[bigbang]

Replacing CATIA V4 with V5 - CATIA V5 has now reached a level where you can start thinking seriously about replacing CATIA V4 with V5. Depending on your needs, many factors will influence your decision as to whether it's time to switch to V5, but we can identify three subjects that everyone is concerned about: interoperability, data migration and interfaces. Here is a summary of the current situation. What you can do today: Interoperability: By interoperability, we mean using V4 data in V5 or using V5 data in V4. From V4 to V5: V4 models can be easily inserted as components in a CATProduct. Once inserted, they can be used the same way as a V5 component, and you benefit from a full associativity between the V4 model and CATIA V5. Assembly and Product Structure capabilities: V4 models are fully compatible with these two workbenches. You can copy-paste (insert, renumber, etc.) them as if they were real V5 CATParts. Design in context: You can use a V4 solid to design a new CATPart in context of V4 solids. You can use a face as a sketch plane, relimit a V5 Pad using a V4 solid, etc. DMU Solutions: You can use V4 models in the four DMU workbenches. Drafting: You can generate the drawing of a CATProduct containing V4 models. From V5 to V4: CATParts can be imported (with Solid-Import capability) into a V4 solid. At that point, the V4 solid can be used in all CATIA V4 downstream applications and benefits from a full associativity with the CATPart.

Data migration: Data migration is the conversion of V4 data into V5 data and vice-versa. We can simplify the actual situation into six points: All V4 elements can be translated without their history (As_Result) into CATIA V5. V4 solids can also be translated with their history. If you are using exact solids, make sure that they are "Exact" solids. If you are using mock-up solids, make sure that they are not "isolated." V4 drawings as well as V4 Kinematics can be translated in CATIA V5. V4 3D Detail Libraries can be translated into V5 catalogs. Complete 3D data fromV4 models can be translated in batch mode. Save "as model" of a V5 CATPart (without associativity).

Interfaces: For 3D data, both IGES and STEP already give better results than have been achieved in V4. For 2D data, partial results are reached with DXF.

-- Submitted by Fred Beaudin, is a CAD/CAM consultant for ACT working in the CATIA Consulting Department of Dassault Systèmes, France. His main fields of
expertise are V4-V5 interoperability and manufacturing. He can be reached at fbn@act.qc.ca.

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Lose the external references - Please note it's not possible to work with external references for kinematics joints in DMU Kinematics V5. DMU Kinematics
reduces automatically the number of degrees for the kinematics. The user suspects that he or she misunderstands at first, when the popup menu appears
saying "kinematics overconstraint," etc. Switch off the option keep external reverences.

-- Heiko Oldendorf, managing director, free d graphics, Germany

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Calculating assembly weight - CATIA can give you the weight of assemblies with parts of different materials. You must analyze each part independently, store the results for the parts and then combine the results to get the final assembly weight, center of gravity, etc. Call up your solid assy model. Go to the analysis/inertia/compute menu. Pick one solid; enter the material density of the part; hit yes to store the results. Do this operation to all the solids that you need in the assy model. Now go to the combine sub-function in the analysis/inertia menu. Pick the solids that you have computed and stored the results for. (Steps 2, 3, etc.) [Note: If you did not calculate the inertia for each individual part solid, that solid will not be included in the combination to get the final result.] If your alphanumeric window is open, you will see the information change as you pick the solids. The selected solids will highlight, so you won't make the mistake of re-picking them. When you're done picking the solids, at the bottom of the alphanumeric window you will get the final results. It will be the final entry in the alphanumeric window, so be careful what you read from it, since there is no distinction between the final result and the previous results.

-- Hector Espinoza, mechanical designer, Control Systems Division - Military, Parker Aerospace, Parker Haniffin Corporation, Irvine, Calif.

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Rotate & zoom - Have you worked with Pro/E before you began using CATIA V5? Then you are used to using the ctrl key for rotate and zoom. In V5 you also
can use the ctrl key with your mouse button to rotate and zoom, by adding your middle mouse button. Just hold down the ctrl key and then the middle mouse
button to zoom. To rotate, start to hold down the middle mouse bottom and then hit your ctrl key.

