Simulating A Demo Project

The Autodesk CAMplete TurnMill software can be started from the Windows Start menu.  The following sections use the example project files found in the 4 - Sample Project folder on the Install USB.

Start a New Project

  1. When Autodesk CAMplete TurnMill first starts, the Open Project dialog will be displayed.

    This dialog provides quick access to getting started with new or existing projects.  This dialog will show different options for starting a new project:

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    Select A Machine - Starts a new project by selecting a machine and the project units.

    Browse For A Project File – Displays a Windows File Open dialog to browse for and open an existing CAMplete CS8Proj file.

    The upper and lower views can be collapsed and expanded by clicking on their titles.

  2. For this example, use the upper view to select a machine and units.

  3. Set the units to Millimetres.

  4. Double-click the required machine in the grid:

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  5. A new project will be created with this machine selected.

The Autodesk CAMplete TurnMill Main Views

Autodesk CAMplete TurnMill uses a number of views to interact with the project and software:

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Program Navigator - The main view for interacting with the project.  It provides access to the programs, tooling, work holding, datums and other key data. Initially, the Machine page will be selected in the Project Navigator after selecting a machine.

3D View - Shows the 3D virtual machine model and parts etc.  The machine will be displayed in this view.

Status View - Shows various application status messages and progress bars.

Simulations View - Controls the simulation generation and playback.

The Program Navigator view contains the programs for each channel on the machine as well as the regeneration control windows.

Modify the display of the machine in 3D

  1. Go to the Simulation tab in the application ribbon:

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  2. The Predefined Views sections allows you to control the machine display:

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    The Machine View Selection drop list provides pre-set views for the machine.  These views hide and show different components of the machine.  For example, Main Spindle View turns on only the work holding and the turrets for display.  Over View aligns the view to the XZ plane of the machine.  Default View shows all the components of the machine (the default). 

    Note: The names of the views may be slightly different depending on the machine module that is being used.

    Prev View and Next View – Cycle through the Machine Views.

    Note: Even though parts of the machine might not be shown in the 3D view, they are still collision checked.
  3. Visibility – Launch the Display Wizard.

  4. In the Display Wizard the various machine components can be adjusted in the display:

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    The display of each component can be controlled by changing the Visibility drop-list for that item.  The options are Hide, Show Solid, Show Transparent and Show Wireframe.

    An entire set of components such as the Axes can be modified together by selecting the master row (Axes in this example).  It will select all of the sub-rows under Axes and the settings can be changed for all with one click.

  5. Click OK to close this dialog.

3D Lighting and Background Control

You can control the lighting and background details for your 3D display by going to the 3D View tab of the application ribbon:

  1. Click 3D View on the ribbon:

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  2. To adjust the lighting, click View Properties:

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  3. The 3D View Properties will be displayed:

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    1. The Overall Brightness and Overall Shininess of the display is controlled with the slider at the bottom.

    2. There are 8 light sources.  To see the values of each light, select it in the list. 

    3. Check or uncheck the Use? column to control whether the light is used or not.

    4. Check or uncheck the Draw column to draw the location of the light in the 3D view.

    5. The Diffuse level can be adjusted with the slider.

    6. The position of the light, relative to the viewer, can be adjusted with the XYZ edit boxes.

    7. Uncheck the Relative To View to make the light position absolute.

    8. To adjust the background, click Background:

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    9. The 3D View Properties will be displayed:

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    10. Adjust the background color by clicking the color button or by adjusting the Luminance slider.

    11. Click Use Gradient to blend the background between two different colors.

Import Programs

Programs are imported and managed through the Program Navigator view and the Programs tab of the application ribbon.

  1. The programs for each channel are shown in the Program Navigator:

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    The programs for each channel are shown in each tree (Upper and Lower in this example).  Clicking the name of the channel will collapse it’s view to allow more screen space for the other channel(s).

    There are also tabs which can be used for organizing the programs.  The buttons to the right of each tab let you control and modify the tabs.

  2. Go to the Programs tab:

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  3. Click Import G-Code.

  4. Select the program file(s) that you wish to import.

    Note: If the program contains a “channel-mapped” file extension it will be automatically assigned to the appropriate channel.  For example, .P_1 will load onto channel 1 and .P_2 will load onto channel 2. If a non-mapped extension is selected, the channel selection prompt will be displayed.  Simply choose the target channel and click OK.
  5. In this example, choose the file O0001.P-1 from the 4 - Sample Project\NC Programs (Metric)  folder of the Install USB

    Note: On the install USB, there are separate sub-folders depending on the machine configuration.
  6. After loading, the program will be displayed in the appropriate tree for its channel:

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    The Active icon shows that this program is the “active” one for the upper channel.  When a program is loaded to a channel with no other active programs (or no programs) it will automatically be made active.  There can only be one Active program per channel.  The Active program is the one that will be simulated.

