1.

Q2-033004: 3D curves using equations?

Hi there. I know that you can create 2D curves using equations in CATIA, but is there a way to create 3D curves (i.e., using equations for X, Y, and Z in terms of a parameter such as t) in CATIA? Please tell me how.
--Thanks, Yui.

Q2-A1: 033004

You can create 3D curves using the equations. To create 3D curves all you need is to go to Knowledgeware advisor and add the equations; the constants can then be added. You can then use this equation as a law to create the curve. Also, if you can add three parameters in CATIA V5, then you can use relate this parameter to the corresponding equations. The result of the equations can then be used to give the coordinates of the points that are lying on the curve. Hope that works for you...
----Saket Singhal, Application Engineer, New Delhi

2.

Q2-051004: Standards loading (Answered)

How can I load my company standard formats, like arrow style, projection method, lettering height, start parts, etc., in Detailing and Part mode? I'm using CATIA V5 R11.
--Karthik D, Design Engineer, Bangelore, India

A1_Q2-051004

For having your own Detailing styles, you have to write a separate customized XML script. By that you have to give the inputs of your spectifications in that script. Better to have your Service Provider do it.
--Mathan Raj, Design Engineer, Hindustan Motors, Remote Services Division, Chennai, India

A2_Q2-051004

Copy & Paste the Existing ANSI.Xml & rename it as your company name. Open the company.xml and View source of the company.Xml. Find for the Dimensional Arrow size and other things you need, and change the Default values. The next time you open the drawing file, use the company.xml for the standards.
--Vikram TK, Design Engineer, CADES Digitech Pvt Ltd, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

3.

Q2-060804: Multiple beginner CATIA V4 questions (Answered)

Hi, I am a Beginner in Catia v4. I have lots of questions if any one is patient enough, please answer these questions... All CATIA V4 questions 1) What does "/CLN" command do? 2) What do you mean by "cold start" and "warm start"? 3) Name any 5 licenses of CATIA? 4) Name any 2 Translators in CATIA? 5) How do you see more than one model simultaneously (in one screen)? 6) What is the procedure and/or how do you "renumber"? 7) What is the difference between tangent continuity and curvature continuity? 8) How do you grab a picture from the main window? 9) What is the difference between AUXVIEW and AUXVIEW2? 10) What is DETAIL? 11) What do you (or how do you) do hatching in drafting? 12) How do you draw centrelines of circle in draft? 13) What are (/is) the tools used to capture 2D-3D models? 14) How do you parameterize the geometry in your model? 15) What is "PARTEDITOR"? 16) What is "skin"? How do you create? 17) Does (/will) geometry constraining in sketcher help in parameterizing? 18) What is the command for creating thin-walled solids? 19) What is the difference between SURF1 and SURF2? 20) Name any 3 methods of creating 3 points curve? 21) What is the difference (/what does this command do) LIM2+SURF+EXTRAPOLATE AND SURF+GEO+ EXTRAPOLATE? 22) Give any 3 functions of FORMTOOL? 23) How do you give skin command? 24) What is "LAW"? 25) Name any 3 functions of LIM2? 26) What is "spine"? 27) What is "/anadia"? 28) What is the full form of NURBS? 29) What does BLENDSURF do? 30) Give any 2 (or what are the) functions of UTILITY? 31) What is "INTERFER"? 32) If given die direction, how will you check minimum draft angle in the SURF (surface) model? 33) What checks will you perform between surfaces with common boundary? 34) What is the difference between "*role" file and "*save" file? 35) Can data model history be exported between 2 different CAD systems? 36) What is "FTRCLASS" command? 37) Which module is used for surfacing with history in CATIA? 38) What are Class "A" Surfaces?

--Nraj Boji, Tech Support, PSTL, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

