CATIA Basic Concepts CATIA® V5R30

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Manual Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Launching 3DEXPERIENCE with My3DE app . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Assembly Design Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Part Design Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Pull-down Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Insert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Bottom Toolbar in Part Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Working with Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Types of documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Model Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Creating a new document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Opening an existing document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Saving a document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Closing a document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Creating a new model from an existing model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Save Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Solutions and Workbenches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Tools Customize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Start Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
User Workbenches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Tools Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
General - General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
General - PCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
General - Display - Tree Appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
General - Display - Tree Manipulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
General - Display - Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
General - Display - Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
General - Display - Visualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
General - Parameters and Measure - Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
General - Parameters and Measure - Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

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General - Parameters and Measure - Parameters Tolerance . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
General - Parameters and Measure - Measure Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Infrastructure - Product Structure - Product Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Infrastructure - Part Infrastructure - General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Infrastructure - Part Infrastructure - Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Infrastructure - Part Infrastructure - Part Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Manipulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Three button mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Two button mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
SpaceBall or SpaceMouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Compass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

View Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Using the View Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Rotate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Zoom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Normal View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Standard Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Shading Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Hide/Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Specification Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Manipulating the Specification Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Product Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Part Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Define In Work Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Reorder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Undo/Redo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Applying Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Axis Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Measure Between . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Measure Item . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Measure Inertia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

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Introduction
CATIA Version 5 Basic Concepts
Upon completion of this course the student should have a full understanding of the
following topics:

- Managing models (opening, closing, saving, etc)

- Solutions, Workbenches and Toolbars

- Tools, Options

- Tools, Customize

- Manipulation

- View Toolbar

- Specification Tree

- Modifying properties

- Applying materials to parts

- Creating axis systems

- Searching

- Measuring

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Model Management
This section will discuss how to manage your models including creating, opening, closing
and saving.

Creating a new document

This allows you to start a new document. For this class you will normally start a Part
document. This does not close any documents that are already opened, it only creates a new
window with the document.

Select the File pull down menu.

Select New. A New window appears. This allows you to create a new document. The
document that will be created depends on the selection you make, either an analysis,
drawing, part, product or other. There are many different types of documents that you can
create in CATIA. You can also use the New icon in the bottom toolbar or Ctrl+N to create a
new document.

Select Part.

Select OK. This will create a new part. Depending on your settings, you might get a New
Part which will allow you to give the part a name.

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Opening an existing document
This allows you to open a document that has been previously saved. This does not close any
documents that are already opened, it only opens a new window with the document.

Select the Open icon in the bottom toolbar. This allows you to open an existing
document. A File Selection window should appear. You can also use pull down menu File,
Open or the Ctrl+O to open an existing document.

Find the document that you want to open and select it. You can either open a document
by selecting it and then selecting Open or you can just double-click on the file and it will
automatically open.

Select Open. This should open the document.

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Saving a document
This allows you to save a document that you currently have opened. If you use the save
icon, Ctrl+S or the Save option under pull down menu File, it will save the document with
the current name. If this is the first time you saved this document then it will automatically
open a Save As window allowing you to specify a name for the document. Otherwise it will
just save the document with the same name it already has.

If you want to save a document with a different name, you have to use the Save As option in
the pull-down menu File.

Select pull down menu File.

Select Save As. A Save As window should appear. You will need to specify which folder
you want to save the document into and the name of the document.

Choose the file location and then enter the file name in the File name box.

Select the Save button. Alternatively, you may press Enter. The document should save
with the new name.

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Closing a document
This allows you to close a document with or without saving. If the document has not been
saved, CATIA will ask you whether or not you want to save it. It is important to get in the
habit of closing your windows when you are finished working with them. Otherwise, you
will end up with several windows open at the same time which could slow your system
down.

Select pull down menu File.

Select Close. If the document has already been saved and has not been modified, CATIA
will close the current document. If the document has been modified and not saved, CATIA
will open the Close window.

If you want to save the changes then press Yes. If the document has previously been saved,
it will be saved again under the same name; otherwise, the Save As window will appear. If
you do not want to save the changes, press No. To return to the document rather than
closing it, select the Cancel button.

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Creating a new model from an existing model
There are two different methods for creating a new model from an existing model. A
CATIA model is more complex than a simple text file or Word document. All CATIA
documents have a Unique Universal Identifier (UUID). This is basically just an internal
number that is assigned to the document when it is created. These UUID’s are not seen
except within ENOVIA. UUID’s are used to help file documents within ENOVIA. To save
an existing document as a completely separate document, you will need to give the
document a new UUID.

Select the File pull down menu.

Select Save As. A Save As window should appear. You will need to specify which folder
you want to save the document into and the name of the document. To save the document
as a completely new model so it is no longer linked to the original, you will need to use the
Save as new document at the bottom of the screen.

