How To
In a drawing, it is often necessary to represent some dimensions, as specified in the applicable norms at CERN, for which it doesn't exist adequate functions in CATIA.
The link below will explain you how to represent a few of them.
Stickers are reusable drafting components that contain 2D geometries and text.
To add a sticker, follow these steps:
- Click in the catalogue icon.
- In the window that appears choose "Drawing Stickers".
- Select the category.
- Insert this with double click in the stickers and click in the drawing sheet.
- Choose the option expose in order to break the link to the original.
- Click the drawing sheet + in OK for putting the copy of the sticker in a secondary sheet.
- Close the catalogue window.
For more, please check the link which is below.
This tool will make possible the calculation of the free volume of an assembly. It can be used, for instance, when designing a ventilation system.
In the document below, you can find an example which will show you step by step to get to the calculation of the free volume.
To create a hole by selection with a circular face (from a prism or from a hole), by default the created hole is centered on this face, but there is no constraint automatically created. As a consequence, if the face (support) moves, the hole is no longer centered. The solution is to edit the hole's sketch and add some constraints.
Another method is to create the hole with a concentric constraint with the face.
To understand more, please check the document below.
It is possible in a single operation to apply the "corner" according to several corners, with the same radius value.
In addition, all values are related, so that the change in one of these changes the values of the others.
Please explore more about corners in the document below.
There is no function available in Catia V5 to do a 3D breakout view. But it is possible to realize such a view by following the methodology in the document below.
In an assembly, it is possible to create some groups of parts to ease their selection.
If you want to create a group:
- Go to the "DMU Navigator" workbench (Start ➞ Digital Mockup ➞ DMU Navigator).
- Click "Group".
- Select all the "objects" that need to be grouped, from the Catia three or directly in the 3D model.
- Click "Ok".
In the link under, you can see step by step how to do it.
If you want to use or to modify the group, you can easily find more detailed explanation in the document below.
All the Standard/Catalog Components are grouped in one place: the SmarTeam Catalog.
You can find it from CATIA:
And also from SmarTeam:
In the case you can't find what you need here, please check the document below with other possibilities.
It's also possible to add your own CATPart/CATProduct as Standard/Catalog Component.
To do this, you have to contact the catalog manager (catia-catalogs@cern.ch).
The multiple view mode is a new feature, it allows you to project the part or assembly on the whole of your screen for a presentation with views that you have chosen. You can save the display relative to an axis system or a face, without being in a sketch.
If you want to know something more about how to modify display or orientation, please follow the link below.
The graphic properties tool you can find in the top bar of the main CATIA workbenches.
To know more how to change them step by step, follow the document with instructions which is under.
When saving a CATIA file, a CGR file that represents said 3D is automatically created. However, some parameters can have an important influence on the size of the CGR, making the operation of opening the file in Preview or in Large Assembly more complex and demanding for the RAM.
For more information about the CGR file size, please explore the link below.
Please follow the instruction how to move it:
- Create a new Part.
- Add coordinate system.
- Find an existing part whose origin is centered in the assembly.
- Fix the components together.
- Create a coincidence constraint between the two axes systems.
To see step by step how to do it, please check the document below.
See also: How to move a Part while preserving the same coordinates system?
Sometimes there are some Parts that, because of migration or change of orientation/position, don’t have their coordinate system where desired.
In the document below, there are two options that you can follow to do it.
See also: How to move an assembly to another position while respecting the coordinates?
Parametric modeling aims to make “intelligent” models, which are directly driven by specifications, and which integrate the various knowledge around a project.
The link below will present the methodology and the basic tools and rules to follow in order to build parametric models or parts in the CATIA V5 environment.
It exists many types of links between CATIA documents. Among them, one is called contextual link, meaning that it exists a link between two parts in the context of a product. In some cases, this link can be replaced by a CCP link, that leads to the same result, without the drawback of the context.
For more details, please follow the document which is at the bottom.
By default, it is practicable to import Pro-E files into Catia V5 (.prt for parts, .asm for an assembly).
The document below shows how to allow the conversion of native PRO-E components into a modifiable and editable CV5 format. This method can also be used for other externals CAD format.