    The Export icon shows whether the program will be selected automatically for exporting the final G-Code to the machine.

    The program will contain child sections underneath for the beginning of the program (%), the operation(s) and the end of program (M30) command.

    Operations are usually broken up by G-Code lines that contain line numbers and comments.

  7. To view the program G-Code, select the program and click Edit in the Programs tab of the ribbon.  Or right-click the Program item and select Edit Program from the context menu.

  8. The program Editor will be displayed:

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Note: The program Editor is described in detail in Section 13.
  1. When a program is displayed in a programEditor window, selecting any sub-section in the tree and it will scroll to that section in the editor.  For example:

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  2. Close the Editor.

  3. Now, import the second program O0002.P-2 from the sample folder.  Note that will appear in the Lower tree because of the P-2 extension name.

Select Tooling

  1. The tooling page is accessed at any time by clicking Tools on the Project, Programs or Simulation tabs of the ribbon bar:

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  2. The Machine Setup view shows the Tooling page (and also the Datums and Variables pages):

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    The Tooling page shows the tool tables for the various machine channels, in this case Upper and Lower.  Each row corresponds to a tool number.  In this example, the first 12 rows are the main turret indexes, the second 12 rows are the sub-indexes and the remaining rows are the extra offsets.

    Selecting a row from 1 to 12 will index the turret in the 3D View to that main index.

    Selecting a row from 13 to 24 will index the turret the selected sub index.

  3. To start, you must first select a tool block.  Click ‘+’ in the grid next one of the main indexes (for this example, choose T0101):

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  4. The list of available tools will be displayed:

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    The Target Location shows which turret and tool table entry will receive the selected tool. 

    All available tools are shown in the grid.  As each tool is selected, it is displayed in the attached 3D preview window.

    You can filter the list based on the turret by clicking Use Filters.

    Clicking Edit Filters will allow you to select a further sub-set of available filtering options:

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    To modify a filter, select its hyper-link under Current Filter and adjust it’s setting in the Attribute grid.

  5. Once you have selected your tool block, click OK.  (For this example, choose a turning block) The new tool block will now be shown in the grid:

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    It will also appear on the Turret station 1 in the 3D view.

    The ‘+’ has now turned into a red ‘x’.  Clicking that icon will remove the tool from the turret and the table.

  6. The Library Selection(s) column now shows Select from DB.  Click this to choose a cutting tool.

    Note: User Filters will be applied, so only properly matched cutting tools for the tool block will appear.  If you uncheck the Use Filters options, all available tools will be shown.
  7. For this example, select a matching turning tool.  This tool will now appear in the 3D view and in the tool grid.

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    The tool offsets for the tool length offset point have been automatically calculated (See the X and Z columns) based on the tool location offset (TLO) point on the cutting surface.

    The TLO Ref Datum shows which spindle the tool is referenced to.  By default, the upper turret tools will be referenced to the Main Spindle and the lower turret tools will be referenced to the Sub Spindle.

    The Flip column is not checked.  This option will switch the direction of the tool on the turret face.  By default, tools loaded on the upper turret will be facing the main spindle and tools loaded on the lower turret will be facing the sub spindle.  To switch a tool to point to the other spindle, check the Flip option.

  8. The Adjust Extension Length icon image will be shown for any tools with cutting surfaces selected.  Click it to modify the stick out length.

  9. The Machining Setup wizard view will be hidden and the Adjust Extension(s)  dialog will be displayed:

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The extension dimension is shown in the 3D View.

Use the slider to adjust the extension distance.

To set a specific extension length, type its value in the Extension edit box.

Click Auto Adjust Machine Position to leave the tip of the tool at the same location and move the machine to account for the extension length change.

  1. Use an appropriate extension length and click Close.  The Machine Setup dialog will be displayed again.

  2. Repeat the procedure on the lower table on Index 2 (T0202).  Again, select a turning block and turning tool.

  3. There will now be 2 holders and cutting tools selected, one on each turret:

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  4. Close the Machining Setup view.

