Version 4.

5
Release Notes

7665 Commerce Way

Eden Prairie, MN 55344 USA
Telephone: (952) 937-3000
Fax: (952) 937-0070
www.stratasys.com

November 20, 2015

CatalystEX 4.5 Release Notes Page 1

CatalystEX 4.5
Release Notes

This document describes updates to CatalystEX since the release of CatalystEX 4.4.

 Improvements have been made to CatalystEX in many areas. To take advantage of the
changes, it is recommended that jobs processed with previous versions of CatalystEX
be reprocessed prior to building the parts on a printer.

Enhancements

Stratasys Update Manager

The Stratasys Update Manager is a software utility for updating system software on Dimension
printers. The utility supports the following printers:

 Dimension Elite
 Dimension 1200es (BST/SST)
 uPrint
 uPrint Plus
 uPrint SE
 uPrint SE Plus

The Stratasys Update Manager can be launched by selecting the Stratasys Update Manager
shortcut from the Windows Start Menu. The software is also launched automatically when new
system software is available.

Stratasys Update Manager is automatically installed as part of the CatalystEX 4.5 installation.

Once launched, Stratasys Update Manager will show all supported Dimension or uPrint systems
that are visible to CatalystEX on the PC where the Update Manager is launched. If a system can
be updated, an Update button will be displayed. To apply the update:

 Put the printer in Upgrade mode

 In the Stratasys Update Manager software, click the Update button for that printer. The
software upgrade will be downloaded to the printer.
 When prompted by the Stratasys Update Manager software, reboot the printer.
CatalystEX 4.5 Release Notes Page 2

Windows Explorer Integration

STL thumbnail images – CatalystEX is now installed along with a Windows Explorer (shell)
extension to display thumbnail images of STL files that have the .STL extension. The STL images
are automatically generated and will be displayed when a Windows Explorer window view is
configured as one of: Tiles, Content, Medium icons, Large icons, or Extra large icons. The
Preview pane in Windows Explorer will also show a large rendering of the part when the
Preview pane is enabled.

CMB properties – CatalystEX is now installed along with a Windows Explorer (shell) extension to
retrieve and display properties, details, and attributes of CMB files. This information is available
for files with the .CMB extension. The CMB details are presented by Windows Explorer in a
variety of ways, including the Details view, the Details pane, the right mouse click properties
window, and the tooltip displayed when the mouse pointer hovers over CMB files in Windows
Explorer.

General

CatalystEX is now fully supported on Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10. (CR 9732)

Pack Tab

Estimated build time is now rounded to the nearest minute, as opposed to be truncated.

Printer Status Tab

Pack list show in printer queue and printer history now lists all parts for nested packs. (CR 8176)

Toolpath Generation

Turn off contour/raster linking for medium areas (<0.5 sq in), to improve part quality.

Support Generation

Add bridge regions under support columns to help stabilize supports in the case when a support
column rests on a region of sparse supports. This helps to avoid drooping and curling and helps
to make the support structures stronger. This feature is enabled for SMART supports only.

Sparse support bridging originally ignored air curves inside of bridge curves on the assumption
that the air curves would be supported below by a perimeter. However, this isn't true in the
case where the air curve already encloses sparse support. This causes many of the bridge raster
turn-arounds to be unsupported from below, permitting rasters to droop or curl up, giving bad
surface finish.
CatalystEX 4.5 Release Notes Page 3

CMB Viewer

Improvements to CMB Viewer application:

 Support dragging/dropping CMB files to open them in CMB Viewer

 A render indicator now shows the start of each toolpath

CatalystEX 4.5 Release Notes Page 4

Resolved Issues

General

Detect and fix reversed normals in STL when all normals are reversed. Leads to proper 3D
display for these parts and, in some cases, fixes problem of slicing failures that can result for
files with reversed normals.

Fix: Crash when rendering shaded toolpaths.

Fix: Double period in filename prevents download. (CR 7883)

Pack Tab

Fix: Jobs that packed successfully sometimes did not download to printer, due to slight errors in
footprint.

