Re: bw3 Vs vista

From: Foamcaster@aol.com
Date: Thu Nov 12 1998 - 20:08:08 EET


In a message dated 11/10/1998 1:02:19 PM Mountain Standard Time,
Guy.Bourdeau@coulter.com writes:

<< I have used both. My preference is BW3 over Vista. Vista is still immature
 compare to BW3. I have had less build failures with BW3 than with Vista. I
 would wait for the next release. I had beaten Vista up real bad at the User
 Group this past March and the software people from 3D assured me they would
 look at and fix allot of my issues. When I have a build I am concerned
 about, I will use BW3. If my build is basic then I use Vista.
 
 Vista does have a custom draw option for supports where BW3 does not.
 
 Guy Bourdeau
 Secretary - 3DNASUG
 Coulter Corp.
 11800 SW 147th Ave. M/C:12-A02
 Miami, Fl. 33196-2500
 Phone: (305) 380-3806
 Fax: (305) 380-4571
 Email: guy.bourdeau@coulter.com
>>
My experience, and comments, are exactly the same as Guy's. Two additional
thoughts:

1) Vista generates supports much faster than BW3.

2) If you are familiar with both support generation programs, you can use a
combination of both to get the best features of each program's supports into a
single support file. Here's how:

a) Generate supports with BW3. Examine them to see if they have supported all
of the critical areas of your part. If not . . .

b) Generate supports with Vista. Examine them to see if Vista has supported
the critical areas you are concerned about. If not, change the support
generation parameters and run it again until it identifies the area you are
concerned about and it defines a support region for that area. Then . . .

c) Delete all of the supports except the region(s) that were not supported by
BW3. If the supports created by Vista are acceptable for these regions, then
simply merge the Vista support file with the BW3 file to create one file for
your Maestro spreadsheet. If the Vista supports still need to be improved or
modified, go into the Custom Supports area of Vista and modify them before
merging the support files.

Alternatively, if you just need an additional single point support, then
create a .STL file of a very small object in your normal CAD package; position
it in 3d space at the location where you need the single support for your
proposed part; run Vista or BW3 to create a single support for the small
object; merge the resulting support file with your main support file to create
the final file.

Save that single point support file! The next time you need one, you can
simply position it at the X,Y coordinate where you need a single support and
then use a BW3 command line instruction to stretch the point support until its
height matches the area of the proposed part that needs additional support.
If you keep copies of these types of simple support files in their own
separate directory, you will be able to create custom supports you can merge
with normal BW3 or Vista supports very quickly.

It's worth the time it takes to learn how to do this. The first time through
the process will take longer than you want to spend, but you'll soon be able
to do it very quickly.

Ken Miller
Miller Technologies
395 South 1100 West
Farmington, Utah 84025
Foamcaster@aol.com
(801) 451-7997

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