ICAM V24.1 Release Notes

Welcome

These release notes describe the most significant V24.1 enhancements and problem corrections, organized by sections, as listed below.

Some of the enhancements and many of the problem corrections are also available in updated releases of V23. If so, the release build number is listed at the end of the enhancement or problem description in [Vvv–yyww] format, where vv is the version, yy is the year and ww is the week (1-52).

We hope you enjoy your new release of the ICAM products and we sincerely welcome your feedback.

The ICAM R&D Team
October 28, 2022

Systems and Packaging

Product Availability

System Manufacturer O/S Minimum Requirement
Microsoft Windows 32-bit** 8.1, 10, 11
Microsoft Windows 64-bit 8.1, 10, 11, 2012, 2012R2, 2016, 2019, 2022

ICAM software is not available for UNIX systems. An ICAM database created with V20 or earlier on a UNIX system is fully compatible with ICAM software running on Windows systems.

ICAM V24.1 can run under Microsoft Windows 7 and 8, and Microsoft Windows Server 2008R2, but these operating systems are no longer supported by Microsoft.

** V24.x are the final versions supporting 32-bit architectures. The 32-bit installers are available with V24.x on demand only. Contact support@icam.com should you require a 32-bit installation. Note that there is no performance benefit to using 32-bit, but there is a disadvantage with 32-bit of having less available memory for a running process.

Productivity Tools

ICAM Portal

  • The ICAM portal application has the following quality of life enhancements:
    • All of the applications and utilities accessible from the portal can now be run elevated by right-clicking on the application or utility and selecting “Run as Administrator”.

    • The portal tray icon menu now shows the application icons to the left of the application names so as to more easily identify them.

A new “Documentation” menu item has also been added. It will open the ICAM installation documentation sub-directory in Windows Explorer.

Quest Developer’s

  • The questionnaire has been enhanced with new and modified questions, as follows.
    • The Control Description/ Tool and Fixture Compensation section has been expanded to add questions allowing for extended fixture compensation codes to be defined. Codes and registers can be easily defined to support, for example, the Siemens G501-G599 range of G codes and the FANUC G54.1 P1-P49 range of P offsets.
  • A new Code Table section has been added to the bottom of post-processor navigator, below all chapters. This section provides a summary of all codes and registers defined in the questionnaire.

This section is updated automatically when opening it. The main listed items are the codes as defined in the code questions throughout the questionnaire. Codes that have associated registers can be expanded to see the list of registers as defined in the questionnaire.

This section is read-only; codes and registers cannot be changed directly in the table itself. However, changes to registers and codes can easily be done by double-clicking on a code or register in the table, which will open the appropriate Questionnaire section and set the focus on the question that defined the selected item.

  • The QUEST database navigator and database view will now show a preview of the selected Virtual Machine model. The model must have been generated using the new V24.1 release for the preview screenshot to be available.

  • When developing a Virtual Machine model, all popular image formats (e.g., png, jpeg…) can now be used when adding images to the model. This enhancement eliminates the bmp-only and size restrictions from earlier versions.

Gener Post-processing

  • A new Kinematic status window is available on the Gener user interface. This window displays the current status of all components of the machine kinematics and transformations that may affect the computation of coordinates generated in the output NC program.

A right-mouse context menu provides the following choices:

  • Show limits: This option displays the types of transformations applied to the coordinates used to compare against the travel limits of the machine. The series of transformation are displayed along the top.
  • Show coordinate variables: This option displays information about different coordinates that are computed during the process. The location of the variable is giving a hint about which kinematics components are currently affecting the coordinate calculation. The following coordinate systems are available:
    • $XC,$YC,$ZC: CL file coordinate system
    • $XW,$YW,$ZW: Local coordinate system (i.e. workpiece coordinate system)
    • $XM,$YM,$ZM: Machine coordinate system
    • $XJ,$YJ,$ZJ: Joint coordinates used for limit checking
  • Show inactive status: This option shows kinematics components that are currently not being used, but that can be available to modify coordinate calculations.

Virtual Machine

  • The launch panel now shows a preview of the model selected for the job. The model must have been generated using V24.1 for the preview to be shown.

  • The HUD is now multi-language enabled. Information in the HUD will be shown in the current selected language.

  • The right-mouse context window in the run-time Simulation window now provides a Properties selection that can be used to view information about the selected component. Run-time components, such as parts, fixtures and tools, can be modified from the Properties dialog.

  • The Time Line window horizontal scroll bar now shows a miniature of the entire process, with the portion currently visible in the Time Line view highlighted. We call this the “Time Line Miniature” or TLM for short. The TLM box can be dragged and manipulated in the same way as any horizontal scrollbar thumb control. In addition, holding the SHIFT key before left clicking and then dragging in the TLM (i.e., selecting a region in the horizontal bar) will set the main Time Line view to the selected time range.

The TLM shows key information from the main Time Line whether selected for display or not. This includes object collisions, MRS collisions, over travels and tool changes.

The TLM also features an easy access toolbar at the bottom-left, providing quick access to the following existing features of the Time Line:

    • Undo/Redo undo or reapply Time Line zoom and pan changes
    • Fit to zoom out the Time Line to view the entire process
    • Find previous/next to search for the next occurrence of selected search target
  • The Time Line now uses the mouse cursor as the focus point when zooming in and out. This makes zooming easier without having to adjust the scrollbar.
  • The Simulation window tool-path trace minimum length of 1 second has been reduced to allow a minimum of 1/100 of a second. This can be useful when analyzing tool-paths where the tool is moving very fast.
  • The Tool Dialog bottom right preview pane now has a control that when selected will spin the tool (i.e., start the spindle). This only has a visible effect for Generic solid tools that are not already surfaces of revolution.
  • Ongoing performance improvements.
    • Various improvements have been done to shorten the loading and restart times of jobs.
    • Simulation processing time has been reduced due to better usage of multi-core CPU during collision detection.

