Changelog
Releases
A weekly digest of what's new in Pre6 Costing — features, improvements,
and fixes shipped that week.
- Cost sheet adds a cycle-time breakdown and machine-tonnage-aware mold-fit time.
- HPDC cost console gets copy/paste, a "changes only" view, and discard warnings for safer bulk edits.
- 3D viewer refreshed — tidied toolbar, redesigned mold and exploded-view panels, gating now lives inside the fill flow.
- Smarter HPDC auto-gating across a wider range of part shapes.
- Wall-thickness analysis no longer hangs on intricate parts.
- Large CAD uploads show an accurate progress bar and handle slow connections smoothly.
- Upload modal fits any screen with the Continue button always reachable.
- Costing page no longer freezes after a tab is left idle.
- Loaders wait for data before closing — no more flash of empty content.
- RFQ uploads are more resilient, with a clear retry on failure and faster cost-table thumbnails.
- New homepage FAQ entry on how Pre6 differs from other costing tools.
- New RFQ template import — upload your existing pricing spreadsheets and the app reads them, suggests values for each costing field, and lets you review and apply them to your settings in one pass.
- Settings page redesigned with a single, flexible layout that adapts to each manufacturing process, so editing values is faster and easier to scan.
- Confirmation step added before deleting an RFQ project, with a clear count of the files about to be removed so accidental clicks don't lose work.
- Draft angle heatmap legend now has a live threshold slider — adjust the minimum draft on the fly and the colored regions update instantly, so you can see exactly which faces fall short of your spec without re-running analysis.
- HPDC costing tightened — base-plate sizing, refined mold thickness and trim allowances, and a part-complexity score in the exported cost sheet, with a redundant feature row removed for cleaner quotes.
- Machining-hour estimates now factor in detected part features and side-action inputs for every machining process, so quotes track real part geometry instead of a flat assumption.
- Smarter gating for HPDC analysis — gate count and placement adapt to part shape, multi-body parts get separate gates automatically, and progress messages are clearer while the simulation runs.
- Gate setup dialog redesigned for clarity, and the cost-optimisation panel now opens cleanly above the 3D model view.
- Guest mode adds parting-line setup, so prospective users can explore more of the DFM flow on a sample part before creating an account.
- "Try with our 3D model" demo on the homepage has clearer wording and now works correctly after signing in, and projects load more reliably on first open.
- Multi-part RFQ image and UI improvements.
- Injection-molding machining cost is now feature-driven (it scales with real geometry instead of a flat ratio of the mold cost).
- "Try with our model" sign-in flow stabilised.
- Injection-molding cycle time now uses nominal wall thickness, matching the industry rule-of-thumb.
- Weld line and air-pocket analysis refined.
- First-time-user modal redesigned.
- Default machining costs lowered to better reflect real shop rates.
- New 3D viewer orientation control.
- Pay-per-use pricing launched with two tiers — bring-your-own-template and full DFM-powered IM/HPDC.
- Multi-file guest RFQ flow: upload several STEP files at once and get a per-part cost table with process switcher.
- Cost-table cells now suggest values pulled from your saved templates.
- Templates section redesigned, with duplicate-project validation.
- Bulk-only organisations get a streamlined upload button.
- Mold-cost breakdown auto-disables when you enter a manual mold cost.
- Landing page refresh.
- Export reliability improved — better error handling, and all attached files are reliably included.
- Sample STEP files now load faster.
- Sheet template management available to every member of your team.
- Bulk file upload error handling fixed.
- Mold weight added to the advanced costing sheet.
- Part image now embeds in the RFQ template UI.
- "Try with our model" demo flow polished.
- Browser connection limits during heavy uploads resolved.
- Every new signed-in user gets 10 free analyses — no credit card required.
- Generate the customer-ready report directly from the costing page.
- Upload modal locks during processing for clearer feedback.
- Excel sheet export updated with new parameters.
- Base plate calculation now applies to HPDC and MIM mold costing (in addition to IM).
- HPDC parting line and parting plane analysis added.
- MIM cost process improvements.
- Mold cost estimation more accurate for both small and large parts.
- Loading animations during long analysis runs.
- Base plate material can now be selected for IM and HPDC mold costing.
- MIM (Metal Injection Molding) added as a supported process.
- Cancel button for fill approximation runs.