Q-Checker is a tool that checks the quality of a CATIA document. It will be automatically installed via CMF in all the PCs in the CATIA group.
If the tool is installed, in all the CATIA workbenches will appear this icon which is below.
When it is needed to work on a dead body model, you may be required to remove a certain feature, or simply edit it. To get to this, the feature recognition functions built into CATIA allow adding them their construction history, from which you shall be able to edit or remove them at will.
If you want to know more about this process, please check the document below.
Please follow the steps below:
- Select the plane you want to orientate to activate the "Sketcher".
- Use the custom "Named Views" to capture this viewpoint.
- Exit the "Sketcher".
Now you are able to return anytime to the orientation you have just saved by selecting the saved position in the "Named Views".
To get the mass in a CATPart it’s important to put the material in the correct place in the document. The correct place to put the material is in the Part (and NOT in the PartBody). It’s important to follow this rule since the material in SmarTeam profile card will be taken from the part properties. If you put the material in the PartBody, SmarTeam will not show any material in the profile card.
In the link below you can find procedures step by step how to do it.
It was decided by the "Metals Raw Materials" working group to use EDMS documents as material reference to define completely the special St. Steel materials. By this way CERN will have a unique reference that will be used by the designers and by the purchasing department.
If you want to know what happen after the change will be done, there are two cases which are described in the link below.
From October 2014, the St. Steel materials change the name in CATIA and SmarTeam. You can also find the list of changes in this document.
It is possible to clear CATIA models from internal errors by:
- doing it one by one interactively,
- for several CO models simultaneously,
- for all models in a folder at once using a batch tool.
To follow step by step how to do it, please click on the link below.
Thanks to a simple operation, you can hide all planes displayed in the assembly.
If you want to see a description of the methodology, the link below will show you how to do that.
When Catia V5 files are manipulated, errors can appear, leading to troubles like ghost links. To solve this, the CATDUA (For Catia Data Upward Assistant) exist in the Catia V5 Desk This tool is powerful, but only treat documents one by one which can be painful for users, when dealing with assemblies. So, in order to facilitate the cleaning of models, CATDUAV5 Automation has been developed by support.
To learn more about this process, please refer to the document below.
A catalog 3D model is a 3D model of a commercial component, and/or a normalized element, or a usual element widely used at CERN.
There are four ways to get 3D models.
- From an existing template.
- From a downloaded STEP file.
- From zero.
- From a downloaded macro.
Here is a guideline to help you in the creation process ➞ catia-catalogs@cern.ch.
If you want to know more about this process, click on the link below.
In an assembly, it is possible to import some clouds of points from a scan, for example to compare the "As Built" with the "As Designed".
In the document below, you can find step by step how to import Points in CATIA.
The title block editor is the tool created by the CERN CAD Services in order to manage information and draw all the frames in the CATIA drawings. You can find this tool in the Drafting Workbench.
For more information, click on the link below.
In the document below you will find a detailed explanation of how to search for components in CATIA.
For presentations or tutorials, it may be useful to make a video from Catia. What are the integrated tool possibilities, and how do you set them up? Before starting, it is advisable to choose white as the background color and to avoid yellow for your geometry so as to limit the contrast problems.
In the link below we present you step by step how to do it.
Below in the document there are a few steps to debugging CATIA models.
Be careful, make sure that the "Save" operation worked well before to close SmarTeam and Catia V5.
If "YES" have a look on following advise below: In case of doubt ➞ HotLine 16 06 60
What is the procedure to follow when I have a CATProduct and I want to make a copy of it with the same components, or with some variations inside? Here we will explain it with an example in the link.
More: Copy documents
This FAQ is intended for people at CERN that are new to CATIA/SmarTeam and that would need access to the software or some help to get started. If you do not find what you are looking for on the document below, please contact catia.support@cern.ch.
Currently, there are specific groups configured in CMF ("NSC" groups) that allow the installation of CATIA/SmarTeam in a CAD Workstation. This division has been created with the purpose of cover the needs of different CAD users at CERN.
The purpose of the following document is to describe the various options available.
