A recent project using V-Engrave was screwed up because I conscientiously filled in the Tool Diameter field (as 25.4mm), while leaving the default value of Max Crossover Distance at 0.7. The consequence of this was a number of moves between one region and another performed without a return to the clearance plane.
I think that this is an accident waiting to happen. I cannot imagine any occasion when using V-Engrave where one would want to move from one region to another without moving up to the clearance plane between moves. For each region, the MOP covers the entire region in one go, without any crossover moves, so the only such moves MUST be when going from region to region.
As noted in another post, crossover moves are not shown in the graphical view, so it is difficult to spot the problem.
I fixed this by setting the Tool Diameter back to 0, although setting the Max Crossover Distance to 0 would presumably also have done the trick.
Actually, I think this problem is a special case of a more general complaint I have with CamBam, namely that many options are displayed and are editable even though they have no effect (e.g. Roughing Clearance, in this case, or Roughing/Finishing). Some options are displayed and editable but should never be used, as in my case.
I do like the Auto/Default/Value distinction. If options have to be displayed, perhaps there should be an 'inapplicable' option too, any maybe a 'do not use for this type of MOP' option! I see the possibility of options being displayed because they may be made use of in later releases but are not used at present, but this also brings dangers.
Bob
