Revision 2.9.12

Release Date: August 14, 2018
Build: 2

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• Download in updates the VTube-STEP Support Page

Split Bends are used to compress two adjacent bends into one larger bend. This is how VTube handles 180-degree (or greater) bends.

It's important for operators to know when Split Bend is active in VTube-STEP or VTube-LASER (for 180-degree or greater bends). VTube compresses the bender data with Split Bends active and measures the part differently.

So VTube now shows a yellow shaded row in the LRA data grids where a Split Bend is switched on.

For details on Split Bends, see VTube-LASER Split Bend Feature

Absolute LRA data is also known as Military Spec bender data. It is still used by the USAF, and possibly other branches of the US military.

If you use the Absolute LRA data with Split Bends, then this update is important for you because we discovered a bug in the absolute (as opposed to incremental) LENGTH calculation when Split Bends were enabled.

The absolute LENGTH calculations after the split bend would be off by half the arc length of the combined split bend. This has been fixed and double-checked against current Mil Spec charts.

See VTube Reverse Calc from MIL-D-9898C Absolute Bender Data to Centerline XYZ Data for an in-depth article on this bender format.

We added the STAR SVNet protocol that allows VTube-STEP to send NEW data to the STAR benders through a network connection.

Use this new feature to import solid models into STAR bender controls.

See VTube STAR SVNet Bender Communications for more details.