A1_Q2-060804

1) /CLN- This is the Cat Clean command used to clean the model for any unwanted geometery and to pack the model to compress the size of the model. 2) COLD START means it will start the CATIA workwindow in the normal way, whereas WARM START means if your system closed abruptly, without saving, it will start from that particular file in which you were working, maybe with some loss of data. 3)ADD,FREE FORM DESIGN,SPA,SHIP DESIGN,AERO SPACE 4)IGES,VDAFS 6)We renumber with the command Identity Identity-------> Renumber 7)Tangent Continuty is the surface will be tangent to the existing surface, whereas curvature continuty means surface will follow the curvature of the curve. 8)go to tools + screen grab and select the area. 9)AUXVIEW is used to create/modify the frames of different views, whereas AUXVIEW2 is used to create the views. 10) Detail function is used if you have a assembly to create, and there are some common parts in different locations, then you can create a detail and use it in the master workspace wherever needed. 11) For doing hatching go to PATTERN+SELECT+HATCHING then select the boundary of the required view till you get the symbol \"c\", then press \"YES\" twice. 12) For creating centerlines of circles in draft, first you can select POINT+LIMITS and select the circle; you will get the center point. And then select LINE+HORIZONTAL+Symmetrical; you will get the horizontal line; and then Select LINE+VERTICAL+Symmetrical, you will get the vertical line. 14) Auxview2+USE in the popup window; select Parameter Tab, and you can do the parameterization, whatever you want. 15)PARTEDITOR is the history of all the work you have done, and you can use the parteditor to change and update the solid.

16)For creating SKIN, first you need the faces; once you have faces then you can select LIMIT2+CREATE+SKIN and select the faces from which you want to create skin. Everytime you select the face it should be the adjacent face which you have selected earlier, and they will be merged together. Once all the faces are selected then press \"YES\" twice; the skin is created. Now you can use this SKIN to create the solid. 19)SURF1 is used for the planner curves, whereas SURF2 you can use for the intricate curves where you need the tangency constraints and curvature constraints. Rest of the answers I'll try to give you in next one or two days as I am in my office. Hope it help you. Bye, Raman
--Ramandeep Juneja, Member-Engineering, Automotive Composite International Limited,TATA Joint Venture, Pune, India

4.

Q2-061804: Beginner CATIA V4 questions (Answers)

CATIA V4Release2 Hi guys, I am a Beginner in CATIA V4. I have lots of questions. If any one is patient enough, please answer these questions... And thanks too for answering a few questions. 1) Name any 3 methods of creating a 3 point curve? 2) What is the difference (/what does this command do) LIM2+SURF+EXTRAPOLATE AND SURF+GEO+ EXTRAPOLATE? 3) Give any 3 functions of FORMTOOL? 4) How do you give the skin command? 5) What is "LAW"? 6) Name any 3 functions of LIM2? 7) What is "spine"? 8) What is "/anadia"? 9) What is the full form of NURBS? 10) What does BLENDSURF do? 11) Give any 2 (or what are the) functions of UTILITY? 12) What is "INTERFER"? 13) If given die direction, how will you check minimum draft angle in the SURF (surface) model? 14) What checks do you perform between surfaces with common boundaries?

15) What is the difference between a "*role" file and a "*save" file? 16) Can data model history be exported between 2 different CAD systems? 17) What is the "FTRCLASS" command? 18) Which module is used for surfacing with history in CATIA? 19) What are Class "A" Surfaces? 20) What is a "Layer"? What is the use of it? And how do you create Layers?
--Ramandeep Juneja, Member-Engineering, Automotive Composite International Limited, TATA Joint Venture, Pune, India

A1_Q2-061804

You sure ask a lot of questions.... whew. 1) Functions Arc, Spline, Curve2+Circle+ThreePT 2) Lim2 will extend an existing surface (a percentage of the original length) and attempt to maintain curvature. Use with care because the theoretical extension loses accuracy over distance. Surf+GeoExtra will create a surface extension that is linear and tangent to the existing surface at a given length (it also offers the option to concatenate the two surfaces). Isoparms may be distorted using this process. 3) Filleting of skins, limiting of skins and offseting of skins. 4) Too vague to answer. 5) Laws are used to add precise control to surfaces created with Surf2. Radius, Area, Angle and Parameter values can be specified. 6) Creation of faces and volumes. Also used for surface breaks and concatenates. Other uses as well. 7) A Spine is the \"backbone\" or support for a Surf2 surface. It dictates the orientaion of a surface as it relates to generating curves. 8) Anadia is an analysis tool that allows you to save and update specific analysis processes. Used mainly for surface analysis. 9) Too vague to answer. 10) Blensurf allows you to create curvature continous (class A) fillets relatively easily. 11) Many Utility functions. Commonly used to import and export CATIA files. Also used to process IGES and STEP file formats. 12) Another analysis tool. 13) One way is to use the Tools pull down menu and select Analyze+Draft (you must also indicate a direction and which elements to be analyzed). Moldpart can also do this along with many other cool bells and whistles (it helps you design the draft surfaces). There are other ways to check drafts as well. 14) Continuity of connection, tangency and curvature mainly. 15) These are files created by CATIA in order to maintain a temporary version of the files in use. If CATIA were to crash, a warm start would try to access these files to re-establish your CATIA session. 16) It depends on which two systems are being used. V4 models, unless you are sending them to V5, usually have their history stripped from the model. 17) Used to create solid features that can be stored and accessed from a library.

