CATIA V5 Tutorial

CATIA V5 Tutorial: How to Export CATDrawing to DXF with Layers Intact

By default, when you save a CATDrawing containing Layers as DXF (Drawing Interchange Format), CATIA puts all the layer items in a single layer. It does not import names of Layers too. In this article, we will show you how to change the settings to make CATIA export Drawing details keeping the Layers intact.

1.Go to Tools –> Options. 2. In the left pane, select ‘Compatibility’ and then click on ‘DXF’ tab. This tab gives you all the options for importing and exporting DXF.

3. In the Export section, change the Export mode to “Semantic”. Under ‘Semantic options‘ , select “Export layer name”. 5. Click OK. You are done. Now CATIA will export all drawings to DXF with Layers.

CATIA V5 Tutorial: How to Disable Hybrid Part Design Many times we come across projects in which modeling of the CATPart is to be done only in Non-Hybrid mode. By default CATIA V5 enables ’Hybrid Design mode’. Accidentally if modeling is started in Hybrid mode, it is very hard to convert the CATPart into Non-Hybrid model. In complex model, it’s impossible to do so. It’s better to disable Hybrid Part Design mode for such projects.

1. Go to Tools—>Options 2. Select ‘Part Infrastructure’ from the list 3. Click on ‘Part Document’ tab 4. Uncheck “Enable hybrid design inside part bodies and bodies”. Check ‘Create a geometrical set’ in the list (refer image below).

5. Click OK You are done. Now CATIA will start with Non-Hybrid mode during New Part Creation.

CATIA V5 Tutorial: What is Blend Corner and How to use it

Many times we come across corners during modeling components. Fillets in such zones are always challenging and in some complex cases, filleting becomes a major time taking process. Blend Corner option in Fillet command of Part Design and GSD Workbench of CATIA V5 gives more control of the shape you desire.

We shall now illustrate how to use Blend Corner in Part Design workbench. Consider a simple block (CATPart) as shown in image below. The part is modeled in Part Design workbench.

Click on Edge Fillet toolbar icon and then select one after the other, 3 edges of the corner for which you want to apply blended option.

Click on More button in the Edge Fillet Definition dialog box. You will now have more control in the resulting fillet. Click on “Blend corner(s)” button. Preview the fillet. Give a Setback distance value as you desire. The Setback Distance determines the area of blending for the corner. The Default value is 10mm. You can directly double click the set back distance value on the 3D model and change it. The set back distance along each edge can have it’s own value. Change the values as you like depending upon the shape you need.

After finishing, click OK. The effect of applying blended corner to a part can be see in the image below.

The same part, after an edge fillet, but without a blended corner is shown in the image below. You can see the difference in the normal edge fillet part and the part with the blended corner by comparing the two images.

CATIA V5 Tutorial: How To Get GSD Toolbar In Part Design Workbench This CATIA V5 tutorial is especially useful for solid modeling projects which needs some sort of work in GSD (Generative Shape Design). In such cases swapping between Part Design and GSD workbench may be irritating.

So it’s better to have a Toolbar with commands which I use many times in GSD and bring it to Part Design workbench. This increases productivity and also reduces hassles of swapping workbenches.

Step1: From Part Design workbench, Go to Tools–> Customize Step2: Click on “Toolbars” tab

Step3: Now Click “New” Button. Step4: A “New Toolbar” window pops up. In the workbenches section, scroll down to “Shape Design Workbench” and select “Surfaces” from the “Toolbars” list. Give a name to the toolbar. e.g. “My GSD” and click “OK”.

Step5: “My GSD” toolbar will appear in the “Toolbars” list. Now you need to add/remove desired surface based commands in it. Note that Adding/removing any commands to this toolbar will not affect any standard toolbars in CATIA. To add commands “Click Add commands” button as shown in image above. You can then see list of all surface based features. You can add as many as you like. In my example, I have added Positioned Sketch, Join, Split, etc. Step6: Similarly you can remove any commands which you find not useful.

Step7: When you are done your new toolbar “My GSD” will appear in the right-click context menu list of toolbars, which you can access in Part-Design itself!

Enjoy!

CATIA V5 Tutorial: Creating Stiffeners using PAD Thickness Option

There are several methods of adding Stiffeners for a Sheet metal part. This includes using Stiffener command, using Rib command, etc. In this example we will explain you how to create stiffeners for a simple part using PAD command in Part Design Workbench. This is one of the fastest ways to add stiffeners.

Consider a simple Part as shown in the image below. The part is kind of a tray. Stiffeners are to be added all over the surface to make it stiffened.

Create a Sketch of profiles where you need ribs. In our scenario, we are adding few straight ones. The profile ends need not get trimmed to the end of the Part. PAD feature can be used right away to merge the ends to the Part.

Sketch is shown in the image below. You can see clearly that the lines are not merged to the ends. The sketches also need not be closed.

