Chris Lohman

IronCAD 5.0 can not run in parallel with 4.2. Also, once a file is loaded in 5.0, you can never go back to 4.2. As part of our efforts to stabilize 5.0 we had to make significant changes to the file structure and the way IronCAD deals with files. So the first time you load a scene from a previous rev into 5.0, it immediatly saves it out in the new version so that IronCAD can work with it and start providing the stability. So you can install 5.0, but don't load any of your production files into in until you're ready to commit to staying with 5.0 . It's always a good idea to approach new revs of any application cautiously when you're considering putting it into production. I would think waiting until it actually ships, and then watching these forums for a few weeks to see if it blows up on anyone is probably a good idea. I've been running 5.0 for almost a week on my production system and it hasn't crashed yet. For me that is a very significant improvement. If we (me+we = IronCAD LLC) find or hear of anything significanlt wrong with IronCAD we'll certainly alert the community a.s.a.p. (and most likely provide a patch)

I played around with this. Using ctrl+k to toggle back and forth, once I had a sweep along the 3d curve, I would toggle to parasolid and see it fail, go back to acis see it restored to a valid part, fail, ok, fail, ok. It is the complexity. Parasolid just can not handle the complexity of 3d shape swept along a curve the way IRONCAD does it (wierd huh, it's usually the other way around).

I've been playing around with the new sweep along 3d curve in 5.0 and after talking with our developers I have learned on tid-bit to pass on to you. If you intend to sweep along 3d curves, don't use the Parasolid kernel. Change your part to the ACIS kernel before attaching a sweep online 3d curve to it. Parasolid is just too weak to handle the resulting geometry.

you register a dll by running the regsvr32 command on it. So pull up a command prompt and type in something like: regsvr32 c:\wherever the file is\3iitb40.dll

I just ran IronCAD 4.2 on a Win2K PC with a GEForce2 GTS card with 64 ram, using the latest Detonator Reference Drivers. It was very wierd. The handles and anchors lost their color. When I rotated the part the handles were red, when I stopped they disappeared. They still worked, just couldn't see them. I always use a black background and when I switched to grey I found that the interior of the handles went transparent, but the "Edges" of the handles remained? So they were hollow. My next text was realistic rendering. I had hoped that this card would produce a very nice photo quality rendering. It was about the same as my G400 MAX. One thing I did notice though was once I switched to Realistic Rendering, added Texture and Bump maps, setup lights, and really set this thing up for a quality photo rendering, it slowed to a crawl. The resulting image seemed to be the same as my card @ work, but it took much longer to render. So the verdict? I'd say the card is adequate for small assemblies as long as you stay in shaded rendering. I really didn't notice any camera slowdown, like orbiting, it was only when I cranked up the setting to produce nice images that it seemed to choke. Would I recommend it? Well, I only used it for about 3 hours. In that 3 hours, yeah it was ok.

You can scale anything with a sizebox on it by turning the aspect locks of the sizebox to all. To to scale a part. Select the part Right click on it and goto Part Properties Select the sizebox tab Insure all of the handles are turned on and set your aspect locks to All. Close the Part Properties dialogue. Now when you pull on a handle, it should scale the entire part. To return it to normal sizebox behavior change the aspect locks to something other than all.

OH, everyone on Armor Advantage that has a previous version of IRONCAD will automatically receive version 5.0 IRONCAD = Full blown, most feature filled CAD product that we sell. You can't buy a cad app from us that does more than IRONCAD. This is the most robust CAD product that we sell and we would never upgrade you to anything less.

Oh, I just realized that I hadn't turned on file attachments for users on the forums. I could see the attach file, but you couldn't. I just turned that on. As of now you can only attach .zip files for security reasons

You should see an Attach File icons when you submit a post or send a reply. It should be down below this message input box and above the Reset Fields button

I'm not certain I understand this correctly. When version 5 releases everyone that has an active support contract (Armor Advantage) will automatically receive 5.0 in the mail. Is that the answer you were looking for?

Great, Please do send those files in. Never feel like you should hesitate sending a file to techsupport@ironcad.com with a note on what the file is being sent for. We will of course keep the files in strict confidence. We love to see files . Also, if you don't mind the others in the community looking at it, you can attach a zip file directly to one of these posts.

If you feel like providing a little more information on what is occuring then I might be able to figure out some info for you.

