Does anyone think Catia V5 is any good?
Does anyone think Catia V5 is any good?
(OP)
Hi,
I've been using catia V4 and V5 simultaniously now for about 4 years. I think V4 is far ahead of V5 in functionality and overal ease of use for modelling. The only people I've come across that say V5 is better than V4 is V5 salesmen.
Please let me know if you agree or disagree.
Thanks,
Darren
I've been using catia V4 and V5 simultaniously now for about 4 years. I think V4 is far ahead of V5 in functionality and overal ease of use for modelling. The only people I've come across that say V5 is better than V4 is V5 salesmen.
Please let me know if you agree or disagree.
Thanks,
Darren





RE: Does anyone think Catia V5 is any good?
I have to say I find the programme powerful and reasonably intuitive. Are you sure your problems aren't simply because it's just different to V4 rather than being inherently worse?
Ben Michell
Math Modelling Engineer
Westland Helicopters Ltd
RE: Does anyone think Catia V5 is any good?
RE: Does anyone think Catia V5 is any good?
Q: "How do I do layers in V5?"
A: "You don't"
They are two different packages which require different work methodologies.
Ben
RE: Does anyone think Catia V5 is any good?
Probably the biggest drawback is in the drafting package, and most of our problems here at this point is merely because we are still in a Unix/VPM world. There is still some significant functionality that works well in V5 but is not available on AIX or in VPM. The biggest restrictions are drafting in Approximate Mode, drafting in b-rep mode, saving flexible assemblies, saving and using Scenes.
RE: Does anyone think Catia V5 is any good?
RE: Does anyone think Catia V5 is any good?
As catiajim mentioned, V5 is fully parametric, so much geometry can easily be modified. I wouldn't say that's its real power, though. I'd say it's real power is a function of that ease: collaborative design.
The only people I've encountered who've used both V4 and V5 and say that V4 is better are people who haven't learned V5 well enough. It is very easy, but they expect it to be like V4 and they end up using it wrong. Misuse can cause a lot of problems.
As for V4 being ahead of V5 functionality-wise, that's just laughable.
RE: Does anyone think Catia V5 is any good?
I have seen many V4->V5 users, 98% prefere V5 . Even with the small bugs we are dealing with....
Main poblem is still big assembly drawing, but XP /3GB and R14 really improve the result.
Eric N.
RE: Does anyone think Catia V5 is any good?
Also when managing the race car designs I used the assembly modelling extensively and I would also concur with Configurator that collaborative design is an important biproduct of such a usable package.
Ben
RE: Does anyone think Catia V5 is any good?
Thanks all.
RE: Does anyone think Catia V5 is any good?
I'm curious which V5 workbenches you're using?
I've used V4 and V5.
I agree with you that V4 drafting, kinematics, and solids creation is better (faster and easier) than V5.
But I'd much rather use V5 because of relational design and editing/updating of models.
I think training is key also. Too many times management mistakenly minimizes V5 training because they were told V5 is much easier to learn. (It is, but there's alot more to learn compared to V4)
...Jack
RE: Does anyone think Catia V5 is any good?
As for Solid Creation, there are more tools available in V5 for creating useable solids. In addition, Modification of your solid is a very large part of Design, and V5 is much, much easier to modify.
Drafting, on the other hand, leaves a LOT to be desired. The biggest problem we have is performance.
I also agree with the comment on Training. While V5 is easier to learn than V4, it still takes a significant amount of time.
RE: Does anyone think Catia V5 is any good?
Agreed. It's much MUCH better in 5.14, though.
RE: Does anyone think Catia V5 is any good?
In terms of kinematics there is a commercial incentive for Dassault not to improve the kinematics because that will tread on MSC and Dassault implementing ADAMS within V5 as SimDesigner.
Ben
RE: Does anyone think Catia V5 is any good?
I've been using V4 for 7 years and V5 for 4 years.
In my opinion V5 is umbeatable for hybrid relation design and its change management capabilities are far ahead V4.
RE: Does anyone think Catia V5 is any good?
However, the CATIA side of business - obviously, V5 is more powerful and easier to navigate, more windowsy (Yuk - Literal dication to unstable). but what caught my eye was CATIAJIM - OMG - Years to migrate to V5 - no wonder the users complain - Of course if themigration was becuase Dessault has never had a good migration path to V5 that is understandable.
I have found migration from V4 to V5 cumbersome and downward compatabillity from V5 r14 to r12 almost impossible - If there are some best practices I am missing please send them..
RE: Does anyone think Catia V5 is any good?
The first big change was when a handful of basic colours became available and the light pen went, along with the massive Function keyboard and gradually it got even better. The puck and tablet went and the mouse arrived but by the time it was V4 it had become a mess and needed tidying up and a fresh start.
So the jump to V5 was a big one and I've used it now for four years. The thought of going back would be awful, to me. To handle V5 properly don't keep comparing it to V4, forget all that, go forward. During the Eighties and Nineties I trained many people on Catia, to use Surfaces, Solids, Kinematics etc. and I used to tell them to put any previous working practices behind them, whether it was some other system or even a drawing board.
I can't say anything about Drafting on Catia because I have only ever used it as a modeller, all my Catia work has been in Aerospace and Automotive places and Drafters would pick up the models and do the detail drawings, BOMs etc.
Don't be a Loser, wallowing in V4 mire. V5 has been well described by others here, just get into it and before you know it your conversion will be complete.
But I have to be honest, I didn't forget my drawing board, I took it home many years ago and still use it occasionally.
RE: Does anyone think Catia V5 is any good?
Our biggest problem at this point in getting off of V4 is in the maintenance of existing V4 Drawings. We have 20 years of V4 CATIA models & drawings, that utilized every bit and form of CATIA techniques that DS ever provided. We have wireframe models that used Graphic Dressup Noshow. We have models with dozens of Solidm Solids. We have models with dozens of Solide Solides. We have transparent auxviews with multiple overlays. We have Auxview2 views linked thru VPM to mono-detail solids. We even have a large number of Draw Only models that came from CADAM.
In order to move off of V4, we need to be able to assure our customers (i.e. Engineering and Manufacturing) that they will be able to perform revisions to these models with no loss in productivity over today. That's a HUGE challenge. And you're right - Dassault has not yet stepped up to the plate in providing the tools to do this.
V5 is a fantastic tool for new design. Unfortunately, it is so fundamentally different from V4 that seamless data migration is a major hurdle.
RE: Does anyone think Catia V5 is any good?
To Jackk, I'm using generative shape design, parts and products.
Maybe with the change automotive from V4 to V5 coming soon I will transistion to V5 and start to like it, apart from maybe the drafting!
RE: Does anyone think Catia V5 is any good?
Thanks for your reply. Like you, I found it very difficult to prefer V5 when I was working with V4 and trying to learn V5. Once I was able to get on V5 full-time, my preference changed very quickly. Especially with the workbenches you have. Look how easy it is to make a change to a V5 surface part, when you don't have to erase the volume and faces and then modify the surface (hopefully it's a SURF2 that can be modified) and rebuild the faces and volume.
I do think V5 is much better than V4. But I still miss those solid primitive shapes! (it is much easier to make a a cuboid (or cylinder, cone, sphere, etc) than to make a sketch and then a pad, etc.)
...Jack
RE: Does anyone think Catia V5 is any good?
When I was doing "real" work, I found that most of the primitives were pretty useless - the only one I ever really used was the Cylinder, and I mainly used it for holes.