Helping mould tool companies to remain competitive, German software developer Schott Systeme has frozen its pricing for the 12th year running, while at the same time launching a raft of new design and machining functions within its latest Pictures by PC 3.4 CAD/CAM software.
12 Year CAD/CAM Price Freeze Retained by Schott Systeme
Helping mould tool companies to remain competitive, German software developer Schott Systeme has frozen its pricing for the 12th year running, while at the same time launching a raft of new design and machining functions within its latest Pictures by PC 3.4 CAD/CAM software.
Outlining the company's pricing policy, company founder and owner Hans-Joachim Schott stated, “Our aim is to enable our customers to invest in the very latest CAD/CAM technology, for every single CNC machine tool, while keeping both purchase and operating costs to a bare minimum.” This policy means that its complete mouldtool package for design and machining continues to remain under €10,000.
With ongoing maintenance costs also being a major consideration, Herr Schott continued, “Our customers have to earn money with us, so we have retained our 25 year old policy of not charging for yearly maintenance, instead offering free lifetime support, while giving our customers the choice of when they wish to purchase major upgrades.”
Focusing on its new software release, Schott Systeme has developed this latest version with the streamlining of the mouldtool design and machining process very much in mind. This process starts with the quick and ‘clean’ import of customer models, and here Schott Systeme has enhanced its data import facilities to include the very latest versions of STEP and 3D IGES Solid formats. However, for customers having to deal with poor quality data, considerable thought has been put into actual model repair, with an entirely new range of advanced surfacing functionality and a more advanced ‘Healing’ suite. The existing ‘Tribrid’ mixed modelling techniques have also been improved to help customers working with STL mesh models, enabling them to construct core and cavity molds from mixed mesh, solid and surface models. This is also being accompanied by a new suite of mesh analysis, repair and handling tools.
Pictures by PC 3.4 also sees a number of enhancements to speed up the machining of mould tools. Firstly, the software now utilises multi-core processing, with users receiving an instant improvement in toolpath calculation times from between 30-50% on dual core PC’s, and from 40-60% on quad core versions, with additional gains achievable by using their latest 64bit version. The company has in addition further enhanced their ‘Freeform Feature Recognition’ module, aiding in the automatic extraction of complex freeform mold features to machine, such as tapered walls and freeform chamfers.
The company will be using this year's EuroMold exhibition to celebrate its 26th anniversary, as well as showcase these latest CAD/CAM enhancements. Visitors are welcome in Hall 11, on Stand C63.