Distributed CAM is a technology feature which allows you to offload your toolpath calculations to other unused workstations on your local network for significantly reduced calculation time. Inventor HSM has full support for the latest multi-core technologies which gives you exceptional toolpath calculation performance on the individual workstation. However, when machining complex parts with hundreds of operations, the toolpath calculation can still take some time to complete. Distributed CAM allows you to automatically utilize any available workstation resources on your network when generating your toolpath. Everything happens in the background without any additional setup on the workstations running Inventor HSM. You will still be able to see the toolpath progressively updating as it is being generated with Distributed CAM.
The significantly reduced calculation time allows you spend time on making design changes and toolpath improvements that you would otherwise not be considering.
Distributed CAM allows you to utilize your workstations more efficiently. You can use Distributed CAM in different configurations as shown below.
Utilizing a single powerful workstation to speed up calculations on four other workstations
Sharing all workstations to speed up calculations
The Inventor HSM Task Manager with the Server column enabled showing which workstations are being utilized. In this case, the toolpath calculations are running on four different workstations plus the local workstation.
Distributed CAM is automatically used when available. You can turn Distributed CAM on/off manually from the Inventor HSM Task Manager right-click context menu if required. Distributed CAM keeps track of all the available processing resources which allows it to choose the best workstation on which to offload the toolpath calculations.
The Distributed CAM menu
Distributed CAM only requires a small installation on the workstations that should host the offloaded calculations. The installation is available as a separate download. Distributed CAM has a tiny resource footprint when running on a workstation and no calculations are active. Additionally, Distributed CAM is automatically turned off temporarily if you are using the workstation locally for other purposes.
Distributed CAM monitor status
Distributed CAM monitor menu