Visual Components 4.9 has been released. From now on 4.8 eCat will be frozen and we continue maintaining 4.9 eCat. Here are some updates that we have done for the new eCat.
New eCat server
Previosly eCat server was under domain https://download.visualcomponents.net but 4.9 is hosted by new server. The new domain is https://ecat.visualcomponents.net/. If you have problems with eCat sync you may need to whitelist this new host name so that app can access the 4.9 eCat. With the new server we are hoping to better serve our growing userbase as the eCat continues to expand.
Legacy libraries
In 4.9 sourcelist there are legacy libaries to give access to older eCats. Previously these legacies used to be enabled by default. In 4.9 only 4.8 legacy is enabled. Older legacies are listed but by default they are disabled. Having them off speeds up eCat indexing and makes eCat browsing bit faster. Downside is that if you have layouts which are saved without “Include Components” setting and which use 4.7 or older eCat components then those layouts will not have access to those component geometries. In this case you see VCID errors when opening a layout and there will be missing geometries. Fix for this is to enable legacy libraries and then opening the layout again. Following video shows how to enable legacy libraries:
New Manufacturers
We have few new manufacturers in eCat. Kovasat provides solutions to logistics and now we have 6 components that you can use to build warehousing systems. Components work similar to VC warehousing components.
Robotape makes systems for tape applications. In eCat there’s a now Robotape robot tool and payout and few robot cells under “Machines”. Under “Layouts” there’s also a demo layout “RoboTape Demo Layout” to demonstrate these components in action. These models made it to 4.8 eCat already but I’ll mention it here too.
PM Resource updates
PM resources have been updated to support new sub-layout feature. In layout hierarchy these sub-layouts are new vcLayout objects and PM resource python scripts needed to be updated to properly work. Note that if you use old resource models in sub-layouts you may see some bugs. In those cases update the resoruces with the latest 4.9 versions (transport controllers too) and they should work better.
There’s one new resource model called “Mobile Robot Resource (Lift and Turn)”. This generic MR has the option of reorienting itself while retaining the carried product’s orientation in world coordinates. Component property “Transport::LockProductOrientation” can be used to enable that feature.
We continue to develop process modeling resources so stay tuned for any updates.
-k