Release Notes

This page provides a record of all the features, improvements, and bug fixes contained within CAM Assist for Mastercam releases.

v.1.3.1

Release date: 13 September 2024

Soft Jaws Designer, preview state. A preview of the Soft Jaws Designer feature. Note - full functionality not assured for this release.

Release date: 9 September 2024

New support for Multiple Tool Libraries
- Multiple tool libraries can now be selected on the General tab
- Up to five (5) tool libraries can be selected
- Note - a large amount of available tools may have performance effects on CAM Assist

New Material selection workflow
- Materials are now selected in the Tool Use tab
- Stock material and Stock material alloy now used to define material
- Material selection now synchronized to the selections available in Cutting Parameters Explorer
- This effectively triples the number of default materials that can be used with CAM Assist
- Material selection now persistent
- Note - For user-defined Presets, use Generic alloy

Control of toolpath generation
- In the Advanced tab control of when toolpaths are generated now available
- If Toolpath Generation is set to ‘Ask each time,' a confirmation message will ask the user if they want to generate at the conclusion of CAM Assist.
- This feature allows users the opportunity to have control of the toolpaths generated by CAM Assist, without waiting for all of them to generate in Mastercam first

Tool Change Time in Cycle Time Estimation
- Tool change times are now part of the Cycle Time Estimation results. These variables are entered into the Machine Configuration section of of the Cycle Time Estimator.
- Note - this feature is only available for Mastercam 2025.

Cycle Time Estimations can be ‘stacked’
- With each run of the Cycle Time Estimator, results will accumulate. This allows for an estimator to run multiple cycles of the tool, adding estimation sequences
- In the Cycle Time Estimates tab of the Cycle Time Estimator, there is now a ‘Clear all’ button, this clears off results so that a new round of estimates can be generated.
- Note - this feature is only available for Mastercam 2025.

Cutting Parameters now supports Helical Boring
- Helical boring (hole making, finishing) operations are now supported in the Cutting Parameters Explorer.

In-app update notices
- For subsequent updates to CAM Assist, user notifications will appear within the add-on interface.

Better support for units (inch and mm)
- Cutting Parameters Explorer now opens in units defined by file Configuration, not just millimetres
- Files no longer change units when CAM Assist is opened. This was evident for some post-processors.
- Rounding of imperial units is more appropriate in various parts of the UI
Improved cancellation responsiveness. When cancelling CAM Assist operations, the software is more responsive.
Various minor bug fixes and UI fixes

Release date: 1 August 2024

Renamed the ‘Network section’ to ‘Network setting’ (see the Advanced tab).
Added more detail to message in the network section to: ‘Please note the following settings only take effect on subsequent runs of CAM Assist. After editing these settings, cancel and reopen CAM Assist. The settings will persist for all future sessions’.

Improved the feedback to the user when encountering issues with network connection.

Improved the visualization of tool holders in the simulation to better match the Mastercam default simulation functionality.
Changed the way we handle the persistence of avoidance geometries:
- CAM Assist now users Mastercam’s 3rd part data handler instead of the comment fields in the machine group.
- This means that it now correctly renders in the user interface and does not overwrite user comments.
Removed the fail on errors functionality and set proceed on errors as the default setting.
Entry positions have been improved for wall operations.

Performance for creating hole patches on roughing operations has been improved.
General performance around calculation times has been improved. Parts that took more than 5 minutes to calculate in the last release are on average more than 3 times faster in this release.
CAM Assist no longer freezes when user clicks “Test Network Settings” with no connection available. We now show the correct status message and there is no performance impact.
The color of the selected avoidance geometry is now restored once CAM Assist is opened and it will disappear when CAM Assist is closed.

Release date: 22 July 2024

Release date: 8 July 2024

This is the first release version of CAM Assist for Mastercam 2025
- This release encompasses previous beta versions
Tool usages tab now explicitly mentions Tool assemblies and not Tools
Network status section in managed UI
Improved support for unit relevant persistent fields
Avoidance geometry selection is now persistent

Improved error handling for non-fatal cases
Fixed bug with hole making target face selections
Fixed support for inch/mm for ‘Stock to leave’ parameters
Fixed retract heights for deburring and hole making operations
Fixed bug in Avoidance geometries that resulted in a crash when running in debug mode
Added missing unit conversion for Feed plane height parameter in 2D area mill operations
Added filter to prevent sending meshes as avoidance geometries as they are not supported
Pass avoidance geometries instead of obstructions as protected stock for deburring operations

Created a Mastercam 2025 version of the add-in
- User Interface is integrated using latest Mastercam look and feel
Created an uninstaller
Added imperial demo parts
Added support for user-selected avoidance geometry in toolpath mapping
Made the default toolset unit aware