Used in conjunction with the Param3D function. 18) Sorry on this one. I can't remember the designation as I use AL3 (basically, everything). 19) Surfaces that when connected have tangent and curvature continuous properties with their adjoining surfaces. Example: the curvature value along the boundary of Surface A matches the curvature value of the adjacent boundary of Surface B. This is the simplest explanation. 20) Think of layers as transparencies on an overhead projector (in the old days before Powerpoint). Different categories of objects can be assigned to various layers. Then you create Filters which instruct CATIA to display only those layers you wish to see at a given point in time. Whew... hope this helps.
--Robert Richards, Instructor, Incat, Novi, Michigan, USA

5.

Q2-070904: Machining point cloud data (Answered)

Re: V5R11 Is it possible to machine point cloud data supplied in the form of IGES, ASCII, or STL format in prismatic machining or in surface machining?
--Gouri Prasad Praharaj, Product Designer, Cipet, Bhubaneswar, India

A1_Q2-070904

Hi, Yes, it is possible to do so. You can take the STL file and then create a stock on it and then do the machining process. There are a few options in the Advanced machining workbench of CATIA V5.
--Saket Singhal, India

6.

Q2-092404: Class A, B, C surfaces, BIW (Answered)

Re: CATIA V4 (1) What are Class-A, Class-B, Class-C surfaces? How are those engineered? (2) What's BIW? Where has it got wide application?
--Nagaraj Rao, Design Engineer, HAL, Bangalore, India

A1_Q2-092404

1. Class A surfaces are the primary external surfaces on a car that a customer will see. e.g. Doors, fenders, hood trunk etc. Class B & C are surfaces not normally seen by the customer & have less requirements in terms of tangency & surface defects.

2. BIW is Automotive Body in White - the car bodyshell.

--Phil Harrison, Principal, LionHeart Solutions, Long Island, NY

A2_Q2-092404

Here is a further understanding of Class-A surfacing based on experiences. The physical meaning: Class A refers to those surfaces which are CURVATURE continuous to each other at their respective boundaries. Curvature continuity means that each "point" of each surface along the common boundary has the same radius of curvature. Tangent continuity - which is directional continuity without radius continuity - like fillets. Point continuity only touching without directional (tangent) or curvature equivalence. In fact, tangent and point continuity is the entire basis of most industries (aerospace, shipbuilding, BIW etc. etc.). For these applications, there is generally no need for curvature. Dear Nagaraj, hope this definition gives you a brief idea of CLASS A. Regards, Sridhar Gatpa.
--Gatpa Sridhar, Sr. Application Engg, EDS, B\'lore

A3_Q2-092404

Just a follow up... Class A surfaces are sometimes described as G2 surfaces, which denotes that the surface is class A in quality i.e. curvature continuous. The categories are as follows: G0 = Point or touch continuity G1 = Tangent Continuous G2 = Curvature Continuous G3 = Acceleration of Curvature G3 refers to transistion of curvature values from one surface to another. Ellipses, which are relatively flat, exhibit a "fast" change in curvature. Hyperbolae, which are taller and more narrow in shape (flatter along the height as opposed to the width of the curve), are used when a "slow" transition of curvature values are desired.

--Robert Richards, Instructor, Incat, Novi, Michigan

A4_Q2-092404

Class-A surfaces means the surfaces which have both tangency and curvature continuity and which are usually the visible outside surfaces of the car. Class-B and C means which need not to have to meet the above stds, which are usually the inside of the vehicle. BIW means Body-in-white, which comprises the whole car body (shell) which is usually the sheet metal ones.
--No Name Given, Sr. Engineer, DC India, Bangalore, India

7.

Q3-102804: car reference coordinates (Answered)

Re: CATIA V5 What are car reference coordinates? What are flight reference coordinates? What is the necessity of that?
--Lakshmikanth N., Designer, CTTC, BBSR, Orissa, India

A1_Q3-102804

Car or Flight Reference refer to the common axis system used in a given vehicle. Used for designing components of an assembly "in vehicle position" as opposed to each part having an independant axis. This process is necessary to coordinate and locate all of the thousands of parts found in vehicle assemblies. --Robert Richards, Instructor, Incat, Novi, Michigan