Methodologies and Advice

This section provides information regarding supported features and limitations when using STEP data in CATIA V5, which users should be familiar with prior to configuring and using STEP Plug-in.

Output Formats

When importing Multi-CAD data within CATIA V5, a conversion is performed. Depending on the use of data you are going to have, you can choose whether to create a cgr, CATPart.

With all these formats you can access to part user attributes using Edit -> Properties:

  • Move the data (cf. limitations to move due to the associative mode)
  • Clash detection
  • Inertia and Volume calculations

Each format has its own limitations and advantages:

  • cgr (CATIA Graphical Representation) is the visualization format of CATIA V5. With this very light format, you can do approximate measurement and have access to all the basic DMU functionalities.
  • CATPart (CATPart mode). It is a standard V5 CATPart which is locked, therefore you can use it as any other CATPart with the exception that you cannot modify it. You can just reference it.

Supported Features

  • Access to part user attributes (via Edit->Properties)
  • Move
  • Exact positioning - Snap command - when using CATPart Mode
  • Clash detection
  • Approximate measurements (or exact measurement with a CATPart)
  • Inertia and volume calculations

Limitations

  • Please note that 64-bits platforms are required for large CAD data conversions (several hundreds of Megabytes on disk). 2 GBytes addressable memory limit on 32-bits cannot be enforced anyway, and defines a physical limit to all processes, including CAD conversions.
  • Approximate snap is not working in some cases.
  • Support for filtering of blanked objects is not available, therefore all blanked objects will be converted.
 

Step entities that are not converted

  • Groups
  • Layers
 

Using CATPart Mode versus Visu Mode

The MULTICAx STEP Plug-in supports CATPart mode, allowing for STEP parts to be imported as CATPart data files. In this mode, STEP parts data contained in the solid body are transferred into a CATPart.
As CATPart files are large and take more time to convert, the CATPart mode management is an optional feature. 

CATPart Features and Limitations

The features and limitations of Multi-CAD CATParts are the same as the ones of locked V5 CATParts, which can be used as a reference but cannot be modified.

When to use the CATPart Mode

CATPart Mode is used when a user needs to perform exact positioning and exact measuring.
You should be aware that CATPart files are larger than their corresponding CGR files. Therefore, it is recommended that CATPart mode is only enabled if exact positioning, exact measurement or putting constraints is required.