I too am a new user of V4.22 but have used the no show swap in v5 I think it's just a way to show and hide items to speed up performance. However You cannot work when in the no show configuration. You can try accessing the tree in the SOLIDE Manage option to access geometry and features to modify or suppress.

If there are any users out there who know of good listings and forums to v4 I'd like to know of them. The catiav5forum.de site is nice but it also has limited info on V4.

I just bought the Catia Reference Guide by Tigwell and can let you know if it's worth getting.

Good luck with adjusting to Catia, If you have Pro/E experience it's not too bad to learn but it's a lot harder than UG.

Michael

norfleet... you asked a mouthful!

Show and No-Show is just a way to display or hide geometry. Most users will no-show construction elements (points, lines, surfaces) when they are working with a solid. But when modifying the solid, you probably want to re-display the construction elements you want to change.

2D and 3D really have nothing to do with SHOW/NOSHOW. 2D is just an easy way to create 3D elements that are in a 2D plane. These points/lines/curves can be modified in either 2D or 3D modes.

Tips on how to modify a model? I'd suggest you find someone you work with who is a little more experienced with CATIA, and use that person to mentor you through the learning curve. V4 can be a little difficult at first, but it will eventually make sense.

Here's some tips that might help:

To show everything:
  click NS, yes swap, key *SPC, click EXIT

to hide everything except for solids:
  click NS, key *SPC-*SOL, click EXIT

Hello my name is Sasha Im mechanical engineer from Yougoslavia and try to starting in Cartia bat unfortuali there is no literature for this field. If you havee any cind of adrres for shoping or for learning i be thankfuul.

Thanks to all who replied. It's starting to make sense (in a French kind of way). I guess it's pretty nice to be able to pick and choose the geometry you only want to see / use. Thanks again for your help.