What's New in Aspire V10.0
Drawing
Node Editing
Node Editing can now be performed on multiple vectors selected at the same time. Additionally, individual spans can be dragged interactively, changing their shape in the case of arcs and Beziers, or moving the whole span in the case of lines (or when the Ctrl key is held down). The start and end directions of Bezier curves can be fixed when being dragged directly, by toggling on Keep Bezier Tangency mode. Also, two selected open contours can be joined at two selected end nodes, the direction of the resulting joined vector following the node selection order.
Maintain Object Rotation
When rotating and scaling objects, the original bounds are maintained which allows you to scale rotated objects along their axes more easily and intuitively. Changes to the interactive movement, rotation and scaling in the selection tool. Added support for it in the mirroring and distortion tools.
Bitmap Improvements
Support was added for Bitmap rotation and better integration with general object rotation
Welding Text
The Welding Tool now keeps the internal regions of characters with the option of keeping the original text.
Movable text on the curve
When the text is placed on the curve, its anchor can now be freely moved, rather than being limited to three predefined locations. The text can also be detached from the curve.
Shape Editing Shortcut
If a vector is selected which is able to be modified by one of the shape drawing forms (Circle, Ellipse, Rectangle, Polygon or Star) then pressing E will now automatically open the correct form to allow editing of that shape.
Space Selection behaviour
A change has been made to the behaviour of the Space SelectionAlignment Tools form, by default these will now maintain the X or Y ordering of any selected vectors and space between the top and bottom or left and right items in the selection.
Font List Improvement
The font list on the Create Text form will now save the 5 most recently used fonts at the top of the list to allow quicker selection of frequently used fonts.
Nesting improvements
Nesting tool was improved to detect parts in more robust way. The outer boundaries will now be highlighted and should closely match the actual part boundaries, enabling better material saving.
It is also possible to simultaneously nest double-sided parts.
Draw Polygon improvements
It is now possible to specify side length in addition to radius when drawing polygons.
Modeling
Replace Below
Used to remove the undesired thickness of an import model, or trim the negative side of components. See the Replace Below page for more details.
Copy Dragging of components
The components can now be copied to the desired position, instead of being moved, when being dragged in the component tree if the Ctrl key is pressed.
Sculpting Presets
When using the Sculpting tools, you can now save the current tool settings to a list of named presets. These presets can later be selected from a drop down list to quickly reinstate those settings.
Sculpting Overlay Image
The Sculpting tool now allows a bitmap to be overlaid over the sculpted model in the 3D view. This is helpful when modelling something based on a photo.
Dynamic cropping
In addition to mirroring and wrapping, it is now possible to enable cropping on a level in Component Tree.
When this option is enabled, the level will be constrained to chosen vector, without affecting the underlying components. The user can re-arrange components and modify the underlying design and the results will be dynamically cropped.
Toolpaths
Improved Tool Database
The Tool Database was re-designed to provide more powerful means of organizing your tools.
The database now supports multiple materials and machines. This enables the user to define tool geometry once and maintain a set of feeds and speed, organized by combination of material and machine.
New, flexible tool naming scheme will help to make tool names consistent, while allowing advanced users to customize it.
The Tool Database now features a built-in chipload calculator.
Multiple tools for V-Carve / Engraving
It is now possible to use as many tools as desired in a V-Carve / Engraving toolpath. Each tool will only machine areas previous tools could not reach. Clearance tools can be used even when not using a Flat Depth.
Apply Template to Sheets
If the project contains multiple sheets, you're now prompted when loading a template to apply the template to all sheets.
VCarving Text
Text is welded automatically with the Welding Tool before being V-Carved. This avoid issues arising when characters intersect with each other.
VCarving intersection detection
The VCarve Toolpath will now detect and warn user about presence of intersections in the selected vectors and suggest running Vector Validator. This may help with spotting design issues before toolpaths are simulated.
Preview Shading - Lithophane
A lithophane shading mode has been added to the Toolpath Preview Form to allow a toolpath to be previewed with a backlit effect. The brightness of the preview will vary with the thinnest areas being the brightness and the thicker areas darkest.
Photo V-Carve Strategy
An improved Photo V-Carve toolpath is now directly available in Aspire, with support for images containing transparent areas and option to project the toolpath on the visible model. See Photo V-Carve Toolpath for more details.
Rotary Toolpath Projection
Support projection of toolpaths on the model when they fall outside a Rotary job (for example, when creating a spiral toolpath).
Toolpath Merging
Toolpath Merge tool will now create a toolpath tree and keep the original toolpaths. This is useful for editing and recalculating the original toolpaths which in turn updates the resulting merged toolpath.
Post Processor List Improvement
The post processor list on the Save Toolpaths form will now save the 5 most recently used post processors at the top of the list to allow quicker selection of frequently used post processors.
Roughing - depth-first option
The 3D Rough Toolpath has now an option to machine depth-first when using Z Level strategy.
It is also possible to change the raster stepover direction.
Raster strategy improvements
The toolpaths that utilise the raster strategy should now generate more consistent toolpaths in regards to machining direction, even for complex shapes. This should be especially relevant for the 3D Finish Toolpath.
Show All With This Tool
It is now possible to quickly select all the toolpaths using the same tool. See the Toolpath List for more details.
Toolpath groups
It is now possible to organize toolpaths into arbitrary groups. This makes the selection of multiple toolpaths easier, for the purpose of simulation and saving.
When applying templates to multiple sheets, toolpaths belonging to the same sheet will be grouped together.
Interface
Improved access to documentation
The drawing and toolpath tabs now feature a icon. Clicking this icon will open a reference manual page relevant to the currently displayed tool or toolbox.
File Dialog Default
Remember the last location of the File Dialog for a particular operation. See Options Dialog.
Material Texture Importing
Custom textures can be imported more easily directly from the list in Preview Toolpaths dialog and Job Setup.
Tab Resizing
Tabs can be now freely resized, making it easier to use longer names for toolpaths or model components.
Clipping Level Effect
The Clipping effect on the right click menu for levels will dynamically clip the combined components on the level to the closed vectors which were selected when the effect was checked on.