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Im a Demis Newbie, Im really good at C@!^pso, what should i know......

Ok so I followed a former boss to a new shop, he needed a programmer, but the problem is that this new shop has a whole host of B&S PC Demis CMM's, and I have all my years of experience in Zeiss Calypso.
As far as I’m concerned the difference couldn’t be any bigger, other than general terminology there is nothing visually or procedurally the same going from one to another.
I’ve been at it for about 2 months now and I’m still having trouble wrapping my brain around the code like structure.
I went to the beginners’ course at Hexagon in Wixom (Detroit) Mi., but all I learned there was what all the icons do.
I’m chugging along now, churning out programs at increasingly faster speeds, but it’s only with great effort and eye strain (And leaning forward).
I DO sorta like the flexibility of the articulating head (Although I do question the accuracy).
I DO like the resistance to breakage due to the probes being held together by magnets and the TP20 range of motion.
I DO NOT like the heavy use of individual "Hits" instead of the scanning head on the Vast Xt (On my B&S that’s a different attachment)
I DO NOT like that you can’t just qualify all the probes in the rack at once, you have to open different files and qualify the probes used in that file, then open another file and qualify those probes...... and so on. (To better explain, the qualifications seem to be tied to programs, instead of being a machine function)
I DO NOT like the use of “move” or “clearplane” points, in Calypso the probe just moves in and out of the part between features pretty much automatically.
I DO NOT like the Stability of the Demis platform (see all the threads in here about unexplained shutdowns and program crashes).
So here I am, learning a new language, finding a new way to get around, trying to put a new feather in my cap.

For those of you who are multi Lingual, what do I need to know to make my life easier?

What have you found that Demis does better than Calypso?

Fyi,
medical implants (Knees, Hips, and spinal)
Lots of line and surface profiles
.001-.002” profile tolerances are standard
Cad models for everything.
Parents
  • Everyone has posted some very good and accurate stuff, but I'll throw in a few more ones and zeros:

    1) Decisions:
    Calypso is setup to be heavy-handed with making decisions for you. This can speed you up if the decisions are correct for your application, or slow you down and cause problems if they are not.
    PC-DMIS leaves far more decision-making to you.

    2) When you change settings:
    PC-DMIS has nearly every setting, whether temporary or global, available with one hot-key and two-clicks, or three-drop-down-menu layers. With practice you can make changes very quickly.
    Calypso has most of it's settings buried deeper within 5 to 7 drop-down menus or worse yet sub-sub-sub-windows. However it does have a far more powerful and user-friendly "change many identical things at once" editor. PC-DMIS has one (DATFIELDEDIT Wizard) but it's not as friendly.

    3) Reporting:
    Both have extensive report-customization options, and both are cumbersome. PC-DMIS does have an edge with more graphical reporting available with fewer clicks.

    4) Automation and High-Level-Language:
    PC-DMIS's automation has an ease-of-use factor that eclipses Calypso by a factor of over 9000. It becomes part of the code, rather than being buried in hidden menus of mysterious connection like Calypso's PCM, and is very simple to write and execute with logic. PC-DMIS can also be very easily fully automated using Visual Basic, making it a natural fit for robotic and linked-system applications.


    Making the software transition is hard (BTDT) but it is a quite valuable experience that will ultimately make you a more powerful programmer in any language. Stay goal-focused rather than methodology-focused, and learn/invent/prove new methods as you hit your goals.

    - Josh
Reply
  • Everyone has posted some very good and accurate stuff, but I'll throw in a few more ones and zeros:

    1) Decisions:
    Calypso is setup to be heavy-handed with making decisions for you. This can speed you up if the decisions are correct for your application, or slow you down and cause problems if they are not.
    PC-DMIS leaves far more decision-making to you.

    2) When you change settings:
    PC-DMIS has nearly every setting, whether temporary or global, available with one hot-key and two-clicks, or three-drop-down-menu layers. With practice you can make changes very quickly.
    Calypso has most of it's settings buried deeper within 5 to 7 drop-down menus or worse yet sub-sub-sub-windows. However it does have a far more powerful and user-friendly "change many identical things at once" editor. PC-DMIS has one (DATFIELDEDIT Wizard) but it's not as friendly.

    3) Reporting:
    Both have extensive report-customization options, and both are cumbersome. PC-DMIS does have an edge with more graphical reporting available with fewer clicks.

    4) Automation and High-Level-Language:
    PC-DMIS's automation has an ease-of-use factor that eclipses Calypso by a factor of over 9000. It becomes part of the code, rather than being buried in hidden menus of mysterious connection like Calypso's PCM, and is very simple to write and execute with logic. PC-DMIS can also be very easily fully automated using Visual Basic, making it a natural fit for robotic and linked-system applications.


    Making the software transition is hard (BTDT) but it is a quite valuable experience that will ultimately make you a more powerful programmer in any language. Stay goal-focused rather than methodology-focused, and learn/invent/prove new methods as you hit your goals.

    - Josh
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