Mastercam 2026 is Available to All Customers!

[CNCAppsJames]

I've been guilty of submitting a show stopper once two in a Production Candidate. I can't recall when it was though. Probably in the mid-2000's if I had to guess. 

[Jeff]

Is anyone using 2026 as their daily driver at this point? 

I usually give it a month or two. Then decide if I want to switch. I completely skipped 2024 because it offered me nothing and had some bugs that were introduced or something that hindered my workflow that never got fixed until 2025. Can't remember what they were.

[Jeff]

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

Me and my older sister had Pong in the 70's.
If parents ever wanted to see if their kids would fight, they'd slap down a Pong console and watch the sparks fly! lol.

[jstell]

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.

I had to make an account here just to call out on the stated goal of not "disrupting existing functionality".
It happens every time there is an overhaul of interface.  2023 totally f'd up stock selection by taking away several of the previous selection modes, and in the first couple releases you had to make a duplicate plane and set wcs to global in order to get your stock not to show up off in space. A checkbox for "show wireframe" in a dropdown that was collapsed (not visible) and unchecked by default, and not sticky with no way to save it to a default of on.  This has since been remedied, but it took about 3 different threads of multiple pages on my.mastercam to get it fixed.  2025 took away the ability to have incremental zero retracts in contour to keep the tool down between chains, replacing it with an arbitrary .1" that doesn't actually prevent a crash since contour is not stock-aware, just wearing out ballscrews and creating slight mismatches on older machines.
Since you specifically brought up 2026 and are breaking your arms patting yourselves on the back for the new levels and planes managers...  I'll first say I appreciate the ability to create groups, definitely an enhancement to have this feature.  And being able to drag and drop to re-sort, awesome, even if it lacks multi-select capability (shift- or control-click)  But...  We were able to convince you in beta that the planes manager needs the properties dropdown returned because of loss of functionality.  But levels needs this too.  There are active threads on both the other major user forums about this specifically, and no official response.  Specifically the numbers being automatically sequential when created.  Used to be you'd just type whatever number and a level would be created.  Now it seems the only way is with the "+" button.  Never used that button before this month, in over 25 years using mastercam.  The specific loss of functionality being raised on the other forums is selecting visible levels - we're missing the check-box selection for used, named, etc.  Loss of functionality, not just disruption of workflow.  That and having to click the stupid "eye" instead of just being able to click the level.  And the slow double-click to be able to edit number or name without right-click menu, and that the contrast between the field becoming active and the row selected leaves more than a little to be desired.
Thanks for your eyeballs on this post.

[Zoffen]

Hands down the best thing about topsolid is.......

its consistency throughout the software.

I'm going back and forth between topsolid and mastercam a bunch these days and just being able to hit ENTER in any dialog in topsolid and for it to "accept" is a major workflow and time saver.

[Newbeeee™]

"Standardisation is a wonderful thing, if only people would do it"....

[Jeff]

I had to make an account here just to call out on the stated goal of not "disrupting existing functionality".
It happens every time there is an overhaul of interface.  2023 totally f'd up stock selection by taking away several of the previous selection modes, and in the first couple releases you had to make a duplicate plane and set wcs to global in order to get your stock not to show up off in space. A checkbox for "show wireframe" in a dropdown that was collapsed (not visible) and unchecked by default, and not sticky with no way to save it to a default of on.  This has since been remedied, but it took about 3 different threads of multiple pages on my.mastercam to get it fixed.  2025 took away the ability to have incremental zero retracts in contour to keep the tool down between chains, replacing it with an arbitrary .1" that doesn't actually prevent a crash since contour is not stock-aware, just wearing out ballscrews and creating slight mismatches on older machines.
Since you specifically brought up 2026 and are breaking your arms patting yourselves on the back for the new levels and planes managers...  I'll first say I appreciate the ability to create groups, definitely an enhancement to have this feature.  And being able to drag and drop to re-sort, awesome, even if it lacks multi-select capability (shift- or control-click)  But...  We were able to convince you in beta that the planes manager needs the properties dropdown returned because of loss of functionality.  But levels needs this too.  There are active threads on both the other major user forums about this specifically, and no official response.  Specifically the numbers being automatically sequential when created.  Used to be you'd just type whatever number and a level would be created.  Now it seems the only way is with the "+" button.  Never used that button before this month, in over 25 years using mastercam.  The specific loss of functionality being raised on the other forums is selecting visible levels - we're missing the check-box selection for used, named, etc.  Loss of functionality, not just disruption of workflow.  That and having to click the stupid "eye" instead of just being able to click the level.  And the slow double-click to be able to edit number or name without right-click menu, and that the contrast between the field becoming active and the row selected leaves more than a little to be desired.
Thanks for your eyeballs on this post.

