is it really so limited?

[TECNOMODEL]

use toptron for about 3 months and I would like to share with you some considerations that can become questions.
We are talking about a software that is certainly good, but I think it has limits that nowadays are not acceptable.
the first limit I found is the difficulty in customizing various things. carts, templates, catalogues etc.
I find everything very "hidden", you always struggle to understand from where you tap the settings, where you save certain parameters etc.
Plus the fact that you work "local" complicates things when you are in an office with multiple designers.
I make a banal example, the material list: is saved in the pc, I did not find the way to point the software to a different path.
this forces the various designers to "pass" the material file whenever someone makes a change. or create a setting that periodically overwrites the local file by fishing it from a server. but also here there are limits, whoever makes a change to their file must remember to overwrite the copy on the common path.
the same speech applies to carts, templates etc.

Second limit, big in my opinion, is the difficulty in creating catalogs. In particular, it seems absurd not to be able to insert an attribute into a catalog object, for example to insert an internal coding to a commercial component.
this forces to export the distinct in excel, modify it with a macro so that the code field is compiled and reimport it to the table. a software should speed up work, here to get something that should be normal I have to do 3 steps on external software.

Third huge limit is, for me, the difficulty in working on different files by reusing geometries, parameters, quotas of other files.
you can do it practically only together, and even here the thing is slender and requires more steps.
This drastically limits the possibility of creating standardized parts to reuse in multiple projects.

Fourth notable limit is the fact that the software is designed to work on "single" projects, which once closed will become "isolated" from the rest.
I give you an example to clarify: I created a project of a "modular" mold that we will use on our machine to provide a prototyping service and small series at low cost. to do this we will have our fixed equipment in the car and we will build from time to time a few parts that will go to realize the piece.
I am now clashing with a difficulty that in other software I have never found, i.e. the impossibility to copy a set keeping "fix" some parts and rename and create new others.
what he proposes to me is the entire copy of the project and of all its parts, where I can then change those that make up my footprint. But this creates a huge problem, if I need to change one of the parts of my equipment fixes this change I will not find it on all the projects but only in what I go to do it, with all the problems of the case.

I wanted to confront you on these aspects, feel your opinion, your solutions etc.

 

[iuri]

hi technomodel, I have been using toptron for about 20 years, and I can assure you that of limits it has..... but not many. However all cads have limits and qualities that others do not year, it depends a lot on what they have been developed.
With regard to the limits you have indicated, I do not agree very well, I would like to point out that I have always worked in companies with more designers than we shared pictures, templates and catalogues.
customizations are very free and you can customize the files as you want, putting even parameterized texts. You can save them in a network drive where any user you have access to, can use it. you can go fishing through the cart navigation button.
same as for templates, cam procedures, 2d boards and more and are always shared on the network.
Catalogs can be installed on the network and you can configure toptrons so that they can go to the disk you choose, via a command in the control panel. If you want to create new ones you have to follow the right procedure in the manuals, so you can do whatever you want. you can also create catalogs for combined components systems.
what you describe as the fourth limit, I honestly didn't understand much, but I assure you that with the assemblies you can do what you want, within the limits of the links between components.

if you need assistance you can open a call to the 3d system via the site and the credentials they provided you with the software.

I hope I've been helpful, otherwise ask more detailed questions and I will try to answer you with more details too.
Hi.

 

[TECNOMODEL]

Hello, thank you for your answer.
Since I wrote the post I could deepen the use of toptron, even through courses and calls to 3d systems, I must say that my opinion on the software has changed little.

we start from sharing, it is true that in the end we can personalize carts, templates etc., but the thing is quite Moroccan. true also that you can save everything on a network disk, but then each station goes "allined". therefore every modification to a cartiglio, a template etc requires that every designer "recovers" the new files and overwrites them in his pc.

I didn't change my opinion, it's absurd that I couldn't get a catalog item out of two fields, a code and a description so I could have it available in separate.
I believe that almost all companies now have internal encoding for commercials, so this limit is anachronistic.

I would like to point out that the Commission's proposal for a directive on the protection of the environment has been adopted.
but if I have to create a set with some new and existing parts is a continuous problem.

I repeat, using it I am beginning to understand the logical (poca) that is behind and I have streamlined the work, but remains a malicious software, which requires 3 steps to do things that other software do in 1.

 

[iuri]

we start from sharing, it is true that in the end we can personalize carts, templates etc., but the thing is quite Moroccan. true also that you can save everything on a network disk, but then each station goes "allined". therefore every modification to a cartiglio, a template etc requires that every designer "recovers" the new files and overwrites them in his pc.

