Best way to convert CATIA v4 in SWx?

[MMike1]

We've gotten some models from a supplier in CATIA v4 (CATPart)

There's an Open option for .CGR files in SWx, but that ain't cutting it.

(I'm asking on behalf of acowroker in another office 2000 miles away, so I'm shakey on the details)

Thanks.

 

[macduff]

I think the only option is STEP or IGES. The supplier will need to covert them for you.

Colin Fitzpatrick (aka Macduff)
Mechanical Designer
Solidworks 2009 SP 4.1
Dell 490 XP Pro SP 2
Xeon CPU 3.00 GHz 3.00 GB of RAM
nVida Quadro FX 3450 512 MB
3D Connexion-SpaceExplorer

 

[Nicole6022]

Most of the work I do in SolidWorks is using base models supplied in CATIA. The best method I have found, and believe me it is not perfect, and is in fact a constant struggle, is STEP files.

I use a program called ADOBE 3D Viewer, which directly opens CATPART files, and they can then be exported as a STEP and opened in SolidWorks.

Keep in mind that DS, despite creating both products, has made it very difficult to communicate between the two. You will find that features such as cylinders will get broken into two half cylinders, making mating to the STEP files difficult (often easier to delete the face and replace with a SolidWorks component).

If you do a little research via Google you will find many pages, blogs, etc. dedicated to trying to work with CATIA files in SolidWorks, but at the end of the day, it isn't pretty.

Nicole

 

[macduff]

MMike1,
May I ask what you're using the models for?

Colin Fitzpatrick (aka Macduff)
Mechanical Designer
Solidworks 2009 SP 4.1
Dell 490 XP Pro SP 2
Xeon CPU 3.00 GHz 3.00 GB of RAM
nVida Quadro FX 3450 512 MB
3D Connexion-SpaceExplorer

 

[TheTick]

The problem with CATIA models is that even "perfect" translations can be imperfect. CATIA has a looser tolerance for what it calls "parallel" and "perpendicular". The result is that you can have a perfectly translated model where faces that should be parallel are not quite. Big PITA in sheetmetal.

 

[Nicole6022]

I take in models of portions of landing gears and use the routing program to create the electrical harnesses. It is also a serious PITA.

 

[TheTick]

http://www.mathdatahq.com

I've used this service in the past. For us, it was worth the price. We were converting complex surface models, and the time saved by having a good translation more than paid for the service (based on our overhead vs. time we found was saved by good translations).

Honesty may be the best policy, but insanity is a better defense.

http://www.EsoxRepublic.com

-SolidWorks API VB programming help

 

[AnnaWood]

Check out

http://www.Sycode.com

http://www.sycode.com/products/catia_v4_import_sw/index.htm

Cheers,

Anna Wood
Core i7 EE965, FirePro V8700, 12 Gb RAM, OCZ Vertex 120 Gb SSD, Dell 3008WFP 30" Monitor
SW2010 SP2.1, Windows 7 x64

http://www.solidmuse.com

http://www.phxswug.com

 

[grunt58]

We get catia v4 parts when we work with automotive molders. I have yet to find a good way to cost effectively translate them into SW. We usually go back to them and request a neutral file type. A lot of times they say V4 is all they can offer so we're stuck drawing a dashboard, bumper, door panel etc.. We don't get them often enough to justify a $1k seat of software or a service like tick suggested. Im pushing to get a scanner someday. We can get more use out of a scanner. Sometimes our customers are contract molders and don't have any type of 3D file.

Wish SW would just be able to import them or offer a add on that can import them.

Sorry didn't offer any advice just wanted to rant.

Certified SolidWorks Associate
SW2009 X64 SP 1.0
Dell Precision T5400
Nvidia Quadro FX 5600
Xeon 2.5GHz Quad Core, 4GB RAM
XP Pro X64 SP2.0

 

[ajack1]

Grunt58 I do not follow your logic there, surely if you don’t have this problem often then a solution like the one The Tick offers is best if you do require the service often then a solution like Anna offers is best. How can you not do it often enough for either to be viable?

Anyway back to the original post, we have the same problems and have had this recommended to us, we are currently evaluating it but so far the results have been very impressive, but still not perfect. They are however very reluctant to give a price so we might be in for a shock.

http://www.transmagic.com/transmagic-home-page

 

[TheTick]

As far as the service goes, the math made sense for us. With overhead of roughly 2 to 3 times an engineer's salary, saving 3 hours paid for the service.

Did we save the time? Oh, yes. Sometimes half that time was saved just in the translating. Having fully formed solids without fragmented surfaces saved file size. Files were smaller and loaded faster. Clean solids could be sectioned or otherwise referenced without errors. Work done around the translated consoles got done significantly faster.

 

[RadialSoft]

Hi MMike1,
If you really have very small need you can use your 3 free trials at

http://www.radialsoft.com/products/CATIA_V4_To_SolidWorks.htm

(Free, Easy).
The benefit of direct translator is that it will use the tolerance available in the CATIA V4 .model file to stitch surfaces. Also the .model contains actually 2 models: one in solid facettized but with exact geometry (cones, cylinders) and one purely bspline based but with transponant. Using STEP only one is used hence weight and tolerances issues, using a direct translator both are used.

You mention CATPart as CATIA V4 part, this is actually V5. .model, .session and .exp are usual extensions for CATIA V4 although since it's Unix no extensions are necessary.

 

[grunt58]

Ajack,
You're right we should use ticks solution but I know it won't be recived well. It's worth a try though. Next time we get a v4 file I'll run it up the flag pole and see what happens. The problem is we can design with out a 3D file. The 3D file just makes it easier for the designer.

Transmagic works well. I've tried the 30 day demo version. It will export usable models during the 30 day trial. If my memory serves me right it's around $1800.

Certified SolidWorks Associate
SW2009 X64 SP 1.0
Dell Precision T5400
Nvidia Quadro FX 5600
Xeon 2.5GHz Quad Core, 4GB RAM
XP Pro X64 SP2.0