Are you a user that feels out of touch with each
release of Catia? This is just a short
article to give you a special heads
up. If you look on the horizon, you
have seen a glimmer of the next generation of Catia. This new version of Catia is written in C++ and compiled to run
on NT as well as Unix Workstations and is called Version 5. What this means to you is that you will now
be able to use your working knowledge of Windows applications within Catia.
If you are running Version 4 Catia,
you may find that you have some of those future capabilities that you were
unaware of. One of these capabilities
is known as Dynamic Sketcher. At first
glance, you know that Dynamic Sketcher is different than native Catia. The Tools
pull-down menu launches a new Unix shell on top of your existing Catia shell,
and the icons across the top of the Sketcher panel immediately grab
your attention. This is not Fortran
code, this is C++, and you have stepped into the next generation of Catia.
INCAT
Systems is offering to teach those of you that have the foresight to prepare
for Version 5 before you have it.
Already, we are incorporating short Sketcher tutorials into our daily
training schedule. Dynamic Sketcher
lives throughout Global Shape Modeling, Solids and simple everyday wireframe
processes. Dynamic Sketcher includes
parameterization of profiles with constraints such as (deep breath) dimensions,
angularity, parallelism, perpendicularity, horizontality, verticality,
concentricity, coincidence, copy and paste dimensioning(whew!). What makes this so important is the fact
that these parameters are stored in the model permanently for later
modifications. We can even show you how
to generate simple arcs, and modify them at a later date by simply pulling a
control point across the screen.
Besides
Sketcher, you can prepare for V5 by using the Skin function (Generative Surface
Modeling Module), Solid Auto-Operations, Feature Based Design
(Solide+Create+Feature), 4DNavigator (Fly through your models, etc.), Studio
Rendering (Provides very high quality images and animations), Assembly
Workbench (Utilizes constraints to control the assembly of components), Version
5 Mouse behavior (/setup+Middle Mouse Behavior), ANSOLID (Generative Part
Stress), and I am sure I will think of more after I save this document.
If
you would like to experience any of these, email me, and I can provide you with
a sales contact, who can then approve a temporary 30 day license for you. You will find that every product I listed
has merit in just about every arena of design.
Ray
Anderson
Catia/Alias
Applications