CAM Performance

[TinkyWinky]

Hello!

I just stepped into the nx cam module.

Can someone give information on how to improve nx cam performance?
Iam running on NX6 64 bit 12GB Ram , dual quad 775 processor and graphics card 1024mb ati fire pro 8700.

I still have to wait "hours", (to stay serious lets say 10 -15 minutes), to get my tool paths calculated! e.g. 5axis z level with close stepping!
I didnt even turn on collision checks...

Iam just sitting around most of the time when trying to make the cam programs!

Is that the common situation or might there be something wrong??



NX6

 

[uwam2ie]

... maybe this issue:

http://support.ugs.com/issues/nx_performance.shtml

 

[TinkyWinky]

Is it possible that NX6 CAM only supports 1 processor while calculating the toolpaths????

I have 8 processors on two platines here with 12 gb Ram and nx is using only one processor at once! That cant be true!!!

I ran a test by opening 5 instances of NX6 Cam and calculating toolpaths in each instance for a different path at the same time and i had no performance breakdowns but every freakin instance for itself is so extremely slow!

Correct me if iam wrong or do i have to set some variables to force it to use all processors at once for one NX instance and the full system memory??

PLZ help



NX6

 

[MickyV007]

You can try to set this variable in the the Environment Variables of your pc.

UGII_SMP_ENABLE = 1

You can also do this in the UGII_ENV.DAT file.

"At the PLM World meeting they previewed some NX7 stuff. One of the things I saw was the ability to generate a tool path in the back ground. They said it would take advantage of dual or multi processors. This has been a long awaited issue for manufacturing." by John Joyce"

Hope this helps.


Best regards,

Michäël.

NX4.0.4.2 MP10 / TCE 9.1.3.8_build_0711 / NX6.0.2.8

Belgium

 

[joycejo]

"Is it possible that NX6 CAM only supports 1 processor while calculating the toolpaths???? "

Yes that is the case. Sad but true


Setting UGII_SMP_ENABLE = 1 will not help with generating toolpaths. This only works with modeling functions as far as I know.




John Joyce
Tata Technologies
1675 Larimer St.
Denver, CO

http://www.myigetit.com

NX5,6 Solid Works, Solid Edge

 

[potrero]

Will the changes in the upcoming NX7 and NX7.5 mentioned by MickyV007 match the multiprocessor support in Delcam 10 and 2010 as described here:

http://www.develop3d.com/2009/09/delcam-asian-technical-summit-day-2.html

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbhXqPqhPtw

?

In a related vein, there are a number of other areas in NX which could really benefit from multithreading, such as the fabric draping algorithms, and mesh generation. I wonder if something like File>Export>Part could benefit from multithreading (could it cut down on long export times for assemblies with hundreds of components)?

 

[3dr]

I've never heard of this varialbe before "UGII_SMP_ENABLE = 1"

What exactly does it help with? I'm not aware NX has any multi threaded code except for perhaps in drafting view creation.

I'm a little suprised to see this.

Dave

 

[MickyV007]

Look at the pdf I att. at page 3.

Best regards,

Michäël.

NX4.0.4.2 MP10 / TCE 9.1.3.8_build_0711 / NX6.0.2.8

Belgium

 

[HynfiNX]

Toolpath calculation in NX is very slow. For some reason NX can't use the available CPU but it only use a very small amount of CPU (about 5%)

That is something very strange because, for instance, doing render calculation with other softwares uses all the available CPU.

If you have enough memory you can start 2 or more sessions of NX and launch one toolpath calculation for each session: you'll see that each session executes toolpath calculation at the same speed that a single NX session would do.







Sandro Anderlini
Mould designer
Macerata - Italy

 

[markrief]

Parallel generation of tool paths (in the background while you continue to work interactively) uses multiple processors. This is in the current release NX 7.0.

For the 8 releases prior to that, you can generate in batch, or generate without display to speed things up.

What are you comparing the processing time to? If areas are slower that they should be, log a call with GTAC so somebody can take a look at it.

Mark Rief
Product Manager
Siemens PLM

 

[markrief]

MickyV007,
Where did you get the pdf on ENV?

Mark Rief
Product Manager
Siemens PLM

 

[looslib]

I've seen that PDF file before. My copy is dated May 30, 2009. I think the list was provided in response to a question about reversing the direction of the mouse scroll.
As we both know, there should be some warnings placed at the top of that file about how using the ENV settings may cause problems or not fix your specific problem. Also used in combimation with other ENV settings. Actually looking through it, I don't see any that would cause problems or ar release specific.
It isn't like some of the ones that we got in 'trouble' with back at the V5/6/7 days of UGII!


"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli