leathery like a crocodile after all this time. ( Besides.. I have no real responsibility anymore. LOL )


Small note to Rich:

   Havent forgotten you, Im still coding in LTurn as I can. I hope to get a "roughing " output soon. I discovered last month some of my assumptions were wrong, I wasnt detecting collisions
of the tool in the previous pass of the tool in the material .. I had to recode many sections, but its working better now. Im real slow on LTurn because I cant settle for anything other than a "lazy" program with few settings. Since it will be free I cant have support on it because Im donating it from my retired chair, last thing I need is support trouble.. Cant dump that on Brian either.. So true to form LTurn takes about 3 clicks to generate a roughing path. And your right, for us hobbiests, there is no real Lathe programs out there.. what there is makes LCAM look like solidworks..

  Finish pathing may takle more time after that, I have to figure out an algorithm to only remove material where its left from previosu passes. Tough slogging.

Art
 

Probably a hideously daunting task to say the least......especially for a retiree !
Happy to hear that you are still working on LTurn.
THAT would be the icing on the cake !
Thanks for what you do ART,
RC

Art,
Just want to say thanks for your efforts. Your filling a real void in lathe turning.
Now if everyone would just say one "God Bless Art Who Created This" when they use it, your
sure to to recieve a just reward.

RICH

Kristin,
We get the point that your obsessed with bashing Art.
Give it a rest.
The point of this is to get Arts guys to get these problems fixed.
This is not being helpful.