Couldn't agree more.
And it's all under the guise of trying to attract the younger crowd while fucking over it's userbase.
I don't fault the people making the changes, I fault the person in charge calling the shots.
What they should do for 2027 is work solely on fixing everything wrong. No new shit. THEN slowly add new stuff but only after it's been through 2 beta cycles or more.
It seems like every new thing they implement nowadays seems half baked and rushed and then forgotten until "fixed" 3 versions later.

You wanna win over the people? Put out a quality product consistently. There's a reason that whenever a new version drops most of us refuse to use it right away. That speaks volumes.

[JParis]

You wanna win over the people? Put out a quality product consistently. There's a reason that whenever a new version drops most of us refuse to use it right away.

Yet Mastercam is continually the #1 in installed seats and growth year over year...

I hear what you're saying and I get the frustration. The realities though are with everything, they are still doing something right.

Sometimes I think we're(meaning all of us) a little to close and a little to invested in a "product"

[Jeff]

Yet Mastercam is continually the #1 in installed seats and growth year over year

Is that #1 ranking purchased seats only?

[JParis]

Is that #1 ranking purchased seats only?

The data is out there...#1 in sales and installed seats year over year and by a WIDE margin

[Jeff]

The data is out there...#1 in sales and installed seats year over year and by a WIDE margin

As a user since V8, I can't honestly recommend Mastercam to a new user at this point in time. I'd steer them in another direction.
The main reason doesn't even have to do with changes/lack of fixes. The default out of the box version is just terrible. Just about everything needs to be changed from default. That's not new-user friendly at all.
I've always defended Mastercam telling the haters that it's great....once you set everything up how you want it. The issue with that is, a new user wouldn't even know where to begin and as a longtime user it still takes me about an hour to set up my GUI with every new version.

[kdg]

What they should do for 2027 is work solely on fixing everything wrong. No new shit. THEN slowly add new stuff but only after it's been through 2 beta cycles or more.

It seems like every new thing they implement nowadays seems half baked and rushed and then forgotten until "fixed" 3 versions later.

Many have been saying that for years. many have given up saying it, it's pointless.

That's because marketing / sales is in charge. Cobble together some new stuff for a good marketing campaign, how functional it is doesn't really matter.

Look through their press releases, new vice-president of marketing! new chief revenue officer! new cfo! new vice-president of sales! etc. etc. No technical types.

[JParis]

The default out of the box version is just terrible. Just about everything needs to be changed from default.

You do understand that "your" default preferences are not everyone's default preferences, yes?

How do you setup defaults to make everyone happy? Simple, you don't.

You let users adjust their preferences to what they want/need.

I remember from my NX days, there was a whole bunch that needed to be set out of the box.

[neurosis]

The default out of the box version is just terrible. Just about everything needs to be changed from default. That's not new-user friendly at all.

I got so tired of customizing everything after every install (I've never trusted the migration) that I gave up and just started using the 'out of the box' install with some minor tweaks to the right mouse button.

I know I'm probably not the norm on that.

After a while, I got used to the interface. So much so that I don't remember what it was like in the past with all of my customizations.

[kdg]

I remember from my NX days, there was a whole bunch that needed to be set out of the box.

That be the truth. Customizing NX could be a full time position.