The company has released version 5.1 of its MachineWorks CNC simulation and verification technology. One of this version's major developments is feature based picking across all the software's geometric engines. Feature based picking enables CAM packages to accurately report the coordinate of a point on the actual cut surface rather than the faceted representation of the cut surface. The surface normal and the surface type (plane, cylinder, sphere) are also given.

Another improvement lies in the visualization of results from a target part comparison. Version 5.1 now features an option whereby unmachined areas can be ignored.

The software's handling capabilities are said to protect applications from problems experienced when making calls to the software's libraries.

The software now returns full details of the faces involved, including the point of self Intersection, the plane equation of the face, the number of vertices in the face loop and the vertex position in the face loop.

Enhancements specific to the Visicut Machine-Works geometric engine include enhanced support of complex tool shapes. Previous restrictions on the definition of 2D tool profiles have been removed so that the profile can be non monotonic in Y. This allows tools with concave ends to be properly simulated in plunging operations, whereby an 'island' of material remains. Closed profiles (toroidal tools) are now also supported.

Ray-traced target part comparison now supports transparency improving the visualization of gouges or areas of rest material. Additionally, the performance of ray-traced target part comparison has been improved, particularly when large stock models are used.

Wire EDM support has been enhanced to support the simulation of different XY/UV and XY'/UV' planes.

Enhancements specific to the Rapidcut Machine Works geometric engine include the fact that holders can now be attached and detached from selected tools at any time. This removes the previous restriction that the bolder must be attached before the tool is positioned.

Target part comparison has been enhanced such that the results can be filtered so that false gouges or undercuts are not displayed.

Enhancements specific to the Pixelcut Machine Works geometric engine include performance gains in speed and memory usage, particularly when using complex solids.