Working in CATIA V5…
- Interactive Design solution for CATIA V5 users who need to work with I-DEAS Parts or Assemblies.
- Maintains associativity between the native I-DEAS files and CATIA V5
- Enables automatic update of CATIA V5 representation when I-DEAS changes are undertaken.
- Uses standard CATIA V5 “Insert Existing Component” commands to open IDEAS data into the active CATIA V5 session.
The Challenge
Faced with the need to use both CATIA V5 and I-DEAS to complete a single product design
and manufacturing task you have a number of methodologies available to you.
The traditional approach is to translate the I-DEAS data to CATIA V5, using either a standard
such as STEP AP203 or a direct database translator. In doing so the original I-DEAS data is
converted to a CATIA V5 representation. This task is either carried out by members of the
design team or alternatively undertaken by dedicated translation specialists.
One downside to this approach is recognising when a design change takes place in I-DEAS
and managing the process of updating the CATIA V5 representation to take into account the changes once the initial translation process is completed. The other issue is that the designer
has no control over when the data is translated if it is carried out as a separate process.
The Solution
Theorem Solutions has developed an interactive CATIA V5 solution for I-DEAS data based
upon the Dassault Systemes strategic XCAD technology. This enables the CATIA V5 user to
interactively work with native I-DEAS parts and assemblies in an active CATIA V5 session.
This is achieved by simply selecting the I-DEAS part or assembly to be inserted into CATIA
V5 allowing the user to work with the I-DEAS data to perform Design Modification, Design-in-Context and
Manufacturing activities.
Traditional translator methods of working with I-DEAS data use external translation
processes. These methods translate the I-DEAS data into CATIA V5 format but all knowledge
of subsequent changes to the I-DEAS data are lost.
However, using the Theorem Solutions CATIA V5 Multi-CAD functionality eliminates this gap
by retaining an associative link between CATIA V5 and the original I-DEAS data.
CATIA V5 Users can Design with I-DEAS data
’Multi-CAD’ for I-DEAS is primarily an interactive CATIA process for the design or
manufacturing CATIA user who has a need to work with I-DEAS data.
Theorem has created this solution using the Dassault XCAD Development platform to provide
the CATIA V5 user with the ability to interactively select and use original I-DEAS parts or
assemblies. The ease of use is such that the user does not undertake a separate translation
but simply selects the “I-DEAS” part or assembly for inclusion in the CATIA design session, just as if it was a native CATproduct or CATpart.
Automatic update of changes
The normal method of importing “I-DEAS” data is to translate the “I-DEAS” data into CATIA
V5 format but all knowledge of any changes to the “I-DEAS” data are then lost.
Using ’Multi-CAD’ functionality bridges this gap by retaining an associative link between
CATIA V5 and the original “I-DEAS” data. Consequently, if any changes take place in the IDEAS
data the files are updated and the CATIA V5 user is able to detect the change and
automatically update the active session to reflect the changes.
As an option to working interactively by opening I-DEAS data there is a facility for the
designer to process a batch of data for subsequent interactive use.