Here's what I have on 5.0 enhancements so far. TEAMVAULT Integration Free Integrated TEAMVAULT Client for IRONCAD and INOVATE IronCAD, LLC proudly presents the InnovationSuite which contains three tightly integrated products consisting of TEAMVAULT, INOVATE, and IRONCAD. The integration to TEAMVAULT from IRONCAD and INOVATE is provided through the TEAMVAULT Client which is delivered free with IRONCAD and INOVATE. The TEAMVAULT Client provides capabilities to share, communicate, collaborate, and manage IRONCAD and INOVATE with the entire design team. The following "Show-Me" will demonstrate the key features provide in the TEAMVAULT Client. -Quality- Save Load Reliability and Performance Improvements Functionality has been added to increase save/load performance. All files, which include imported files, will now take advantage of the "Load on Demand" functionality inside of IRONCAD. Users can disable this optimization by turning on the option to "Load the exact surface description" in the Tools/option page. In addition to the loading optimization, more internal coding has been added to increase reliability of files during save and load. Installation and Security Enhancements Installation of the InnovationSuite has been updated to the latest Windows InstallShield program. This update will increase the reliability of installation of InnovationSuite products. Users will have more selections available during the installation for IRONCAD and INOVATE. A repair option is also added in the InstallShield program to allow users to repair installed versions if they become invalid. Also, a new security management system has been added to both IRONCAD and INOVATE. With this new security, IRONCAD will be secured through hardware information from end-users machines. Information generated from the hardware will be used to generate a software activation license through Electronic License Management systems via the web, email, or by Fax. Also, this new licensing management system enables IRONCAD to run on a network license usage. For more information about network licensing, please contact your sales representative or contact IronCAD, LLC. at 1-800-339-7304. DXF/DWG Import and Export Upgrades IRONCAD 5.0 has upgraded the import and export capabilities for DXF/DWG to support AutoCAD 2000 files. For a complete list of enhancements related to this upgrade, please read the Readme.txt included on the InnovationSuite CD under the README folder for IRONCAD. Link Management Updates Updates have been made to increase the link management capabilities in IRONCAD. The update allows folders containing linked references to be moved in different directories and between network drives while maintaining the link associativity when loading into IRONCAD. Prior versions would require the user to locate additional linked files when opening files from folders that have been relocated. Architecture Update for External Links Major updates in the IRONCAD architecture have been made to enhance and strengthen externally linked file associativity. These changes will help maintain SmartDimension associativity on parts and assemblies when placed on externally linked files. Additional information can be found in the readme.txt on the InnovationSuite CD under the README folder for IRONCAD. Automatic Dimension Association New functionality has been added to help eliminate dimension disassociation. When updating a drawing, dimensions that refer to vertex and edge information will have new functionality to automatically reconnect the dimension in cases where the dimensions can become disassociated. -Drawing Enhancements - Dimension to Linear Silhouette Edges Users now have the ability to dimension to linear Silhouette Edges, which are lines projected from conical and cylindrical geometry. Simple examples of linear Silhouette Edges would be lines projected from cones, cylinders, elliptical cones

I am often asked for recommendations on graphics cards for use strictly with IronCAD. We unfortunately do not yet have an extensive test lab with all of the latest hardware so hopefully we can use these forums to help each other out. Here are a few notes that I have on my card: I am using a Dell Precision 420 workstation with a Matrox G400 MAX 32 bit card, using the dual head functionality. All of my hardware was provided by Dell. The Matrox G400 seems to be a solid low-mid range graphics card for IronCAD. I always run in full OpenGL. I do keep my scene rendering at Smooth Shading/Show Textures (default) but for no reason other than I rarely work with textures or have the need for photo quality rendering. I work for IronCAD and spend my day looking at your parts for the most part so I rarely find myself spending a few consecutive hours with IronCAD as a designer would. I just oull up the latest scene until I find a fix and then never look at it again. So your mileage will vary. For what I need it though this card is adequate. I do experience hesitations from time to time when performing camera operations, like rotating the scene, but I can't remember the last time I had to render-down into wireframe or box rendering just to rotate a part. So for scenes with less than 100 parts, with a low edge/facet count, I can't complain. I am running Windows 2000. I always use the latest drivers from Matrox (I never goto Dell for drivers because they almost never seem to have the absolute latest and greatest the day it releases). I do also have Directx8a installed and I always install every possible update when Microsoft releases. I have also run the Elsa Synergy II and have similar feelings toward it. For some notes on graphics cards in general: I have worked with many different people using many different cards. I have come to the following general conclusion; "CAD" cards, really do work better with IronCAD even though they have almost identical specs as a consumer card. What this means is this: You may be considering two card from the same manufacturer with almost identical hardware specs. They're both 32 meg cards, they have the exact same chips on them in the same quantities, they both claim to use the same instructions in a particular chip or whatever, you can find a difference except for the price. The one marketed to consumers is $1200, the one being marketed as a "CAD" card is $3600. Why not go for the lower price. I always thought it was just a marketing scam. Take the same card, give it a more impressive sounding name like MAX, or PRO, and more than double the price. I have learned after 4 years of reading reviews, talking to people, reading about hardware, and testing on my own, that there really is a difference. I have seen with my own eyes that the card marketed as a "CAD" card really does outperform the consumer card when running a CAD application and have heard many others say the same thing. Should this influence you one way or the other though? You have to also weigh the amount of work you'll be doing and whether or not you really have a need for that extra performance boost with that massive price tag.

IronCAD 4.2 SP1 Logitech Intellimouse Windows 2000 : Other OS's unavailable for testing IronCAD won't perform camera functions using the "Scroll Wheel" on mice if in the mouse settings the wheel is configured to "Auto Scroll" instead of "Middle Button". Switching mouse settings in the operating system to "Middle Button" allows IronCAD to use the scroll wheel for camera functions. The mouse settings are part of the operating system, not IronCAD.