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CATIA V5 DAY 1

Introduction To Catia

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CATIA (Computer Aided Three-dimensional Interactive Application)

• Catia is a multi-platform CAD/CAM/CAE commercial software suite developed by

the French company Dassault Systemes and marketed worldwide by IBM.

• Written in the C++ programming language, CATIA is the cornerstone of the Dassault

Systemes product lifecycle management software suite.

• The software was created in the late 1970s and early 1980s to develop Dassault's

Mirage fighter jet, then was adopted in the aerospace, automotive, shipbuilding, and

other industries.

In 1984, the Boeing Company chose CATIA as its main 3D CAD tool, becoming its largest customer.

In 1988, CATIA version 3 was ported from mainframe computers to UNIX.

In 1990, General Dynamics Electric Boat Corp chose CATIA as its main 3D CAD tool, to design the U.S. Navy's Virginia class submarine.

In 1992, CADAM was purchased from IBM and the next year CATIA CADAM V4 was published. In 1996, it was ported from one to four Unix operating systems, including IBM AIX, Silicon Graphics IRIX, Sun Microsystems SunOS and Hewlett-Packard HP-UX.

In 1998, an entirely rewritten version of CATIA, CATIA V5 was released, with support for UNIX, Windows NT and Windows XP since 2001.

In 2008, Dassault announced and released CATIA V6. While the server can run on Microsoft Windows, Linux or AIX, client support for any operating system other than Microsoft Windows is dropped.

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History Of CATIA

Licenses Required For Basic Designing In Catia

The basic license required to start with Catia is “HD2”

This License contains :

1. ASD - Assembly Design

2. GDR - Generative Drafting

3. GSD - Generative Shape Design

4. IDI - Interactive Drafting

5. IG1 - IGES Interface

6. PDG - Part Design

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Some more important Licenses required

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ST1 : Step core interface

SPA : DMU space analysis

SMD : Sheet metal design

KIN : DMU kinematics simulator

GPS : Generative Part structural analysis

GAS : Generative Assembly structural analysis

EHI, ELB & EHF : For Electrical wiring harness

ABT : Automotive body in white template

File types and extension files

Part File .CATPart

Assembly File .CATProduct

Drawing File .CATDrawing

Analysis File .CATAnalysis

IGES File ( Initial graphics

Exchange specification )

.igs

STEP File ( Standard for the

exchange of Product Model data )

.stp

DXF File ( Drawing Exchange

Format )

.dxf

JPEG file ( Joint Photographic

expert group )

.jpg

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File Type Extension

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CATIA V5 Basic Workbenches

1. Sketcher

2. Part Design

3. Generative Shape design

4. Assembly design

5. Drafting

CATIA V5 Workbenches

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Getting Started with CATIA V5

You can double-clicking on the shortcut icon of CATIA V5R__ on the desktop of your computer or

choose Start > Programs > CATIA > CATIA V5R__ from the start menu

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After the system has loaded all the required files to start CATIA V5R__, a new Product

file, with the default name of Product1 will start automatically.

Close this file choosing File > Close from the menu bar after that it will look like below window.

Getting Started with CATIA V5 contd…

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Getting Started with CATIA V5 contd…

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Specification Tree :

The specification tree keeps a track of all the operations that are carried out on the part

Compass :

The compass is used to manipulate the orientation of parts, assemblies, or sketches. You can

also orient the view of the parts and assemblies. It appears on the top right corner of the

geometry area.

Specification Tree

Compass

Getting Started with CATIA V5 contd…

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Status Bar :

Reference Plane :

When a part document is created, three rectangle in the working area are

displayed. These rectangles are called Reference Planes.

There are three default Reference Planes:

YZ plane

ZX Plane

XY Plane

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The Functions of Mouse Buttons

1. The left mouse button is used to make a selection by dragging a window or simply selecting a face, surface

sketch or object from the geometry area or from the specification tree. For a multiple selection, press and hold

the CTRL key and select the entities using left mouse button.

2. The right mouse button is used to invoke the shortcut menu after selecting an element or invoking a tool.

3. Press and hold the middle mouse button and drag the mouse to pan the view of the model on the screen.

4. Press and hold the middle mouse button and then click the right mouse button once to invoke the Zoom mode.

Now, drag the mouse up to Zoom in the view of the model. Similarly, drag it down to zoom out the view of

the model. You can also invoke the zoom tool by first pressing and holding the CRTL key and then pressing

and holding the middle mouse button. Now, release the CTRL key and drag the cursor to zoom in and out of

the view of the model

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5. Press and hold the middle mouse button. Then, press and hold the right mouse button to invoke the

Rotate mode. Next, drag the mouse to dynamically rotate the view of the model in the geometry area

and view it from different directions. You can also invoke the rotate view tool by pressing and holding

the middle mouse button and then pressing and holding the CTRL key. Next, drag the cursor to rotate

the view of the model.