Now click on PAD command and select the sketch. CATIA warns that the Sketch contains several open profiles and asks whether to use the selected sketch anyway. Click “Yes”.

Now with in the PAD definition, click on “More” button and expand the definition. Check “Thick” box and give “Thin Pad” Thickness value. E.g. We gave 3mm. Also check the “Neutral Fiber” to create the pad keeping the sketch profile as the center curve. Now check the “Merge Ends” box if you want the stiffeners to be automatically trimmed as per the part shape. This will only work if the ribs can be closed with the existing face.

After giving all the options, Click “OK”.

CATIA V5 Tutorial: What is Federation and How to use it

Federation is grouping elements like surfaces and curves in a Join for easy picking of surfaces/curve later. Federation can be found in “Join” and “Extract” command in CATIA V5 GSD(Generative Shape Design) Workbench. This is useful grouping feature. We shall explain you what is it and how to use it.

Consider a set of simple surfaces as shown in the image below. The Geometrical set consists of 4 surfaces.

Surface 1, Surface 2, Surface 3 and Surface 4 is included in ‘Join.1’. In the Federation tab of join command we have added Surface 4 and Surface 3 as shown in the image below.

Join.1 with ‘F’ is reflected in the Join command icon in the model tree. For comparison, we have created a simple ‘Join.2’ without Federation. ‘Join.2’ is join of Surface 1, Surface 2, Surface 3 and Surface 4.

‘Extract’ command on ‘Join.2’ gives 4 elements selection (refer image below).

Where as ‘Extract’ on ‘Join.1’ gives only 3 elements. That’s because Join.1 involves Federation of two surfaces. Those two surfaces are grouped together.

This way in a complex geometry you can group several surfaces and involve it in a Federation. Later selecting of those surfaces is very simple and will happen in a single click.

CATIA V5 Tip: Set Memory Trigger warning before CATIA Crashes! Everyone working with CATIA V5 must be aware of the famous CATIA Termination error. Upon heavy usage of system’s memory, CATIA most often crashes without warning. If you are in middle of something and didn’t save your work, you might lose all your precious work.

A precautionary measure option in CATIA V5 when set gives you a warning of exceeded memory usage. At this time you can immediately save your work

How to set ‘Memory Warning’ Trigger Limit in CATIA V5? 1. Go to ‘Tools’—> Options. 2. In the ‘General Options’, select the ‘General’ tab. 3. In the ‘Memory Warning’ section, check “Trigger Memory Warning at __% of memory use”. You can set the percentage value depending on your RAM size and how early you wish to get the memory exceeded warning. 4. Checking the ‘Trigger Memory Stopper’ box will activate a memory stopper mechanism for applications unable to proceed when memory consumption is too high. You may leave this unchecked.

CATIA V5 Tutorial: How to Create and Insert a Ditto in a Drawing While creating a Drawing, you will come across instances in which you need to add repetitive details like Datum Symbols, Machining Symbols, etc. In such cases it’s better to create one symbol in a detail sheet and call the symbol instance in the drawing so that you can replicate it as many times as you wish. In this article we will show you how to create a ditto and replicate it within a Drawing. Ditto is a general term given for a Symbol.

How to Create a Ditto (2D Component) or Symbol and instantiate it in CATDrawing? 1. Open a CATDrawing. 2. Go to Insert—> Drawing—> Sheets—> New Detail Sheet

3. You will now see a New Detail Sheet in the Specification Tree.

4. Activate the Detail Sheet.

5. Create a Ditto that you want to instantiate in the Drawing. For example we have created a standard Dowel Hole Symbol using a Circle and then hatching it with Black Color.

6. Right-click—> Properties—> and rename the 2D Component. In our example we renamed it as “Dowel Symbol”.

Now Ditto is ready. It can be called in any drawing sheet of the CATDrawing. In our example, we have two views in which we will place the Dowel Hole created in the Detail Sheet.

7. Activate the View in which you want to place the Ditto. 8. Click on “Instantiate 2D Component” and then click on the ditto in the specification tree.

9. Place the ditto in desired location and resize it by dragging.

10. You can replicate the same Ditto any number of times in the Drawing.

CATIA V5 Tutorial: How to Create 3D Text and Logos in a Part Module: Part Design At times you need to create text like Manufacturer logo, description text, etc in a Part. It’s a painful task to create sketch based of letters and then pad them to get the 3D text. In this article we will show you quick and easy way of creating text in Part Design without using any macros. 1. Create a Drawing (*.CATDrawing) 2. Use the Text command in Annotations toolbar to create a text of desired font and size.

3. Save the Drawing file in DXF format by using Save As.

4. Now open the Part (*.CATPart) in which you want to put the text. 5. Create a Sketch on a Plane where you want the text positioned. 6. Open the saved DXF (from Step 3) in same session of CATIA V5 and copy the text from it. 7. Go to the Part and Paste the copied text in the Sketch.

8. You are done. Pad it to desired length using PAD command. Check out our sample of created 3D text in below image.

Enjoy!

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