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      <title>In-process Workpiece (IPW)</title>
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      <div class="title_topic3" id="xps10_pagetitle">In-process Workpiece (IPW)</div>
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      <p class="para_topic">NX uses several definitions of <b class="uiTerm">In-process Workpiece</b> (IPW) to process the material remaining from prior operations. The IPW is used in the following ways:
      </p>
      <ul>
         <li>
            <p class="para_item">To visualize the material remaining from prior operations. This is the input state of the IPW.</p>
         </li>
         <li>
            <p class="para_item">To define the blank.</p>
            <p class="para_item">Operations that use a blank to determine the volume of material to cut (Cavity Milling, Plunge Milling), can also use the input IPW from prior operations to define the blank. These are commonly called rest mill operations because they cut only the &ldquo;rest&rdquo; of the material.</p>
         </li>
         <li>
            <p class="para_item">To check for tool collisions.</p>
            <p class="para_item">Some operations that don&rsquo;t support a blank (like Hole Making) can use the input IPW for global collision avoidance against the tool.</p>
         </li>
         <li>
            <p class="para_item">To avoid tool holder collision regions. </p>
            <p class="para_item">Operations that do support IPW as blank (like cavity milling), will use the dynamic IPW (that updates after each region is cut) to ensure that tool holder collision regions are not cut. This allows for maximum depth of cutting while avoiding tool holder collision regions.</p>
         </li>
      </ul>
      <div class="title_division">Visualizing the IPW (3D or level based)</div>
      <p class="para_division">In Visualize, you can see the progress of the IPW from the initial blank to the finished workpiece.</p>
      <div class="figure">
         <p align="center"><img align="bottom" src="graphics/1ipw.gif"></p>
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      <div class="title_figure">Initial Blank, Defined in the Workpiece Geometry Group</div>
      <div class="figure">
         <p align="center"><img align="bottom" src="graphics/2ipw.gif"></p>
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      <div class="title_figure">In-process Workpiece After the First Operation</div>
      <div class="figure">
         <p align="center"><img align="bottom" src="graphics/3ipw.gif"></p>
      </div>
      <div class="title_figure">Second Operation Cutting with In-process Workpiece Option</div>
      <div class="figure">
         <p align="center"><img align="bottom" src="graphics/4ipw.gif"></p>
      </div>
      <div class="title_figure">In-process Workpiece After the Second Operation</div>
      <div class="figure">
         <p align="center"><img align="bottom" src="graphics/5ipw.gif"></p>
      </div>
      <div class="title_figure">Finished Part</div>
      <div class="title_division">When to Use In-process Workpiece</div>
      <p class="para_division">Use IPW in an operation when you want NX to consider the material remaining from the prior operations when generating a tool path. Each processor uses the IPW differently, so refer to the following section on how each processor uses the IPW.</p>
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            <td valign="top" align="left"><img align="left" src="../graphics/note.gif" alt="Note" title="Note"></td>
            <td valign="bottom" align="left" width="100%">
               <div class="para_note">
                  <p class="para_note_body">Turning on the IPW increases the tool path calculation time. </p>
               </div>
            </td>
         </tr>
      </table>
      <table border="0">
         <tr>
            <td valign="top" align="left"><img align="left" src="../graphics/note.gif" alt="Note" title="Note"></td>
            <td valign="bottom" align="left" width="100%">
               <div class="para_note">
                  <p class="para_note_body">The IPW isn't appropriate for transformed operations. If a transformed operation uses IPW, the final tool path will reflect the rest material at the original location instead of the transformed location. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
               </div>
            </td>
         </tr>
      </table>
      <div class="title_division">How Processors Use the IPW</div>
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            <tr>
               <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
                  <p class="para_td">Operation</p>
               </td>
               <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
                  <p class="para_td">How it uses the IPW</p>
               </td>
               <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
                  <p class="para_td">IPW options</p>
               </td>
            </tr>
         </thead>
         <tbody>
            <tr>
               <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
                  <p class="para_td">Planar Milling</p>
               </td>
               <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
                  <p class="para_td">Inputs IPW as blank.</p>
               </td>
               <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
                  <p class="para_td"><b class="uiTerm">Save 2D In-process Workpiece</b> in previous and current operations.
                  </p>
               </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
                  <p class="para_td">Zlevel: Profiling</p>
                  <p class="para_td">Surface Contouring: Area Milling, and Flowcut</p>
               </td>
               <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
                  <p class="para_td">Only machines regions that were uncut because of prior tool holder collisions.</p>
               </td>
               <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
                  <p class="para_td"><b class="uiTerm">Use Tool Holder</b> in previous operation, and <b class="uiTerm">Use 2D Workpiece</b> in current operation. Use 2D geometry saved from prior tool holder collision detection as trim geometry for the current operation.
                  </p>
               </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <td colspan="1" rowspan="2">
                  <p class="para_td">Cavity Milling</p>
               </td>
               <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
                  <p class="para_td">Defines the input blank.</p>
               </td>
               <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
                  <p class="para_td">Main operation dialog&rarr; <b class="uiTerm">Cutting</b>&rarr; <b class="uiTerm">Containment</b>.
                  </p>
                  <ul>
                     <li>
                        <p class="para_item"><b class="uiTerm">None</b></p>
                        <p class="para_item">Either use existing Blank geometry, if available, or cut the entire cavity.</p>
                     </li>
                     <li>
                        <p class="para_item"><b class="uiTerm">Use 3D</b></p>
                        <p class="para_item">Use 3D IPW geometry from prior operations in the same geometry group.</p>
                     </li>
                     <li>
                        <p class="para_item"><b class="uiTerm">Use Level Based</b></p>
                        <p class="para_item">Use cut regions from prior cavity milling and zlevel operations in the same geometry group. Level based IPW is designed to be used when only material from other level based processors is required. Because of this assumption, it is faster and generally cleaner than 3D IPW. It is currently only available for Cavity Milling.</p>
                     </li>
                  </ul>
               </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
                  <p class="para_td">Tool Holder Avoidance, dynamic IPW </p>
               </td>
               <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
                  <p class="para_td">Tool Holder avoidance in cavity milling will ensure that tool holder collision regions are removed and will update the state of the IPW after each region is cut. This allows for maximum depth of cutting since the tool holder can access material that was cut on prior levels.</p>
               </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
                  <p class="para_td">Plunge Milling</p>
               </td>
               <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
                  <p class="para_td">Defines the input blank.</p>
               </td>
               <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
                  <p class="para_td">Same as cavity milling except it does not support Level Based IPW.</p>
               </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
                  <p class="para_td">Holemaking</p>
               </td>
               <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
                  <p class="para_td">Collision checking</p>
               </td>
               <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
                  <p class="para_td"><b class="uiTerm">Use 3D</b></p>
                  <p class="para_td">Motions that collide with the IPW are adjusted to remove the collisions.</p>
               </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
                  <p class="para_td">Surface Contouring: Variable Axis contour profile</p>
               </td>
               <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
                  <p class="para_td">Collision checking</p>
               </td>
               <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
                  <p class="para_td"><b class="uiTerm">Use 3D</b></p>
                  <p class="para_td">Motions that collide with the IPW are adjusted to remove the collisions.</p>
               </td>
            </tr>
         </tbody>
      </table><br><div class="title_division">See Also</div><a class="endOfDocLinks" href="ipw_toolpaths.html">Requirements for Valid Input In-process Workpiece</a><br><a class="endOfDocLinks" href="ipw_as_blank.html">Using an IPW as an Operation's Blank</a><br></body>
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