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Tool bars

A. Standard Toolbar

New : Creates a new file

Open : Opens an existing file

Save : Saves the active file

Quick Print : Prints the active file

Cut : Deletes the selected element

Copy : Another method of copying

a selected element

Paste : Another method of pasting an

element

Undo : This tool allows to step backward

one mistake at a time.

Redo : This tool allows to undo your

undo.

What's This? : This tool will identify

anything on the screen and/ or

Specification Tree.

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B. Select Toolbar

Selection Trap : This allows you to draw a box around the entities that you

want to select .This is a quick and easy multi-select tool.

Intersecting Trap : This allows you to draw a box around the entities, but will also

select that entities that are intersected wit the box.

Polygon Trap : This selection is similar to the box selection trap, but allows

you to sketch a more defined area of inclusion

and exclusion of entities.

Paint Stroke : This selection tool allows you to point a line across the

Selection screen and any entity that the paint stroke crosses is selected.

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C. View Tool Bar :

Fit All in : It is a quick way to see what element are there on the screen.

Pan : It allows you to move the part around the screen.

Rotate : This tool allows you to rotate.

Zoom In/ Out : This allows you to make the picture bigger or smaller.

Normal View : This tool allows you to view a particular plane in true length view.

Hide/ Show : This tool allows you to select any or multiple entities and place

them in no shows place.

Swap Visible : Selecting this tool will take you out of the working space window

Space to no shows place.

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Some important Keys

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Sometimes the workbench may not be tidy before you use. Some toolbars are missing and

some are at wrong positions. To reset the layout, select “View/ Toolbars/ Customize” and

select “Toolbars/ Restore all contents & Restore Position” on the pop-up window and

close.

To reset the layout of workbench

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After invoking the Sketcher workbench, you need to set the workbench as per the sketching or

drawing requirements. These requirements include modifying units, grid settings and so on.

Setting up the Sketcher Workbenches

Select Tools > Options from Menu bar. Click on the + sign located on the left side of the

General option to expand the tree. Choose the Parameters and Measure > Units options

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Select Tools > Options from Menu bar. Click on the + sign located on the left side of

the Mechanical Design option to expand the tree. Choose the Sketcher options

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Sketcher

The sketch is the basic requirement to create the base feature of any solid model.

In CATIA a sketch is drawn in the sketcher workbench.

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In sketcher tool bar, two buttons are available

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1. Click the sketcher icon to start the sketcher workbench

The select command is the default sketcher mode.

2. Select plane to define the sketch plane

Now, the sketcher workbench is displayed. It contains the tools you need to sketch any profile

Sketch

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1. Click the sketcher icon to start the sketcher workbench

2. Select plane as a reference to define the sketch plane and define horizontal & vertical direction

of Sketch

Positioned sketch

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Profile Toolbar

Rectangle Line

Circle

Points

Connect Spline

Spline

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Constraint Toolbar

Constraint

Constraint Contact Constraint

Fix Together

Fix Together Auto Constraint

Operation Toolbar

Transformation

Symmetry

Offset

Scale

Rotate Translate

Mirror

Relimitations

Break Complement

Close

Quick Trim

Trim

3D Geometry

Project 3D Elements Project 3D silhouette Edges Intersect 3D Elements

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Click “Sketch” icon and select xy plane

Ensure “Dimensional Constraints” &

“Geometrical Constraints” are activated in the

toolbar “Sketch tools”

Draw an arc with one end touching y-axis. Add a

dimension constraint onto the circle by clicking

“constraint” icon and then selecting the circle.

Double-click on the dimension and modify the

radius as 380mm; the arc will be resized

automatically.

Draw an axis along the x-axis

Click “Mirror” icon and then select the arc and

the axis to duplicate the arc on the opposite side

To built Sketch

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Draw an arc (R35) connecting the bigger arcs, on

the positive x side, which is Not tangent to them.

Similarly, Draw another smaller arc (R10)

connecting the bigger arcs o the negative x side

Multi-select the arc (R10) and the upper arc

(R380) by pressing and holding “ctrl” key on the

keyboard. Then select “Constraints defined in

dialog box” icon.

Select “Tangency” and “ok”

Add another Tangency constraint between the arc

R10 and the lower arc (R380) by repeating the

above steps

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Click “Constraint” icon and then select the arcs

R10 & R35

Modify the value to 120mm

Similarly, click “constraint” icon and then select

the end points of arc R35

Modify the value to 36mm

(After that, the sketch color should become green

since it has been fully constrained)

Exit the workbench by clicking “Exit” icon

Now, you are back to Part Design workbench (3D

environment) and “Sketch.1” is created on the

tree.

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Sketch Analysis

While you are in the sketcher workbench you can conduct a sketch analysis to

confirm the status of the profile i.e. closed or open.

Tools Sketch Analysis

This analysis should be done only after the completion of a profile / sketch

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Thank You!