Gener & CeRun Run-Time

  • For users of dedicated post-processors or dedicated control emulators, the run-time user interface now allows the variable window to be used to watch variables.

This can be used to help ICAM support or dealers during the development and training for the customer. The variables that are documented as writable can be modified for testing purposes.

Integration Tools

  • The CAM Integration Utility has been redesigned to eliminate the use of tabs, to be more responsive, and also to be easier to use. The Options button at the bottom can be used to control the list of CAM systems and ICAM versions shown in the upper left window (currently installed software is shown by default).

  • Export and Import buttons simplify the distribution of CAM integration settings between users.
  • It is now possible to define multiple databases that can be used with a particular CAM system / ICAM version combination.
  • The CAM extractor UI tolerance settings have been modified:
    • Tolerances are now saved globally instead of being associated with the current VM model.
    • As many sets of tolerances as required can be defined.
    • Sets of tolerances can be given user-defined names.
  • Manufacturing Extractors and the CAM Integration utility have been updated to support the following CAM systems and releases:
    • 3DEXPERIENCE 2015x–2022x
    • CATIA V5R21, V5-6R2012–2022
    • Creo1–8
    • FeatureCAM 2017–2022
    • Fusion 360
    • Mastercam 2017–2023, and for SolidWorks 2014–2019
    • NX8–12, NX1847–2206
    • PowerMill 2017–2021
  • A new CAM interface kit is available for GibbsCAM milling.
  • The Manufacturing Extractors are continuously updated, which is why ICAM provides an Integration Tools installer separate from the Productivity Tools (i.e., main products) installer. There are far too many minor enhancements to list here, but the following are some more significant enhancements that may be of interest:
    • Added support for NX multi-edge tool with tracking points.
    • The Extractor UI is shown faster than before and diagnoses more events.
    • More flexibility has been added for presetting multi-setup. This includes better control over tool axis, stock axis, and program assignment.

Macros and Customization

Macro Functions

  • General functions:
  • A new $FVROTV(angle,v1,v2) function is available to compute a vector rotated around an axis. This function returns a vector resulting from the angle degrees CCLW rotation of vector v1 about an axis defined by vector v2. Vector v2 defining the rotation axis must have non-zero length. The CCLW rotation direction is defined by the orientation of the v2
  • Virtual Machine functions:
  • Changed the default channel for $FMSPRID and $FMSPROB. Those functions were previously always using channel 1. They will now use the current active channel as defined by the $VMCHN It is possible to specify a different channel as an argument.

PQRs

The following is a partial list of corrections made to V24.1.

CAM-POST

PQR Description
006208 Provide an option allowing to output DPM F velocity for rotary-only motions, while RTCP is active. [V24‑2236]
006243 HyperMILL interface did not support CCLW spindle output for milling. [V24‑2236]
006244 Fixed issue where source window breakpoints would not show on startup. [V23‑2236, V24‑2236]
006242 When post-processing from CATIA/3DEXPERIENCE, if the OS RPC server is overloaded, Gener will not complain about the RPC server being. It will just bypass it and re-update on the next pass. [V23‑2236, V24‑2236]
006232 Fixed an issue where the process would remain in memory after exit when exit and having variables in the watch window.  [V23‑2234, V24-2234]
006228 SAFETY/NEXT,…,LENGTH description and functionality do not match.

Supported syntax of the command and its description has been adjusted to be compatible with that of CUTCOM command.  [V24‑2233]
006227 Fix issue where opening a new PP, CE or model in QUEST would use another opened comment section content for the new one. [V23‑2233, V24-2233]
006214 LINTOL interpolation was occasionally failing when the tool axis vector remains the same at the start and end of the motion.  [V23‑2230, V24-2230]
006198 Nested $FLOOK calls could in some instances result in the look-ahead not being executed when it is later called in a non-nested state. [V23‑2227, V24-2227]
006189 LIMIT/ROTREF and SAFETY/XYPLAN do not work together. When position is singular SAFETY/XYPLAN was removing LIMIT/ROTREF computed rotary position. [V23‑2224, V24-2224]
006180 The $FTLTAB function would not list tools loaded in a head other than the one that was active when the function was called. [V23‑2223, V24-2223]
006154 Improve sorting speed of the diagnostic window when the number of message is getting large. [V23‑2218, V24-2218]

 

Control Emulator

PQR Description
006239 Fixed an issue for PSE job where the CE subprogram startup macro could not resolve the subprogram location after Gener would generate it. [V23‑2235, V24-2235]
006203 Fixed Heidenhain repeat label syntax support in CERUN. [V23‑2229, V24-2229]
006143 Fixed a crash that would occur when a new tool is created and no previous tool was assigned to the tool axis. [V23.0‑2116, V24-2216]

Virtual Machine

PQR Description
006213 Fix a problem where collision are not properly detected in continuous playback mode. [V23‑2230, V24-2230]
006149 Fixed issue where the simulation camera would be too slow. [V23‑2217, V24-2217]

Macro Processor

PQR Description
006085 Fixed a problem where returning the result of a function macro in an array or sequence element would make the function macro be called in a loop.  [V23‑2209, V24-2209]
006083 Improve OPEN command on the macro compiler to support using a function or variable to specify the FRONT or REAR argument. [V23‑2209, V24-2209]

Licensing

PQR Description
006168 Fixed a vulnerability in the license server where a non-admin account could change the service configuration.   [V23-2209, V24-2209]
006086 Fixed an issue where the client software could not connect to the license server if the active windows profile user name has spaces  [V23-2221, V24-2221]