Customizing Toolbars and Start Menu in CATIA V5

Posted on October 22, 2020January 6, 2025 by Santosh Gade

Customization of toolbars helps a regular CATIA V5 user for executing day to day tasks and also to increase productivity. One can customize the toolbar to include the frequently used commands, so that the user has a smooth and seamless experience while using CATIA. The user need not search for each and every command in the respective toolbar every time. These customized toolbars can be used on any workbenches. There are two ways to do this:

Creating a new customized Toolbar:

In CATIA V5, there is a provision to create a new customized toolbar where one can add frequently used tools and Macros. The main reason for customization is it will save time to access the commands when the user switches the workbenches.

Go to Tools ➞ Customize or right click on any toolbar and select Customize to open the dialog box

Customize dialog box contains the following tabs:

Start Menu: This tool is used to customize the Start Menu where one can add the available workbenches to the list of favourites.
User Workbenches: Create your own customized workbench.
Toolbars: Shows the toolbars which are visible currently.
Commands: These are the commands one can drag and drop to customize the toolbar.
Options: Includes general customization options.

Go to Tools ➞ Customize ➞ Toolbars tab and select New

Type the Toolbar Name ➞ Ok.

Go to Commands ➞ All Commands. Drag and drop the required commands to the New Toolbar as displayed below.

Customization of existing Toolbars:

One can drag and drop the command onto a toolbar to add it to the toolbar, and drag away the command from the toolbar to delete it.

1. 1. Go to Commands tab which shows the available commands.
  2. One can filter the commands by category, which is listed in the Menu bar.

By selecting Help category, the commands available under it are visible in the Commands area which is displayed below.

All Commands category shows all commands which are available to use.

If there is any Macro created, it shows the names too. These Macros can then be added to the toolbar.

1. - Select the required Category and then Command from Commands area.

The Rotation command is selected as displayed in the picture below. Note the icon of the command and a short help message which explains the role of the icon.

1. - To add Rotation command to the Standard toolbar, just drag the command from the above window and drop it on the Standard toolbar as shown below.

1. - To delete Rotation command from the toolbar, drag it away from the toolbar and drop it back to commands list in Customize window.

The commands which don’t have icons can also be dragged and dropped on to the toolbar where their name will be visible as shown below.

Note:

It is not possible to customize the View
It is not possible to drag and drop local commands to global toolbars (for example, it is not possible to drag and drop the Pad command to the Standard toolbar). If one tries, the symbol appears which indicates that this drag and drop is forbidden.

Customizing Start Menu:

Start Menu can be customized by adding the required workbenches to the favourites list.

Go to Tools ➞ Customize ➞ Start Menu tab

From the available workbenches list, add the required workbenches to the favourites list

The Start Menu will appear as shown below.

Environment Variables in CATIA V5

Posted on October 22, 2020January 6, 2025 by Santosh Gade

Environment variables in CATIA are used to customize the CATIA environment as per the user requirements.

There are some Environment Variables which help to start CATIA faster. Though they are not documented, they are used by the user community as they work well with the current supported CATIA release.

To add these variables to your current Windows profile:

Right click “My Computer”
Click “Properties”
Click on the “Advanced” tab
Click the “Environment Variables” button which will open a new dialog box
Under “User variables”, click on “New”
Enter the variable name and values from the list below

These Environment Variables can also be added directly to CATIA environment file at location: C:\ProgramData\DassaultSystemes\CATEnv\CATIA.V5-6R20xx.Byy.

Then save the file and restart CATIA.

The most commonly used variables are:

To disable a CAT Product opening on start-up:

CATNoStartDocument = YES

CATIA Startup Screen after using the above Environment Variable:

To disable the galaxy background at start-up:

CNEXTBACKGROUND = NO

CATIA Startup Screen after using this Environment Variable:

To disable the CATIA splash screen on load:

CNEXTSPLASHSCREEN = NO

If the above Environment Variable is set, CATIA starts without loading the below splash screen.

If you would like to create a custom or company-specific splash screen, all you have to do is replace the file:

C:\ProgramFiles\DassaultSystemes\Bxx\win_b64\resources\graphic\splashscreens\CATIASplash.bmp

Replace the above file with the new file where xx is the version of CATIA you have installed.

CATIA runs console window/Display CATIA’s logs in command window:

CNEXTOUTPUT = console

The default galaxy background image can also be changed by replacing the file
C:\ProgramFiles\DassaultSystemes\Bxx\win_b64\resources\graphic\icons\ClientMDIBackgroundNT.bmp where xx is the version of CATIA you have installed.

LUM is not supported as a licensing mechanism starting from CATIA V5-6 R2013. In order to use LUM licensing mechanism with CATIA V5 R21 & R22, Environment Variable DSLICENSING with variable value LEGACY should be used by going to Advance System Settings.

Also, when using CATIA on Windows XP operating system, to communicate with either DSLS or LUM license server, add the following Environment Variable.

By using following Environment Variable, we can disable license error messages at start-up.

CATLM_ODTS=1

Common Errors and Warnings in Contact and Convergence

Posted on October 22, 2020January 6, 2025 by Shwetha S

While running the analysis on a model with contacts, a major problem arises i.e. convergence. It is not just because of single reason, that it can be resolved in an easy way. When you come across such problems in different types of analysis, job will terminate by showing an error message or a set of warnings in the analysis. That means the solution is unable to converge.

There are different reasons for why an ABAQUS analysis fails in obtaining the convergence. The main key area we need to look at is errors and warnings. Almost all symptoms of convergence issue are mentioned in the message file. The following are some common set of error and warning messages that arise during the convergence:

ERROR: TOO MANY INCREMENTS NEEDED TO COMPLETE THE STEP

This error arises mainly because of zero pivot or numerical singularity warnings. Check the message file for any warning message. Check the loads and make sure the model can withstand that amount of load and also increase the limit of maximum number of increments in the step.

