Introduction

CATIA V5R15
• Welcome to CATIA (Computer Aided Three Dimensional Interactive Application).
• As a new user of this software package, you will be joining hands with thousands of
users of this high-end CAD/CAM/CAE tool worldwide.
• If you are familiar with the previous releases, you can upgrade your designing skills
with the tremendous improvement in this latest release.

• CATIA, developed by Dassault Systemes, France, is a completely re-engineered,

next-generation family of CAD/CAM/CAE software solutions for Product Lifecycle
Management.
• Through its exceptionally easy-to-use state of the art user interface, CATIA V5
delivers innovative technologies, for maximum productivity and creativity from the
concept to the final product.
• CATIA V5 reduces the learning curve for the user, as it allows the flexibility of using
feature based and parametric designs.
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• CATIA serves the basic design tasks by providing different workbenches.

• A workbench is defined as a specified environment consisting of a set of tools, which
allow the user to perform the specific design tasks in a particular area.
• The basic workbenches available in CATIA V5 are :

• Part Design Workbench

• The Part Design workbench is a parametric and feature-based environment, in which
you can create solid models.

• Wireframe and Surface Design Workbench

• The Wireframe and Surface Design workbench is also a parametric and feature-based
environment, in which you can create wireframe or surface models.
• The tools available in this workbench are similar to those in the Part Design workbench,
with the only difference that the tools in this environment are used to create basic and
advanced surfaces.
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• Assembly Design Workbench

• The Assembly Design workbench is used to assemble the components using the
assembly constraints available in this workbench.

• Drafting Workbench
• The Drafting workbench is used for the documentation of the parts or the assemblies
created earlier in the form of drawing views and their detailing.
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➢ SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
• The following are the system requirements to ensure smooth running of CATIA V5R15
on your system:

• System unit: An Intel Pentium III or Pentium 4 based workstation running Microsoft
2000 Professional Edition or Windows XP Professional Edition.
• Memory: 256 MB of RAM is the minimum recommended for all applications. 512
MB of RAM is recommended for DMU applications.
• Disk drive: 4 GB Disk Drive space (Minimum recommended size)
• Internal/External drives: A CD-ROM drive is required for program installation.
• Display: A graphic color display compatible with the selected platform-specific
graphic adapter. The minimum recommended monitor size is 17 inches.
• Graphics adapter: A graphics adapter with a 3D OpenGL accelerator is required
with minimum resolution of 1024x768 for Microsoft Windows workstations and
1280x1024 for UNIX workstations.
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➢ GETTING STARTED WITH CATIA V5R15

• Install CATIA V5R15 on your system and then start it by double-clicking on the
shortcut icon of CATIA V5R15 on the desktop of your computer.
• You can also choose Start > Programs > CATIA > CATIA V5R15 from the taskbar
menu, as shown in the figure.

Starting CATIA V5R15 using the taskbar shortcuts

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The initial screen that appears after starting CATIA V5R15

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The screen that appears after closing the initial product file
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➢ IMPORTANT TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

• Feature-based Modeling
• Feature is defined as the smallest building block that can be modified individually.
• In CATIA, solid models are created by integrating a number of these building blocks.

• Parametric Modeling
• The parametric nature of a software package is defined as its ability to use the standard
properties or parameters in defining the shape and size of a geometry.

Body of a pipe housing Modified body of pipe housing

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• Bidirectional Associativity
• The bidirectional associativity ensures that if any modification is made in the model
in any one of the workbenches of CATIA V5, it is automatically reflected in the other
workbenches immediately.

The drawing views of the body part, The drawing views, after
before making the modifications modifications
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• CATPart
• CATPart is a file extension associated with all the files that are created in Sketcher,
Part Design, and Wireframe and Surface Design workbenches of CATIA V5.

• CATProduct
• CATProduct is a file extension associated with all the files that are created in Assembly
Design workbench of CATIA V5.

• CATDrawing
• CATDrawing is a file extension associated with all the files that are created in Drafting
workbench of CATIA V5.
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• Specification Tree
• It is a manager that keeps a track of all the operations
that are carried on the part, as shown in the figure.
• The specification tree that appears when you start a
new file under the Part Design workbench, is as shown
in the figure.
The specification tree that
appears on starting a new
CATPart file
• Compass
• It is a tool that is used to manipulate the orientation
of parts, assemblies, or sketches.
• You can also orient the view of the parts and
assemblies using compass.
• By default, it appears on the top right corner of the
geometry area.
The Compass
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• Constraints
• Constraints are logical operations that are performed on the selected element to define
its size and location with respect to other elements or reference geometries.
• The constraints in Sketcher workbench are called geometric constraints and the
constraints available in the Assembly Design workbench are called assembly
constraints.

• Geometric Constraints
• These are the logical operations performed on sketched elements to define their size
and position with respect to other elements.
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The constraints available in the Sketcher workbench are:

• Distance • Equidistant point

• Length • Fix

• Angle • Coincident

• Radius / Diameter • Concentricity

• Semimajor axis • Tangency

• Semiminor axis • Parallelism

• Symmetry • Perpendicular

• Midpoint • Horizontal

• Vertical
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• Assembly Constraints
• Constraints available in the Assembly Design workbench are logical operations
performed to restrict the degree of freedom of the component and to precisely
define their location and position with respect to other components of the assembly.