Once you save your files and templates on your network drive, you don't need to sync your folders locally, but you can take them directly to the network.

I didn't change my opinion, it's absurd that I couldn't get a catalog item out of two fields, a code and a description so I could have it available in separate.
I believe that almost all companies now have internal encoding for commercials, so this limit is anachronistic.

when you open a set, you can show the category column or under category where you can take the description of the detail, while the standard code puts it in the description.

I would like to point out that the Commission's proposal for a directive on the protection of the environment has been adopted.
but if I have to create a set with some new and existing parts is a continuous problem.

I confirm what you wrote, when you work with another set, using parts already used previously, always update issues. If I can give you some advice, you'd better clear the story of all the help, once you think it's definitive.

as soon as I can be available to give you suggestions.
I realized that you also wrote other posts with more precise questions, if I can help you I answer you there too.

Good job!! !

 

[TECNOMODEL]

Once you save your files and templates on your network drive, you don't need to sync your folders locally, but you can take them directly to the network.
!

sdsystem technicians told us that it is better to use files from local

when you open a set, you can show the category column or under category where you can take the description of the detail, while the standard code puts it in the description.


/quote)

Would you let me see an example of your distinctness?
even in this case from 3dsystem they told us that it is not feasible.

 

[iuri]

sdsystem technicians told us that it is better to use files from local

I have been using network files for years and have no problem. also because it would no longer make sense to work locally, given the infrastructure that companies have today.

Would you let me see an example of your distinctness?
even in this case from 3dsystem they told us that it is not feasible.

I'm going back to work tomorrow, and I'm going to make an image of our distinct, then I'll show you.

 

[TECNOMODEL]

I have been using network files for years and have no problem. also because it would no longer make sense to work locally, given the infrastructure that companies have today.



I'm going back to work tomorrow, and I'm going to make an image of our distinct, then I'll show you.

how did you set toptron so that I go looking for the files in a defined path?

 

[iuri]

If you talk about the catalogs, in the control panel of toptron there is a command that allows you to let the software know where to find the catalogs.
regarding the part file, assembly, nc or everything you work with, the toptron explorer always starts from the last open folder.

 

[TECNOMODEL]

If you talk about the catalogs, in the control panel of toptron there is a command that allows you to let the software know where to find the catalogs.
regarding the part file, assembly, nc or everything you work with, the toptron explorer always starts from the last open folder.

I meant setting the path where you find the various usage files, material file, thread file, file files etc.
having these settings locally every time you make a change you have to pass the modified file between the various components the technical office, it seems a pretty stupid method.

 

[iuri]

I meant setting the path where you find the various usage files, material file, thread file, file files etc.
having these settings locally every time you make a change you have to pass the modified file between the various components the technical office, it seems a pretty stupid method.

Yes, on this I give you reason, for the materials and threads it is true. As for the cartilages, once selected the cartilage in the network folder, should always take the same folder

 

[karjack]

very trivial question, but I have always worked with it and from a few days I use version 14, where do I find the levels? ? ?

 

[TECNOMODEL]

What do you mean x levels?

 

[LaboratorioDieci]

very trivial question, but I have always worked with it and from a few days I use version 14, where do I find the levels? ? ?

levels like it are no longer there. There are sets, which have some similarity, but they work in a different way.

 

[karjack]

levels like it are no longer there. There are sets, which have some similarity, but they work in a different way.

Thank you. Did they still exist in version 9? and then to divide the drawing into details how to proceed?

 

[LaboratorioDieci]

Please. the levels, as you know, behave like transparent "wives" on which the geometries are drawn, which you can view, hide, make active to ensure that the geometries you create go directly inside them, or "freeze" to make them appear but not editable.
each geometry exists within a level, and only one.
in the case of sets instead geometries are not contained, but associated. you can have geometries associated with multiple sets or none, sets that capture geometries by criteria, and other things more or less interesting.

 

[LaboratorioDieci]

Thank you. Did they still exist in version 9? and then to divide the drawing into details how to proceed?

the sets already existed in version 7, if not before.

if you have not seen, if you look at the feature tree, below you will find three tabs: features, sets, m-view

by clicking on sets, see the list of available sets, to which you can add new ones by right-clicking and selecting new set.
from the dialog box that appears you see that the set can be created by selection, and then it will contain the geometries at the selected time, or by criteria, which working similarly to thenc will capture all the geometries that will meet the criteria established and update with each geometry will go to meet the criteria.

If you want to add geometries to a set created by selection you can do so by selecting the geometries first, then by going to the desired set name and right-clicking the entity. similarly you can also perform the detachment entity.

If you have any questions, ask.