What is the difference between CATIA Supported and CATIA Unsupported NSC?
After creating a file in CATIA, it should be saved into the SmarTeam database. You can choose if you want to link it or not to a project in SmarTeam. This project link is not obligatory but if no other link is created (like Item to Project), the document will be findable only via the SmarTeam Search.
For more information how do it, please click on the link below.
In order to use CAM tools sometimes it is necessary to export files from SmarTeam to the Job folder structure.
For accessing this tool, it is needed to have:
- A CATIA account opened, “view only” accounts are valid to use the tool.
- Belong to the SmarTeam group “CAM users”.
- It is necessary to have written access to the folder \\cern.ch\dfs\Projects\MA_Project. The 2 first points can be granted by CAD Support, the 3rd point has to be granted by the CAM Team (e-group: en-mme-ma-cam).
To discover more on how to use it, please consult the following document.
More: Documents for CAM
Sometimes it is useful to compare two revisions of a document in CATIA. Due a limitation of the tool this is not possible to do it in a direct way (open) but there is a command and a workaround that can allow you to do this operation.
To learn more how to create it, please consult the following document.
Due the new lifecycle implementation there will be a lot of data which state will be:
-
“Archived” in CDD.
-
“In Work” or “Preliminary” in SmarTeam.
To learn more how to use the Catch Up tool, please consult the following document.
The integration baseline feature allows to freeze any integration structure, in order to keep a trace. This feature sets all documents belonging to a structure to “Preliminary” if they are not already in this state and tags all of them as a part of a Baseline.
In order to discover more on how to use baselines in SmarTeam, please consult the following document.
The document below lists the requirements to be respected by the CERN contractors*, in terms of CATIA methodology. This is applicable only if the contractor works with the same CATIA Version and Release than CERN.
What are the prerequisites to respect when designing something for the CERN?
Before you contact the CAD Support to ask for the creation of a new TEAM, please note that the TEAM name has to respect some criteria.
Please consult the document below to understand these criteria.
If you have to create an e-group with the people that will belong to the Team in SmarTeam: Go to e-groups website and create a static e-group with the same name as you want to have in SmarTeam.
A full tutorial can be consulted in the document below.
The use of Teams eases collaborative work by giving you possibility to:
- Take responsibility: Any member of Team can take responsibility of documents belonging to the Team.
- Access management: The design office can manage all the rights
- Optional: It's always possible to work without a Team. Use the No Team, to work on your own
In order to know how to work with TEAMS inside SmarTeam, please consult the document below.
You can save any modification during work, including during a network problem. The other users know that you are performing some modifications nevertheless, no one else can do some modifications at the same time. Before Check-In, it is still possible to cancel the modifications using "Undo Check- Out" command. You are also able to delete the Checked Out Documents in SmarTeam.
In order to know more about this operation, please check out the document below.
More: Which are the different way to perform a Check-Out operation, for which usage?
In order to know how to open or check out previous revisions inside SmarTeam, please consult the document below.
To cover those cases where detailed modelling could be a drawback, the simplification tool proposes to users a way to create a simpler representation of CAD models.
In order to understand more how to use the simplification tool, please consult the document below.
In SmarTeam each modification of the settings is kept. If you want to go back to the initial configuration you have to click in “Reset SmarTeam settings”.
In order to understand more how to reset in SmarTeam, please consult the following document.
When saving a new document in SmarTeam, a window pops-up where you can select a project to link your document with.
Unfortunately, the interface is not that good to browse the projects tree.
In order to understand more how to access a specific project in the first saving, please consult the following document.
It is possible to access the 'CAD Data Navigator' (CDN) to navigate and view SmarTeam data via the EDMS portal. This provides a read only view of 3D data that has been published from SmarTeam. 3D models published from SmarTeam will be possible to view and measure.
In order to understand how to publish 3D data outside SmarTeam, please consult the document below.
More: How to publish 3D data outside SmarTeam?
In order to understand how to navigate in SmarTeam using the ITEM structure, please consult the document below.
In order to understand how to navigate in SmarTeam using the ITEM structure, please consult the document below.