  5. In the 3D View, the two cutting tools should be shown.

Load Part Geometry and Select Work Holding

Part loading is handled through the Work Holding section of the main Project tab on the ribbon. Part geometry can be loaded from IGES, STL or VRML files.  Work holding is selected from the work holding resources as managed by the CAMplete Resource Manager.

  1. To access the main spindle work holding and geometry, click Main in the Project tab:

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  2. The Work Holding view will be displayed.  There will be a page for each spindle.

  3. Switch to the Chuck tab, which controls the selection of the work holding and any offsets used.

  4. The current work holding is shown in the Chuck Selection edit box.  Click Select to choose the work holding from the database.

  5. A list of available work holding will be displayed. 

    Note: In the same manner as the tooling selection dialog, the Use Filters/Edit Filters can be used to only select particular types of chucks.
  6. For this example, select one of the example chucks in the list and click OK.

  7. The selection dialog will close and the chuck will appear in the 3D View mounted to the spindle location.  The chuck name will also appear in the chuck selection dialog.

    The Chuck page also allows other properties to be changed:

    Reset – Removes the selected chuck (leaving no geometry).

    Chuck Options – Allows you to select things like jaws or collets from the database.

    Chuck Offsets X,Y,Z – Sets the geometric offset of where the part will be mounted relative to the spindle nose.  Normally, the Z value will be automatically set to the face of the chuck when the chuck is selected from resources.

    Chuck Rotation (C) – Spins the chuck about the spindle axes so that the jaws can be aligned correctly.

    Main Clamp Axes – Controls the location of the jaws of the chuck.

    Set – Sets the current location of the jaws (or collet) as the HOME location of the work holding.

    Props – Shows the current range of motion of the Jaws during actuation and its default (home) location.

    Minimum sets the location of the Jaws when closed, Maximum sets the location of the Jaws when open and Home sets their location when the simulation is rewound.  Usually, home is set to either the Minimum or Maximum position.

  8. To the right of Chuck Options, click Select to choose the jaws.

  9. All available jaws will be listed.  Select an appropriate jaw from the list and click OK.

  10. The jaws will now appear in the 3D view attached to the main chuck body.

  11. Switch to the sub spindle page.

  12. Repeat the above steps to select a chuck for the sub spindle.

  13. Both spindles should now appear with chucks in 3D:

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  14. Switch back to the Main page on the Work Holding view.

  15. Switch to the Part tab to access the part geometry list:

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    The Part view shows the data for the part:

    Part Offset X,Y and Z - This offset moves the part zero relative to the offset of the chuck.

    Part Rotation A, B and C - Rotate the part about the X-Axis (A), the Y-Axis (B) and the Z-Axis (C).

    Flip Z-Axis – Flips the part in the Z axis (if the part was “backwards” for example).

    Display Default – This allows you to control whether the program simulation will start with a part in the chuck.  The default is Starts In Chuck.

    Part Geometry – Displays a list of the current part geometric entities.

  16. Click Import to import IGES, WRL or STL geometry for the part.

  17. For this example, load the file 4 - Sample Project\Part File (Metric)\Sample - Main.wrl from the demo files.

    Note: WRL and STL files contain no unit information so a prompt for the document units of the file will appear: 

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  18. Select Millimetres and click OK.

  19. The imported geometry will appear in the Part Geometry list and in the 3D view.

    Once geometry has been imported it can be deleted it by selecting it in the list and clicking Delete.

  20. Import the part geometry for the Sub Spindle by repeating the procedure on the Sub page of Projects view.  Use the file 4 - Sample Project\Part File (Metric)\Sample - Sub.wrl from the demo files.

  21. The parts will appear in the 3D view (they may be hidden by chuck geometry, since no part offsets have been selected).

  22. In the Part Offset for the main spindle enter a Z offset of 120 mm.  Note that this is the distance from the chuck face to the part zero and not the distance from the spindle face.

    The part will appear outside of the chuck:

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  23. Repeat this for the Sub Spindle (using Z=-120 mm for the part offset).  Note that the Z value for the Part Offset works along the Z axis direction of the turret, requiring a negative number.  The Chuck Offset always runs as a positive number because it’s a measure of the chuck thickness.

  24. When set correctly, the project appears as shown:

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Adjusting the Datums

  1. The Datums page is accessed at any time by clicking Datums on the Project, Programs or Simulation tabs of the ribbon bar:

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  2. The Machine Setup view shows the Tooling page (and also the Datums and Variables pages):

  3. This will display the Machining Setup wizard with the Datum(s) page selected.

    Note: A prompt may appear stating that the tool offsets were out of date for the two paths:

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    This is because editing the Part and Chuck offsets on the Main and Sub pages can change the tool length offset values, depending on the settings of the Datums.  If this dialog appears, click OK.