• Coincidence Constraint • Fix Component

• Contact Constraint • Fix Together

• Offset Constraint • Quick Constraint

• Angle Constraint

• PartBody
• It is the default body available under Part Design workbench.
• All the solid related features, such as pad, pocket, shaft, and so on are placed inside it.
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• Geometrical Set
• The geometrical set is defined as a body that includes newly created planes, surfaces,
wireframe elements, and reference elements.

• Wireframe
• Wireframe elements are used as a substitute to entities drawn in the Sketcher workbench.

• Surface
• A surface is a geometric feature with no thickness.
• Surfaces are generally used to create complex shapes that are difficult to create using the
solid feature.

• Feature
• A features is defined as a basic building block of a solid model.
• The combination of various features results in a complete model.
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• Reframe on
• In case a feature, body, or a sketch is not visible in the available space in the geometry
area, this operation is used to view that particular selection in the available display
space.

• Center Graph
• This option brings the selected feature, body, or sketch in the specification tree to the
middle left portion of the geometry area.
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➢ UNDERSTANDING THE FUNCTIONS OF THE MOUSE

BUTTONS
• To work with CATIA V5 design workbenches, it is necessary that you understand the
functions of the mouse buttons.
• The efficient usage of these three buttons, along with the CTRL key on the keyboard,
can reduce the time involved in completing the design task.

Using the three button mouse to perform Using the three button mouse to
the zoom in and zoom out operations perform the rotate operation
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➢ TOOLBARS
• CATIA V5 offers a user-friendly design environment by providing specific toolbars
to each workbench.
• The toolbars that appear in various workbenches are:

• Standard Toolbar
• This toolbar is common to all workbenches of CATIA V5.

The Standard toolbar

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• Status Bar
• The Status bar, which appears at the bottom of the CATIA V5 window, comprises of three
areas, as shown in the figure.

The Status Bar

• Current Information or Dialog Box

• The Current Information or Dialog Box area displays the current information about
the selected feature or current tool.

• Power Input Field Bar

• The Power Input Field bar lets you invoke the commands and enter the data or value that
can be directly associated with the feature.
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• Dialog Box Display Button

• Choosing the Dialog Box Display button will turn on and turn off the display of the current
dialog box.

• User Information Package Button

• Choosing this button will open a window with a default link that is C:\Program
Files\Dassault Systemes\B15\intel_a\resources\galaxy\default.htm.

• Part Design Workbench Toolbars

• You can invoke the Part Design workbench by choosing the New button from the Standard
toolbar and selecting Part from the New dialog box.
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• View Toolbar

The View toolbar

• Select Toolbar

The Select toolbar

• Sketcher Toolbar

The Sketcher toolbar

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• Profile Toolbar

• Constraint Toolbar
The Profile toolbar

The Constraint toolbar

• Operation Toolbar

The Operation toolbar

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• Sketch tools Toolbar

The Sketch tools toolbar

• Sketch-Based Features Toolbar

The Sketch-Based Features toolbar

• Dress-Up Features Toolbar

The Dress-Up Features toolbar

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• Measure Toolbar

• Transformation Features Toolbar The Measure toolbar

The Transformation Features toolbar

• Surface-Based Features Toolbar

The Surface-Based Features toolbar

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• Apply Material Toolbar

The Apply Material

toolbar

• Wireframe and Surface Design Workbench Toolbars

• You can invoke the Wireframe and Surface Design workbench from the main menu bar
by choosing Start > Mechanical Design > Wireframe and Surface Design.

• Surfaces Toolbar

The Surfaces toolbar

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• Operations Toolbar

The Operations toolbar

• Wireframe Toolbar

The Wireframe toolbar

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• Assembly Design Workbench Toolbars

• You can invoke the Assembly Design workbench, by choosing the New button from the
Standard toolbar and selecting Product from the New dialog box.

• Product Structure Tools Toolbar

The Product Structure Tools toolbar

• Constraints Toolbar

The Constraints toolbar

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• Move Toolbar

The Move toolbar

• Space Analysis Toolbar

The Space Analysis toolbar

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• Drafting Workbench Toolbars

• To invoke the Drafting workbench, choose the New button from the Standard toolbar
and select Drawing from the New dialog box.

• Drawing Toolbar

The Drawing toolbar

• Views Toolbar

The Views toolbar

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• Generation Toolbar

The Generation toolbar The flyout that appears when

a down arrow is chosen

➢ HOT KEYS
• CATIA V5 is more popularly known for its icon driven
structure.
• The hot keys that can be used with CATIA V5, along
with their functions, are listed in the table given below.
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➢ COLOR SCHEME
• CATIA allows you to use various color schemes as the background color of the screen
and for displaying the entities on the screen.

The Properties dialog box