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Support for additional too types has increased the range of effects that can be produced with ArtCAM Insignia

Delcam has released a new version of its engraving and routing software, ArtCAM Insignia.  This includes many of the enhancements in the latest version of ArtCAM Pro, together with additional options for editing bitmaps, support for simultaneous drilling operations, more powerful nesting and an improved interface.

The most significant change in the design capabilities of the software is the ability to develop and manage models as a series of bitmap layers.  This duplicates the new options to use layers within ArtCAM Pro, with the added ability to divide designs into individual layers for vector and bitmap information.

The range of design data that can be imported into ArtCAM Insignia has been extended to include pdf files.  Vector and bitmap artwork within the pages of the imported document can be separated into layers automatically during import.

All the tools for editing bitmaps and for creating vectors from bitmaps have been integrated more closely within the software.  This makes it easier to clean up imported artwork and then trace vectors around different areas of the design.

Nesting has also been improved to allow the most efficient use of material.  Different numbers of multiple copies of various design elements can now be generated and arranged within a specified area in a single operation.

On the machining side, the main addition has been support for drill banks.  Multiple drilling heads can now be programmed to drill an array of holes simultaneously.  The pattern of holes can be duplicated a number of times across a sheet of material.  The postprocessor options within the software have also been enhanced to support drill banks.

Other new machining options include the ability to use ramped entry at the start of any cut to aid high-speed machining and an option to increase the feed rate on the final pass of any series of profiling toolpaths.

Several new tools used in the woodworking industry have been added to the Tool Database.  These are variations of Ogee, Roundover and Raised Panel bits; the most frequently used routing tool shapes in 2.5D machining.  The effects available with these tools can be increased by using different offsets when calculating the toolpaths.

To improve the ease of use of ArtCAM Insignia, the menu choices on the Main Menu bar have been consolidated into a shorter list of options.  In addition, the user has control of the layout of the tools on the screen.  Only the most frequently used commands are displayed continuously so the screen never appears congested.  All the help that was previously published in the printed documentation is now available from within the software.  Users can search the on-line help by any specific subject or for any instances of a particular word.

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