  4. The datums will be listed for each turret:

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    There are 8 major datums available:

    TLO Ref Main – This is the tool touch-off point for the Main Spindle.

    TLO Ref Sub – This is the tool touch-off point for the Sub Spindle.

    G54 through G59 – Standard G-Code work offsets.

    The Linking column shows how the given datum is calculated.

    The X, Z, C and Y columns show the offset value for the datum.  These correspond to the numbers you would see in the datum table of the machine.

    The Linking for each datum can be set to the following settings:

    Setting:

    Description:

    None

    No linking

    Main - Chuck

    The main chuck XYZ value

    Main - Part

    The main part XYZ value

    Main - Chuck+Part

    The main chuck and part XYZ value added together

    Main - Chuck+Part (From TLO Main)

    The main chuck and part XYZ value relative to the main TLO datum

    Main - Chuck+Part (From TLO Sub)

    The main chuck and part XYZ value relative to the sub TLO datum

    Sub - Chuck

    The sub chuck XYZ value

    Sub - Part

    The sub part XYZ value

    Sub - Chuck+Part

    The sub chuck and part XYZ value added together

    Sub - Chuck+Part (From TLO Main)

    The sub chuck and part XYZ value relative to the main TLO datum

    Sub - Chuck+Part (From TLO Sub)

    The sub chuck and part XYZ value relative to the sub TLO datum

If the Linking is set to NONE, the values in the X, Z, C and Y columns must be manually entered.  To edit each value, double click it and type a new number (with units).

If the Linking is set to any other setting, the X, Z, C and Y columns cannot be directly edited.  They will be calculated automatically based on the appropriate offsets.

  1. In this example, the Linking for the Main Spindle should be set to Main – Chuck+Part for the TLO Ref Main and Sub – Chuck+Part for the TLO Ref Sub for both the upper and lower turrets.

    This calculates the offsets of the datum as if the tools are being touched off of the part faces.  It also sets the G54 to G59 values to all zero.  The tool length offsets on the Tooling page will reflect these values the next time it is shown.

  2. Close the Datums page (no other edits should be necessary).

Simulating the Programs

The Simulations window controls the simulation regeneration and playback:

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There are two main modes, Generate Mode and Simulate Mode. Before a simulation can be “played”, the simulation steps must be generated, since the simulation of multi-tasking machines is quite complicated.  By pre-processing the simulation ahead of time, it can be quickly navigated forwards and backwards through the simulation time slices.

  1. Start by making sure the Simulations tool bar is in Generation Mode by clicking Generate.

  2. The current simulation status is always shown at the bottom of the Projects view:

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    In this example, Regen Required indicates that the simulation time slices are out of date and the simulation cannot be played.  It also shows that the Upper and Lower channel will not be generated (ie. They will be skipped).

    To select the channels for generation, click the check box for the channel.  If only a single channel is selected for regeneration, channel sync codes will be ignored.  The active programs O0001 and O0002 will be shown inside the status window:

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    The current location within the program is indicated by the small red line.  As the simulation is regenerated or played back, the red line will be updated.  Further, if sub-programs are called, this will be shown in the same window.

    Regeneration is usually required whenever you change anything that can affect the simulation.  This includes G-Code edits, tool length offset changes, geometry changes, part changes and datum changes.

    The active program is controlled using the Active Program icon on the Programs page.  (The previous section on importing programs covers this topic)

  3. The Generate window contains a number of options:

    Options – Displays the Program Control dialog with various advanced control settings.  Most of these settings are related to the G411 “Jump Programming” simulation and can be ignored for this example.  Block Skip will skip any lines of the program tagged with ‘\’ codes.

    Stop On Errors – Will stop the generation if any errors are encountered.

    Check Collisions – Controls whether collision checking will be performed during regeneration.  This can slow down the regeneration process, so it can be beneficial to have Check Collisions turned OFF when making small changes to the program.

    Cut Stock Main – Performs material removal on the main spindle (cut from any turret).

    Cut Stock Sub – Performs material removal on the sub spindle (cut from any turret).

    G00 and G01 – Sets the Feed Rate Override and Rapid Override values.

  4. Make sure that both the upper and lower channels are selected for generation.  A warning will be displayed if neither is selected and regeneration will not be allowed.