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Select the Save as new document option as shown. This will specify that the new
document needs to have a new UUID as well.

Select Save. The model is saved.

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The other method is by using the New from option.

Select the File pull down menu and select New from. A file selection menu appears.

Select the document that you wish to open and select Open. The document is opened
and depending on your settings, you might get the New Part window allowing you to
specify a name. The document has actually already been assigned a new UUID.

Select File, Save. The Save As window appears. You would generally expect the model to
be saved automatically since you didn’t change anything. However, since we used the New
from option, the UUID of the document has been changed, so you must save it in a different
location with a different name.

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Save Management
This option is extremely important to understand what components are saved and where
they are going to be saved. This is especially important when you are working with
assemblies or with a flat file system.

Open the Assembly document located in the Assembly directory.

Select pull down menu File, Save Management. The Save Management window appears.
Notice that the assembly and all of the parts that are in it appear in the window.

State Specifies the state of the document. Some of the common

states are Opened, Modified, and Read Only. Opened - the
document is open but not modified. Modified - the document
is open and has been modified. Read Only - the document is
read only and cannot be saved in the current directory.

Name Name of the document

Location Current location of the document

Action Specifies the action that will take place when you select OK.
Some common actions are Save and Save Auto. Save - the
document is saved with the current Name in the current
Location. Save Auto - occurs when a higher level assembly is
saved. The modified components of that assembly are tagged
with Save Auto and will be saved with the current Name and
in the current Location.

Access Shows the type of access you have to the documents

Save, Save As Forces a save action on the specified document

Propagate directory The directory that the higher level assembly is saved in is
propagated to all of the components

Reset Resets all items to their original state before any changes were
made

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0 Unsaved File(s) Left Specifies the number of unsaved files

Pattern Name Specifies a naming pattern to use on the selected entities

Apply Pattern Applies the pattern specified

Enable independent saves Allows you to save items individually, without the Save Auto
action occurring

Select on Assembly and select the Save As button. This will bring up the Save As
window.

Save the model on the desktop in a folder called Save Management. This will return
you to the Save Management window. Notice that the Assembly automatically gets tagged
with a Save. If you said OK at this point, only the assembly would be saved, without all of
the parts.

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You could save each of the parts in this same manner, but there is a short cut.

Select the Propagate directory button. Notice that all of the parts will now be saved in the
Save Management folder on the desktop. It is a good idea to save assemblies with all of
their parts in order to make it easier to manage the links between the assembly and all of the
parts.

Select OK. The assembly and all of its parts are saved in the Save Management folder on
the desktop.

Close your document.

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Manipulation
The following are actions that can be performed using the mouse when trying to view your
parts or sketches.

Three button mouse

Center the display Select and release the middle mouse button on the location
that you want to be centered and it will move to the center of
the display

Pan Select and hold the middle mouse button and you can move
your display around by moving the mouse

Rotate Select and hold the middle mouse button and then select and
hold either the first or third mouse buttons and you can rotate
the display around by moving the mouse. You should see a
rotational ball appear for reference. Both buttons will be held
down simultaneously.

Zoom Select and hold the middle mouse button and then select and
release either the first or third mouse buttons and you can
zoom in or out by moving the mouse up or down. Only the
middle mouse button will be held down.

Rotate and Zoom While on an geometrical entity you can press and hold the
Shift key and then press the middle mouse button to perform a
rotation and zoom using a view point control.

Two button mouse

If you only have a two button mouse to work with then you can do the same things, but you
will have to use the keyboard in conjunction with the mouse.

Pan While holding down the Alt key, select and hold the right
mouse button

Rotate While holding down the Alt key, select and hold the right
mouse button and then either select and hold the left mouse
button or the Ctrl key.

Zoom While holding down the Ctrl and Alt keys, select and hold the
right mouse button

SpaceBall or SpaceMouse
They can be used to pan, rotate and zoom as long as the correct driver is installed.

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Keyboard
Pan Press and hold the Ctrl key and select the arrows to pan up,
down, right or left

Rotate around the vertical Press and hold the Shift key and select the left or right arrow

Rotate around the horizontal Press and hold the Shift key and select the up or down arrow

Rotate around the normal Press and hold the Ctrl and Shift keys and select the left or
right arrow

Zoom In Press and hold the Ctrl key and select the Page Up key

Zoom Out Press and hold the Ctrl key and select the Page Down key

Open the Assembly document from the Assembly directory.

You will practice manipulating with this model.

Switch to the Assembly Design workbench if you are not already there. Remember,
you can do this by selecting the Start pull down menu and then selecting Assembly Design
from your favorites or from the Mechanical Design solution.

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Rotate the model around as shown.

Rotate and zoom the model as shown. You may want to adjust the center of rotation by
using the middle mouse button so that it will be easier to zoom and rotate the model as
shown.