- Fill simulation reliability fixes, including automatic gate detection.
March 2 – March 8, 2026
Costing accuracy upgrade
- Costing accuracy upgraded with refined defect estimation, machine constraints, and pricing logic.
- Automatic gate placement for injection molding.
- Core-cavity heatmap colours fixed on first activation.
- Multiple report fixes.
- Boss feature detection joins the DFM heatmap suite, with 3D visualisation and per-feature evaluation.
- Multi-part RFQ support — quote a full bill of materials in one flow.
- Fill simulation accuracy improved by using more precise wall thickness data.
- Welds and sink marks now appear in the report.
- Core/cavity (IM) and cover/ejector (HPDC) unified into a single die-split heatmap.
- Landing page revamped to lead with costing.
- Smoother UI transitions across pages.
- HPDC analysis suite expanded — shrinkage heatmap, cold-shut detection, gate/runner sizing, venting, and a cost summary.
- IM cost estimation rebuilt; mold life now factored into per-part costs.
- Fill heatmap uses a standard color scale and gains a fill-progress slider.
- Hot-runner cycle time corrected to be faster.
- Guest upload limit raised to 20 MB.
- "Capture from view" UX polish.
- Core-cavity and temperature heatmap fixes.
- Three new flow simulation heatmaps — temperature, shrinkage, and warpage.
- Undercuts and insufficient-draft regions now highlighted on cover/ejector split images in the report.
- Sink mark analysis upgraded for more accurate scoring.
- Fill approximation legend simplified.
- Report preview fixes.
- Cycle time now incorporates pressure and clamp force.
- Parting line visualisation added to reports.
- PowerPoint (.pptx) report export added.
- HPDC analysis available for signed-in users.
- New ROI calculator on the landing page with hourly-rate slider.
- Renamed "Die Casting" to "High-Pressure Die Casting" for clarity.
- Clamp force calculation for injection molding.
- Auto gate region detection.
- Live Report Editor — tweak the report inside the app.
- Reanalyze available in guest mode.
- Pull-direction selection upgraded with a face-based modal.
- Material properties unified across processes.
- Delete buttons for gates, notes, and tooling items.
- Trivia panel during report generation.
- Wall thickness rendering fixes.
- Multi-gate weld line detection now matches real-world injection-molding behaviour.
- 3D notes attached to part faces.
- Costing card added to the dashboard.
- More reliable model loading.
- Bring your own polymer or alloy data — user-defined materials.
- Editable company branding for reports (logo, name, footer).
- Fill simulation gives more accurate flow paths from any gate position.
- Sliders, lifters, and ejector pins consolidated under one toolbar dropdown.
- Material density now displayed in the report.
- Wall thickness and sink-mark analysis accuracy improved.
- Fill simulation now factors in temperature for more accurate results.
- Draft angle heatmap now distinguishes positive and negative draft.
- Multi-view part images in reports.
- Project deletion from the dashboard.
- Sign-in flow refreshed.
- Mobile-responsive dashboard with collapsible side panels.
- Sharp-corner heatmap accuracy improved.
- Up to 10 gate locations supported per analysis.
- Configurable side-action display for HPDC.
- Mobile responsiveness fixes on the homepage.
- Fill approximation accuracy improvements.
- Auto-best-gate selection driven by flow analysis.
- Surface curvature visualisation in the shape inspector.
- Sink mark analysis refinements.
- Sharp-angle handling improved.
- Wall-thickness variation heatmap added.
- Draft heatmap added.
- Heatmaps reorganised into tabs for easier navigation.
- Higher-quality screenshots in reports.
- Faster rendering for complex parts.
- Mobile responsiveness improvements.
- User-configurable draft angle thresholds.
- Ejector pins, gate selection, pull direction, and report editing all enabled.
- Material can now be selected at the moment of report export.
- Core/cavity legend colours corrected in the report.
- Manual gate selection — pick up to 3 faces, persisted across sessions.
- Intuitive parting plane editing with sensible offset limits.
- Refreshed core-cavity colour palette.
- Custom parting plane reliability fixes.
- PDF reports now bypass popup blockers.
- STEP uploader reliability improvements.
- Back button on the processing page so you can interrupt long runs.
- Pull direction now appears in the report.
- Part name now shown in the exported report.
- Improved model loading reliability.