Mastercam 2026 is Available to All Customers!

[Zoffen]

Next thing for Sandvik to do is to add ADDS to the functionality. You hit contour and are presented with an AMEX commercial for 5 seconds as the dialog loads. On regen its a AG1 commerical. Everytime you save it says "Buy bitcoin at coinbase.com"

/ranton
Its like the gas pumps now with the ADDs that cover 75% or more of the screen making it impossible to see what options i can pick to actually pump gas. We are so cooked. /rant off

[CNCAppsJames]

If it doesn't look like an iPhone App... it's doomed in the long run.

I don't like it, because CAM is SO much more than that but, it's the chirruns with the attention spans of gnats and the MBA's that are all about dollars and have NO sense that are making the software purchasing decisions for new software purchases and they just LOVE that shiny shit.

#ChangeMyMind

[SuperHoneyBadger]

If it doesn't look like an iPhone App... it's doomed in the long run.

I don't like it, because CAM is SO much more than that but, it's the chirruns with the attention spans of gnats and the MBA's that are all about dollars and have NO sense that are making the software purchasing decisions for new software purchases and they just LOVE that shiny shit.

#ChangeMyMind

I'd like to think that someone who is capable of driving 3D design/engineering software is more worried about functionality than looks? I hope?

Sheesh, now you got me pondering about just how much I need to teach my kid, all existential on a Monday.

[CNCAppsJames]

I'd like to think that someone who is capable of driving 3D design/engineering software is more worried about functionality than looks? I hope?

Sheesh, now you got me pondering about just how much I need to teach my kid, all existential on a Monday.

It has not been about function for some time. It's been ALL about looks and eye candy. Even in the early days of eMC you could really see that transition.

[riverhunter]

It has not been about function for some time. It's been ALL about looks and eye candy. Even in the early days of eMC you could really see that transition.

F it, Im going back to 2003 geopath

[Newbeeee™]

It has not been about function for some time. It's been ALL about looks and eye candy. Even in the early days of eMC you could really see that transition.

The introduction of the interface dept where i believe everyone had to report into them, was, errrr....anyway,  #RibbonbarsSuck....

[CNCAppsJames]

My understanding (we'd have to ask Peetey) the "ribbon" was driven by M$ Dev.

[Newbeeee™]

My understanding (we'd have to ask Peetey) the "ribbon" was driven by M$ Dev.

My memory says the (strategic) decision for ribbon was to migrate to the standard MS "building blocks"....so it made life easier in the future if/when MS update things.
However....what CNC could have done, if they wanted to, and Dave Boucher told me on a telecon that they were going to do it....is to have thrown resource at implementation and full streamlining of the quick keys and customisation etc.
AKA as autocad did way back, with things like L=Line, CP=Copy, MI= Mirror etc, but instead they stuck with the stupid BS MS shortcut system that makes no sense.
Quick Access toolbar was another biggy - MS had no way of enlarging it and it was so small, but I'd found a hack to increase the size and posted it back in the day, but it did make all MS packages bigger too.
Now....again....you'd have thought a software house could have done something funky such as created a chook/autobatch file that when Mcam loaded it ran a script which increased the size and on exit reduced it.
For instance.
But no, ABCDEF the QA toolbar and make the great unwashed use the Ribbon interface instead

[Zoffen]

The irony of the UI thing with mastercam is crazy. You have an old UI that you can't change for alot of things but now you have this ribbon style ui that everyone hates and you still can't really customize it how you want. Worst of all worlds....

[Jeff]

you still can't really customize it how you want

You can, it's just a LOT of work and not fun. And I do it every, single, release.

I've asked a few times about a way to save your ribbon bar layout and to merge that layout for the next release so I don't have to waste my time fixing the ribbon bar.

[gcode]

I haven't made edits to the ribbons, but I've added lots of icons to the QAT (quick action toolbar),
the right click menu and lots of edits to System Config
They all come in seamlessly when import the workspace file into a new version.
Are ribbon edits not saved in the workspace file?

[Dylan Gondyke]

I'll step back a moment from specifics and talk about some of my personal experiences and opinions with UI and software...

Growing up, I was part of the 3D videogame generation. The PS1 came out just as I was old enough to actually understand and play games, and I got into computer gaming pretty heavily. My father had a bridgeport and lathe in the basement, and I also learned to mill, turn, thread, drill, etc. I got into a high school that offered a computer drafting class and I was so excited to connect those two worlds. What if I could draw my parts on a computer? The possibilities!

We were using some old Autocad and I bounced off of it so. Hard. I actually dropped the class and took something else. I had gotten "used" to the videogame experience- streamlined, well thought out interfaces that were visually communicative and felt rewarding to use- they felt like they valued my time, if you will. I think that the future in general isn't making machining an "iphone" experience, but it is definitely making a more visual, understandable, chunkable workflow that respects the user- who could be anyone from a low level individual to a high level power user who needs instant access to all the checkboxes, bells, and whistles.

I think it's fairly uncontroversial to say that we can't stay still with UI or freeze certain areas, or we get the contradictions we're talking about here- Lathe looks like a different world than Mill, which looks different than Machine Group Setup, and they all offer different workflows and experiences right now. They're each separated by a literal decade or more. Some modern, some not. Some more mouse miles, some less.

I also believe that efficiency from mastering a system is different from efficiency from a self-evident system, and when making changes it may affect the former to try to create the latter.

[riverhunter]

I don't really care how many menu's or clicks I have to do to create an operation.  if you were to actually download a keylogger like Refrog you will see what it took to create said operation.  What I do care about is when I hit the done button, it is DONE! meaning correct path, speed / feed, DOC, WOC, Clearance plane.

[Newbeeee™]

I think it's fairly uncontroversial to say that we can't stay still with UI or freeze certain areas, or we get the contradictions we're talking about here- Lathe looks like a different world than Mill, which looks different than Machine Group Setup, and they all offer different workflows and experiences right now. They're each separated by a literal decade or more. Some modern, some not. Some more mouse miles, some less.

Meanwhile....as the time kept passing and things slowly drifted further apart, 'lil 'ol me kept paying maintenance every year for 2 seats of Mill3D+5ax curvedrill + Lathe 1 in a shop with 5 of us total and 11 machines....
If you guys really want to do, what you should want to do, you've got a crap-ton of work ahead of you....

[Dylan Gondyke]

Purposely speaking in generalities, I think we need to get to a point with interface (toolpath or otherwise) where adding capability does not automatically add complexity. That takes smart design and either new entry points to existing functionality, or disrupting the existing functionality.

The teams did a good job with the quite complex planes/levels remake in 2026, and there will be more longstanding albatrosses to fall next year. Looking forward to being able to talk about some of the future soon.