Previewing problem

[TimToo]

I purchased Aspire after the recent AWFS show and I'm working through the tutorials. I noticed that previewing seems to vanish unless I have the "Display Preview" tool in the Toolpaths tab in-use. That doesn't match what's shown in the tutorial (perhaps this is due to a minor change in Aspire 4?)

I'm guessing I have a setting wrong somewhere but I can't find it (and noticed the initial problem while running with the default settings).

Here's what the tutorial shows...note that the 3D preview of the toolpaths is visible despite not being in the "Preview Toolpaths" tool:

The next picture shows preview working while I'm using the "Preview Toolpaths" tool:

This last picture shows the generic preview I get when I close the "Preview Toolpaths" tool despite the tutorial indicating that my preview in this shot should be the same as the pic above...any hints on what I'm doing wrong (or have setup wrong)?

This happens on both of my machines. One is from HP (i5 processor, 8GB RAM, Windows 8, Intel Integrated Graphics). The other is a MacBook Pro running Windows 7 under Parallels which creates a generic graphics environment via the built-in Intel Integrated Graphics....

Is the problem simply that my video card is too wimpy? Seems unlikely given that the preview works just fine while using "Preview Toolpaths"...but weirder things have happened.

Thanks in advance for helping sort this out.

Tim S.

[JamesB]

Hi Tim,

I believe what your seeing is just a difference between the way VCarve Pro and Aspire work. Many of the videos which covered shared functionality were recorded in a version of the software which is basically an un-badged VCarve Pro. As VCP only uses the 3D view for the preview it does not exit out of it when you exit the preview hence that behaviour was captured in the video. Aspire however has the concept of the 3D model (even when your part does not have one as in this example) so when you exit the preview mode the preview disappears because typically you then want to be able to see the standard set of 3D components.

I apologise for the confusion. As you progress through the tutorials and start using the Aspire 3D functions you'll realise why there is this difference. My best advice is just to remember that to see the preview in Aspire you need to click on the Preview icon.

Thanks,
James

[TimToo]

James,

Thank you for the quick response. I was concerned that there was something wrong with my setup since the HP is brand new - bought specifically to keep my new Desktop ShopBot company. As a long-time, hard core Mac person (retired after working there for over two decades, so yeah, I'm probably biased), I was willing to chalk it up to something weird in my laptop's setup until the Windows-only HP machine did the same thing.

Tim S.

[zoner]

I had the same reflex ... searched all options ... to no avail

It would be nice to have an option to keep the preview or see the components ...

Now that I know that it is normal, thanks !