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Rotate and zoom the model as shown. You may want to adjust the center of rotation to be
somewhere close to the hole in the model by clicking and releasing the middle mouse
button.

Manipulate the model as shown.

Manipulating with the mouse is very important within CATIA V5. You will want to
practice this until you have it mastered.

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Compass
You can also manipulate a model with the compass. The compass can be used to move
parts around within an assembly as well.

You can select on and drag the line and arc segments of the compass in order to translate
and rotate the model respectively. You may also select and drag the vertex on the top of the
compass to manipulate the model around.

Select and hold the red dot in the middle of the compass with the first mouse button.
Drag the compass and drop it onto the face as shown.

The compass should snap to the face and turn green. When the compass is green, that
means that it is attached to whatever is selected.

Select out in space. The compass turns white. It is no longer attached to anything.

Select the same face that the compass is sitting on. It should turn green again.

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Select the w axis line as shown below and drag the axis up as shown. The Upper Arm
should move with the axis.

Select the arc as shown and drag the compass to rotate the Upper Arm around as
shown.

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Select the Upper Fastener as shown. The compass will now be attached to the Upper
Fastener, even though it is still located on the Upper Arm.

Move the compass around and notice that the Upper Fastener moves with the
compass.

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You can also select multiple parts to manipulate with the compass.

Select the face on the Upper Arm that you had previously selected. Hold down the Ctrl
key and select the face on the Upper Fastener that you had previously selected.

Move the compass around. Notice that both of the parts move with the compass now.

Select the red dot in the center of the compass and drag and drop it into its location in
the upper right hand corner of the display. Notice that the compass maintains the same
orientation and is labeled u, v, w instead of x, y, z. This is because the compass is still in
the local coordinates of the parts that you just moved.

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Drag the compass down to the lower right had corner of the display and drop in on the
axis system.

The compass will switch back to the global coordinates of the assembly.

The compass makes it very easy to manipulate individual parts within an assembly.

Select the Update All icon in the bottom toolbar. The assembly snaps back together
since it has assembly constraints on it that specify how it should be oriented.

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Measurements
Being able to analyze your models is very important. It is essential that you are able to
determine if a part meets tolerance as well as where one part is located in relation to another.
There are several methods that will be investigated for analyzing your models.

Measure Between
The measure between option allows you to measure the distance between any two elements.
This option can be used for a variety of element types.

Select the Measure Between icon from the bottom toolbar. The Measure
Between window appears.

There are a number of different measurement options available under the measure between
icon.

Definition

Measures distance and angle between defined selections

Sets the second selection as the first selection for the next measure

Fixes the first selection so that you always measure from this item

Switches to the measure item option

Measures the thickness of an object

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Selection 1 & 2 Mode

Any geometry Measures the distance and angle between

defined geometrical entities (points, edges,
surfaces, etc.)

Any geometry, infinite This is the same as Any geometry, except that it
will extend the geometry infinitely and measure
from the extension

Picking point Measures the distance between points selected

on defined geometrical entities

Point only Measures the distance between points

Edge only, Surface only Measures the distance and angle between edges
and surfaces respectively

Product only Measures between entire products

Picking axis Measures between an element and an infinite

line, perpendicular to the screen

Intersection Measures the distance between intersection

points, between two edges, or an edge and a
surface. In this case, two selections are
necessary to define an intersection.

Edge limits Measures the distance between endpoints or

midpoints of edges

Arc center Measures the distance between the centers of

arcs

Coordinate Measures the distance between coordinates

entered

Center of 3 points arc Measures the distance between the centers of 3

point arcs

Other Axis Define what axis system you want to measure against

Calculation mode

Exact else approximate Gives an exact measurement when it can

otherwise it gives an approximate measurement

Exact Gives only an exact measurement

Approximate Gives only an approximate measurement

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Results This section varies according to what information you choose to
display. Selecting the Customize button at the bottom of the window
will allow you to change what shows in the window.

Keep Measure This option will keep the measurement in the specification tree, as
well as on the part

Create geometry Creates corresponding geometry for the type of measurement you are
performing. An example is shown below.

Associative geometry Creates the geometry so that it is associated to the

model

Non-associative geometry Creates the geometry so that it will be a datum feature

The other options specify the actual geometry to be created.

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Customize

Specifications

Minimum Distance/Curve Length/Angle Measures the minimum distance

between two selected elements
and the angle

Smallest Angle Measures the smallest angle

independent of where you select
the elements

Maximum Distance Measures the maximum distance

from selection 1 or 2

Maximum Distance from 1 to 2 Measures the maximum distance

from selection 1

Display Options 3D refers to the items appearing in the graphical workspace,

whereas Panel refers to the items appearing in the Measure
Between window

Selection Name Displays the name of the

elements selected

Distance Shows the distance between the

elements

Angle Shows the angle between the

elements

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Components Displays the X, Y, and Z
components, relative to the axis,
between the two selections

Point 1 & Point 2 Shows the X, Y, and Z location

points of the element selected,
where you selected it

Make sure the Measure Between option in the window is selected and Selection 1
mode and Selection 2 mode are set to Any geometry. With the Keep measure option
turned off, select the two edges as shown below. This will create a distance measurement
as shown in the picture.