-- Submitted by Anders Fors, application specialist, Xdin AB, Västra Frölunda, Sweden

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Collapsing the tree - I found a very useful way recently to collapse the tree in one go by clicking on a single icon. The Method: Tools/Customize/Commands Select AllCommands from the Categories list (at bottom). Select Collapse All from the Commands list Select Show Properties. Select an icon button Select Tree icon at the bottom right corner of Page 1 (or any preferred icon). Select Close. Select Collapse All (text) in Commands list and drag onto the update icon on the bottom toolbar (or any preferred icon). Once this is selected in that workbench, your specification tree will collapse. You need to do this for all the workbenches you use it for; i.e., Part Design, Assembly etc.

-- Submitted by Mark Hodder, Concentric Asia Pacific, Pennant Hills, New South Wales, Australia

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Including multiple objects - While using the Rectangular Pattern command in the Part Design module, you can include multiple objects in your pattern. To do so, just multi-select (while holding the CTRL key) the objects before clicking on the Rectangular Pattern command. You will then see the list of objects to pattern in the "Object to Pattern" section of the dialog box.

-- Submitted by Dominique Croteau, idCAD Consulting, Montreal, Canada

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Faster changing of workbenches - In CATIA V5R7 SP1 customize the Start menu to include your favorite workbenches. Point at the current Workbench icon with the mouse and press MB3. A panel of the workbenches in your Start menu appears next to the current workbench icon-slide down and select the workbench you wish to change to. If you have other V5 documents open, you will note in this panel that some of the workbench icons have a drop-down arrow on them. From the drop-down select another open document suitable to the workbench type to make current with the selected Workbench active. The new option in the drop-down changes Workbench in the current document the same way the first technique outlined does, when multiple documents are open.

-- Submitted by Barry Caudle, industry specialist, CONCENTRIC Asia Pacific, Pennant Hills, New South Wales, Australia

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Avoid wire-frame - I recommend having the least amount of wire-frame possible (use cuboids and cylinders). This will aid downstream applications such as
PARAM3D, CAM and IGES translations. Note: if wire-frame is used for revolutions, then use Fillets and Chamfers from the SolidE function rather than incorporating these in the profile to be revolved. Remember that SolidE > modify >geometry > param > Cont. > (new for old) can minimize the number of dimensions that blink (not associative) if the profile is to be changed.

-- Submitted by Mike Hughes, IEng MIED, senior CAD designer, BOC Edwards, Shoreham, UK

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Staying in your command - Users of CATIA V4 will be used to going into a function such as Point and creating several points before changing function. In
V5, however, the default behavior is to drop out of the command after the element has been created. Now we know that if you double-click the command you
can stay in it. But how many of us don't think we need to, till it's too late? Then we have to start the command again. My tip is to use Repeat Last Command. This is should be accessed from the keyboard with Ctrl - Y, because it is the quickest way to re-launch that last command without really thinking about it. I use this instead of the double-click as a matter of course.

-- Submitted by Ian Phillips, Munich, Germany

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Dimensioning between circles - Here's a tip for dimensioning between the centers of two circles that lie on different planes: sketch the first circle on one plane. Select the second plane, sketch the circle, then place a point and constrain it concentric with the first circle lying on the first plane. (Without this point dimension occurs from the center of the second circle to a tangent of first circle.) Place the dimension between this point and the center of the second circle. Change the point as a reference element.

-- Submitted by Suresh Balasundaram, training officer, Amrita CAD/CAM Center,
Amrita Institutions, Tamil Nadu, India.

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Reorder your menus - To reorder the function menus in CATIA V5, after a "blood, tears and sweat" modeling session, do the following. Go to the CATSettings
directory (standard in the following path: c:/Documents and Settings/"user"/ApplicationData/DassaultSystemes/CATSettings) and delete only the file DialogPosition.CATSettings. (The directory Application Data is hidden) Now you can start again with the default position of all your workbenches and
menus.

-- Submitted by Mr. Gerdy Vandamme, T.V.H. Forkliftparts, Driemasten, Gullegem (Belgium)

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Copying An Existing Radius of a Circle - Draw the required circle, drag so that the reference circle is highlighted and right-click on the mouse button. A contextual menu pops up; choose Parameters and Copy Radius.

-- Submitted by Eddie Adams, product designer, Weidmuller Interface Ltd., Kent, England.