  5. Click Start to begin the regeneration process.

  6. During regeneration the only option is to Stop the process.  If Stop is clicked, the Regeneration Control dialog will appear:

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    At this point, regeneration can only be resumed or stopped.

    Click Resume and the simulation will continue.

    Click Stop and regeneration will be stopped and cannot be restarted.  The Start button will be disabled.  This prevents situations where stopping regeneration and modifying some data and then restarting it would cause the simulation to be inconsistent (it would be representing conflicting settings).

    If regeneration is stopped, the only way to start it again is to click Reset to rewind the simulation and then click Start.  This restarts the entire process from the beginning.

  7. For this example, choose Resume.

  8. When the regeneration is completed, the Status Update Screen will reflect the change:

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The cycle time of each program is also displayed.

  1. Once the regeneration is completed, switch the view to Simulate:

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  2. On the far right is the current simulation status:

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    Various status icons are shown:

    Collisions – If the collision checking was off when the simulation was regenerated, this box will appear in yellow with the text OFF.  If the collision checking was on and no collisions were found, it will appear in green with the text None.  If collision checking was on and collisions were found, it will appear in red along with the text stating how many collisions had occurred.

    Overtravels – If overtravels were found, this box will appear in Red along with the number of overtravels.  If no overtravels were found, this will appear in Green with the text None.

    Overrides – Shows any simulation overrides that were used.  For example, feed rate overrides, rapid overrides, block skips etc.  Will show the text None if no overrides were used.

    Errors – Shows the number of errors which were encountered.  It will show None in green if there were no errors.

    Warnings – Shows the number of warnings which were encountered.  It will show None in green if there were no warnings.

    Clicking the status window provides more advanced information on the status:

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  3. Click Close to close the Simulation Status dialog.

  4. Click image to start the simulation.

  5. The machine will start moving through the program in real-time.  The Speed setting controls the playback speed as a percentage of real-time (this is not the same as feed override since setting this to 200% makes rapid moves twice as fast).  The current simulation time appears in the Time edit box.  The tool path will also be traced on the screen.  Solid green lines are cutting moves and dotted blue lines are rapid moves.

  6. Click image to stop the simulation.  It can be resumed again using image.

  7. Click image to rewind the simulation.

    Click image to turn the Repeat Program mode on (this will auto-rewind and restart at the beginning of the program when M30 is reached).

    Click image to toggle between Single Block and normal run mode during playback.

  8. The slider bar moves through the program playback.  Clicking it will immediately advance to that point in the simulation time steps.

  9. By default, the slider bar works over the entire range of time slices.  It will start at 0 and go to the max:

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    The active range can be adjusted using the text boxes.  For example, to look at time slice steps 100 to 200, enter 100 and 200 as the two values.  Then the slider will only advance through steps 100 to 200.

  10. Click Reset to restore the slider ranges to the min and max.

  11. Click Set to use the current simulation index as the min or max.

  12. Click imageto make the Play button only “play” over the range set in the slider bar, instead of playing over the entire simulation.

The Steps View

The Steps view shows each individual time slice of the simulation in detail. 

  1. Click Steps in the Simulations view:

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  2. The Steps page shows the steps in a grid view:

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    The grid shows the step Line index, the Time of the step (in seconds), the G-Code that was being executed during the step, any Hidden G-Code (for machine cycles like tool changes) and the Machine Axis Positions.

    G-Code lines are shown in dark text.  Interpolated lines are shown in light grey text. Errors and warnings will appear as red or yellow exclamation icons next to the G-Code.  Double clicking a line with an icon will show the warning or error for that line.

    As the simulation plays, the current time slice will be highlighted in the steps view.

  3. Advance the simulation to any step by selecting it in the list.

  4. Click image to move to the next or previous G-Code line (ie. non-interpolated line) .

  5. Click image to move to the next or previous Error line.

  6. Click image to hide or show the interpolated lines.

  7. Click image to switch to Horizontal display mode (showing the grids above and below).

  8. Click image to switch to Vertical display mode (showing the grids side by side).

  9. Click the check boxes to control which channel(s) are being displayed.

  10. Click image to export the steps to a CSV file for outside analysis.

  11. Click image to access the display options for the grid.  This controls the display of machine positions and feed rates in the right hand columns.  The Machine Positions and the individual Axis Feed Rates can be shown or hidden.

  12. Right click on any G-Code line in the steps and select Edit G-Code Line.  The program that contains this line will be loaded in the program Editor and selected, allowing easy link-up of the simulation steps to the source program.

  13. Close the Steps view.