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cdown1-Visitor
1-Visitor
July 12, 2016
Question

Creo to Catia

  • July 12, 2016
  • 5 replies
  • 9071 views

I am about to start a new project which has to be done on Catia V5. Now having very little experience of Catia but as a long term user of Creo & Pro/E what sort of transition should I expect?

Has anyone else has to do this for a project?  Would a training course be needed or would a few good youtube videos be enough to get started?

Also is the admin / file system similar.

Any sort of ideas or help would be greatly recieved

5 replies

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DeanLong1-Visitor
1-Visitor
July 12, 2016

Colin,

You can think of Catia V5 functionality as a mix of SolidWorks and Creo. The sketcher is similar to Creo with regard to actual sketching of elements and dimensioning. Icons galore. It has flavors of old non Intent Manager from earlier versions of Pro/E. You might find this the most exasperating thing if you like Creo's ease of sketching. The sketch "plane" setup is somewhat like SolidWorks...I.E. pick a flat "something" and then select sketch.

Catia is a bit clunky when it come to setting up the feature you create. Again, it reminds me of WildFire and earlier Pro/E versions. You will find yourself creating the "stuff" that will be used to create the feature. Not necessarily for simple extrudes. But more involved features like sweeps, blends etc...unlike Creo where the items are "in" the feature creation and the Boolean happens as part of the feature. Make sense?

If you are surfacing it's very much like Creo in the sense that it's curve based. Good curves makes good surfaces. If you have built surfaces in Creo with merges then you will have a good idea how Catia requires it's surfaces to be constructed. You will merge them in the end and create a solid. Like Creo you can create a surface model and then "solidify" in the end and/or create from a solid in the beginning and Boolean to the end of the model. All very similar.

All the rest is click order, mouse buttons and finding the feature creation/inputs in the flyouts. Keep in mind Catia is as "deep" as Creo with regard to functionality and finesse.

Good luck...


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    cdown1-VisitorAuthor
    1-Visitor
    July 12, 2016

    Dean,

    Many thanks for the reply, I've used Pro/E since release 17/18 so do remember the old intent manager. I'm not to concerned with the modelling side of things it is more of the assembly management side of things regarding large assembly management, are there things like simplified reps, skeleton models & top down design.

    I'm guessing that these features will be the most different.

    S
    23-Emerald III
    StephenW23-Emerald III
    23-Emerald III
    July 12, 2016

    I've never used Catia but thinking about learning large assembly management, simp reps, skeletons, top down design...in pro/e...not something I would expect to find good info on youtube. Maybe to make simple parts and assemblies, youtube would get you started.

    R
    RonSt.Pierre12-Amethyst
    12-Amethyst
    July 12, 2016

    In my opinion,

    get as much training as possible. One session in modeling plus any modules, then another in drawing.

    These are two different breeds of software - Catia is a hybrid modeler (free form and parametric) while creo is strictly parametric.

    YouTube might help, but I doubt it.

    oh, and keep your mind open and don't think "creo"

    C
    cdown1-VisitorAuthor
    1-Visitor
    July 12, 2016

    Ron,

    many thanks, I've learnt not to think Creo but sometimes it's hard...

    as I have said to Dean it's more on the assembly side I am worried about.

    D
    DeanLong1-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    July 12, 2016

    Talk about showing age...my first two licenses of Pro/E cost.....wait for it.....$22,500 EACH! That's not a typo.....

    And the only machines fast enough to run those licenses cost.....wait for it.....$8,687 each. I still remember the numbers 21 years later as I remember having to pop a container of antacids that night after I wrote the check.

      R
      RonSt.Pierre12-Amethyst
      12-Amethyst
      July 12, 2016

      on a SPARC1 (not sparc10)

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      dschenken1-Visitor
      1-Visitor
      July 12, 2016

      Check DASSAULT: CATIA products Forum - Eng-Tips

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      rmcboaty1-Visitor
      1-Visitor
      July 13, 2016

      well, your mapkeys won't work.

      catia really can be clunky compared to any new-ish edition of creo (including wf).

      its strengths are also not in drawing creation but surfaces. the drawings are not very well developed imo (show dim from model is a godsend in creo for example).

      there is also a lack of development for the past few years (UI, general usability, features etc.; at least basic part-asm-drw), so you can expect to learn visual basic macros (they are often needed even for BOM as the default interface is not very good) to automate various things.

      the vb macro dev community is actually quite big with catia (forementioned eng-tips for example).

      You can think of Catia V5 functionality as a mix of SolidWorks and Creo.



      maybe 6 years ago, especially for solidworks.

      wf3 that i run at work is also better in part-asm-drw to catia (i've only had limited exposure to the latter though)

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