Fix unnecessary merge of single CMB due to user CMB comment. The presence of a user
comment in the CMB prior to adding to the pack was triggering a merge of the single CMB. Fix
the comment handling so that the merge is not performed if no user modifications to the pack
are made. (CR 8473)

Fix: For parts whose footprint results in multiple contours, the footprints can sometimes be
calculated and displayed incorrectly, leading to incorrect assessment of overlap, based on
footprints, while packing.

Fix: Packing falsely indicated that mult-contour footprints overlapped when they did not
overlap.

Fix: Nesting algorithm fails in packing. Packing algorithm was failing in some cases when packing
jobs where footprints had multiple contours.

Fix: Repeated pack operations over a long period of time can lead to incorrect part footprint
detection or to crashes.

Fix: CMB time estimate does not match Pack details. CMB time estimates are now properly
rounded to nearest minute. (CR 10454)

Fix: Overlaps were being incorrectly shown in some cases when running with Italian regional
settings.

Toolpath Generation

Fix: Constant raster penetration not applied in curve portion. (CR 8121)
CatalystEX 4.5 Release Notes Page 5

Fix: Internal error in toolpath generation (CR 8166)

Fix: Crash during toolpath generation

Fix: Incorrect gap between contour and raster.

Fix: Missing part fill in area surrounded by support curves.

Fix: Missing contour, pinched off during overfill.

Fix: Raster angle of first layer was sometimes parallel to angle of top layer of base, which led to
poor part quality. (CR 9039)

Fix: Geometry disappears after min wall filtering, for customer part on uPrint Plus (Ball Bearings
part). (CR 9204)

Support Generation

Fix: Support generator makes all support face. (CR 8136)

Fix: Support sometimes built with part material. (CR 8149)

Allow small holes in support face, which helps in support removal

Fix: In sample parts, small support fills were getting built from model material. (CR 8495)

Fix: Support structures sometimes fill interior of circular area. (CR 8489)

Fix: Crash when using Surround supports, due to failure to check if an offset operation in
growIslands() returned null.

Fix problem that led to “air islands” in support structure being incorrectly removed, which in
turn led to greater use of support materials.

Fix: Narrow SMART support regions sometimes shrink into part, which leads to support layer
having nothing to sit on (CR 7968)

Fix: Support island lost. When clipping bridge geometry to the sparse geometry layer below,
Sparse to sparse support bridging failed to account for the possibility that multiple islands might
be returned, resulting in the loss of bridge geometry.

Fix: Toolpath fill in breakaway support regions can sometimes be missing bottom segment. This
can lead to part failure.

Fix: Crash during support generation for certain geometries.

Fix: Slice doesn’t fit in build envelope after support generation, for build envelope sized part.
CatalystEX 4.5 Release Notes Page 6

Fix: Surface finish is sometimes poor on the underside of parts, for Sparse and SMART supports.
Voids in support regions are often removed when the surrounding support transitions to sparse.
When at least some of the support bounding the void is bridge geometry, the raster ends are
almost always inadequately supported on the level below. This can cause the raster ends to curl
up, pushing the next and subsequent layers of basic and face into the part's downward facing
surface.

Fix: Support generation crashes when offsetting a 2-pt curve (rare).

Fix: If a closed curve is offset by a distance comparable to (or larger than) its size, geometry of
resulting curve may be incorrect (rare).

Fix: Crash during support generation. (CR 11114)

Fix: Crash during SMART support generation. (CR 11148)

Fix: Supports missing on bottom half inch of part.

Fix: Support generation was failing when using circular SMART supports. The failure was caused
when filtering destroyed a very small support island and the offsettor failed to deal properly
with a NULL input island.

Workstation Operating Systems

Microsoft Windows XP Support – Stratasys maintenance and support for Microsoft Windows XP
32-bit and 64-bit operating systems has ended effective September 30, 2013. Stratasys will no
longer ensure that CatalystEX works with Microsoft Windows XP and will not offer support for
operational issues involving Microsoft Windows XP.