The position of the dimension can be changed.

Press and hold the first mouse button while on the measurement value and drag the
text. This will allow you to move the dimension text but not the actual dimension.

Press and hold the first mouse button while on the dimension line and drag the
dimension. This will allow you to move the dimension lines creating extension lines. You
can select anywhere along the dimension line to move it.

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Move the dimension as shown below.

By dragging the dimension off of the part, it is easier to see everything. In larger assemblies
you will find this to be a necessity.

Whenever you measure your items, you can get a lot of information displayed in the Results
area. Most of the time the distance and angle are enough, however, you can show more or
less information.

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Select the Customize button in the Measure Between window. The Measure Between
Customization window appears.

You can toggle the options on and off by selecting the boxes.

Turn on the Components, Point 1 and Point 2 display options under Panel and select
Apply. You should notice that the additional information is shown in the Measure Between
window. If you turn on the Components option under 3D then the component information
would appear in the graphical workspace.

Turn off all of the display options except the Distance and Angle options under 3D and
Panel and select OK.

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Select the face as shown.

Select the second face as shown. The measurement respects the limits of the faces and is
actually measuring diagonally.

Notice the disappearance of the previous dimension. This is because the Keep measure
option is turned off.

Select the Keep measure option. This option will keep the measurement after it has been
created.

Create the first measurement again. This time, both measurements will remain. The
measurements will also appear in the specification tree under the Measure branch.

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Expand the tree as shown below.

Select Cancel. Both of the dimensions will disappear. If you wanted to keep the
dimensions, then you would select OK.

Select the Measure Between icon again. Turn off the Keep measure option.

Select the two faces again as shown.

You are trying to get the normal distance between the two faces. However, as mentioned
earlier, it is respecting the boundaries of the planar faces. This is not exactly what you want.

With the model rotated, it is much easier to see that this is not the measurement that we
wanted.

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Change both of the selection modes to Any geometry, infinite and select the same two
faces. The dimension appears as shown below. This time it is the actual distance between
the two faces. The Any geometry, infinite option extends the two planar faces out infinitely
and then measures between them.

With the model rotated, it is easy to see that you are now getting a normal measurement
between the two faces.

Change both of the selection modes to Intersection.

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Select the two lines as shown below. This will compute the intersection point between the
two elements and use that for the measurement. The intersection point will appear after you
select the two elements.

Select the two lines as shown below to identify the second intersection point.

The dimension appears between the two intersection points. The measurement appears with
a ~ symbol because it is an approximate measurement. Any time CATIA has to compute a
location it will consider the measurement to be an approximate.

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Change both of the selection modes to Arc center and select the two arcs as shown.

Notice that the dimension appears between the two arcs’ center points.

Change Selection mode 1 to Coordinate. The First selection Coordinate window appears.

Enter 0, 0, 0 for X, Y and Z respectively and select OK.

Change Selection mode 2 to Center of 3 points arc. You will need to specify three points
that will be used to compute an arc and then the center of that arc will be used in the
measurement.

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Select the three locations shown below. These are approximate locations.

The measurement is an approximate since it had to compute an arc.

Switch the selection modes back to Any geometry, infinite.

Select the two faces as shown below.

For this measurement, you are more interested in the angle than the distance.

Select OK. The measurement disappears since you did not have Keep measure turned on.

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Select the Measure Between icon again and turn on the Keep Measure option.

Select the Measure Between in Chain Mode icon from the window. This option
will allow you to measure in chain mode.

Select the face as shown.

Rotate the model around and select the face as shown.

The measurement is created.

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Rotate the model back around and select the face as shown. The measurement is created
from where the first measurement ended.

Rotate the model around and select the face as shown. Again the measurement is created
from where the previous measurement ended.

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Notice that each measurement uses the previous measurements second selection for its first
selection. The measurements have been moved around for clarity.

Select Cancel. The measurements disappear.

Select the Measure Between icon and select the Measure Between in Fan Mode
option from the window. This option will allow you to make all of your
measurements based off of the first selection. This option is perfect for taking measurements
from a datum.

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Select the face as shown below.

Select the same three faces that you selected before when measuring in chain mode.
The measurements should appear as shown. Again the measurements have been moved for
clarity.

Select Cancel. The measurements disappear.

You will now create some measurements using the measure item option.

© Wichita State University Measurements, Page 141