WARNING: ELEMENT 441 IS DISTORTING SO MUCH THAT IT TURNS INSIDE OUT

This warning is because of Mesh Convergence and it can be fixed by two methods:

- Refining the mesh into small element length to improve the convergence.
- By using the complex element type, such as using hybrid formulation, using hourglass enhance technique, etc.

ERROR: TIME INCREMENT REQUIRED IS LESS THAN MINIMUM SPECIFIED -ANALYSIS ENDS

Analysis terminates because the minimum time increment specified is less to achieve the convergence. In the first step, you need to check the message file to see the warnings and error message. To resolve this error, minimum allowable increment size in the step needs to be reduced to obtain the converged solution.

WARNING: THE STRAIN INCREMENT HAS EXCEEDED FIFTY TIMES THE STRAIN TO CAUSE FIRST YIELD AT 500 POINTS

It indicates that the analysis is undergoing excessive plastic yielding which leads to solution inaccuracy and convergence problem. This warning is because of unstable material behaviour. The main cause for this warning is insufficient material data with respect to stress-strain data. The other factors that influence strain increment are: insufficient mesh refinement and unstable deformation, such as buckling. It is always better to extrapolate the plasticity data so that the slope is positive over the range of strain.

WARNING: THE SOLUTION APPEARS TO BE DIVERGING

This warning message is because of a large increment in the step. Automatic time increment resolves this issue by reducing time increment. It is not a cause for convergence problem but such warnings may lead to cutbacks in analysis.

The majority of convergence problems can be resolved with different approaches. Some of the tips needed to be considered while resolving the convergence problems are mentioned below:

1. - Instabilities with respect to contact discontinuity in the analysis directly affect the convergence rate. To overcome local instability due to contact separation, we need to assign the surface wise stabilization in the interaction module by creating the stabilization in contact.

1. - Contact non-convergence problem relies on the stability of contact. Keeping that in mind, ABAQUS offers contact controls for stabilization in static problems. Apply the contact controls in order to resolve instabilities in the model during analysis.

1. - Pay attention to warning messages as some of them are specific. If the warning message repeats itself and repeated cutbacks occur, it may indicate a stability issue. This is the most common cause of non-convergence. This can be overcome by specifying the dissipated energy fraction under automatic stabilization in step module.

1. - One cause for convergence issue is boundary conditions. If the model is assigned with inadequate boundary condition, it can lead to over or under-constrained conditions. Due to unreasonable boundary conditions, warnings will be generated under job monitor.

The major issue while running contact based problems is convergence and analysis will terminate because of different reasons related to convergence issues. To overcome these problems and to get an accurate output, we need to look at warnings and errors in the message file to judge the aspects responsible for convergence issue in a finite element analysis. Convergence plays an important role in terms of accuracy of simulation problems. So we need to resolve the warnings and errors efficiently to get the required output. I hope this blog has given you the overall solution for convergence problem, considering the most common warnings and error messages.

Understanding DELMIA Virtual Simulation

Posted on October 21, 2020January 6, 2025 by Chirag Dharod

Typically, in a manufacturing organization, after the design stage and before manufacturing, there is a stage involving planning/PPC and manufacturing engineering. DELMIA (Digital Enterprise Lean Manufacturing Interactive Application) helps organizations to do feasibility study and process validations during detailed process planning immediately after the design stage.

Below are three DELMIA digital manufacturing solutions which can be used in the day-to-day workings of a Simulation Engineer to plan and manufacture.

Assembly Simulation

While planning for assembly processes, one always needs to take care of feasibility for fitting and disassembly sequence for maintenance purposes. Many organizations perform study on the actual part or the prototype which is expensive and time-consuming. Also, multiple iterations are involved in the study as it is in later stages of design.

To avoid these challenges, planners can use virtual tools like Assembly Simulation and simulate the assembly and disassembly sequences and check for multiple possibilities. By doing this, they can validate the assemblies for static and dynamic clash, ease of doing maintenance, tool accessibility etc.

Robotics

Many organizations use robots for speed, repeatability and accuracy of work or in hazardous environments like welding. Robot programming with technical support for a particular task is a tedious job and it takes the production time of the robot which is expensive due to loss of productivity.

With DELMIA Robotics, one can teach the robot in the virtual world for welding, material handling, painting, machining, shot peening etc. After validating the program, one can transfer it to the actual robot. After some minor corrections, the robot will work as needed. Hence, the organization can save time and money by using these robots as they can work uninterrupted for a long time.

Ergonomics

There are two aspects in ergonomics:

- 1. Ergonomics of the shop floor for comfort and safety of the worker.
  2. Product ergonomics for consumer experience.

At times organizations do ergonomics study by producing expensive prototypes or apply their learnings from previous experiences. Many times one can observe that workers are not productive because of the work environment. Due to this, there is a productivity loss to the company.

Using virtual validation of ergonomics, one can improve the work experience of the worker as well as enhance consumer experience. Ergonomics study is useful to ensure comfort, ease of use, reduce fatigue and ensure more productivity. By checking the feasibility and reachability, one can ensure safety and reduction in stress level of the user.

DELMIA’s ergonomics solutions can help you to do interior design of automobiles and airplanes, work safety analysis and maintenance tasks.

Performance settings in CATIA V5

Posted on October 21, 2020January 6, 2025 by Swapnil Deshmukh

There are many ways to manage the performance of CATIA V5 & accuracy of models. To improve performance & increase productivity, we need to configure the settings properly. Some of these options are discussed in detail in this document. These will immensely benefit CATIA users.

Undo Stack

Undo ➞ Stack size ➞ change from 10 to 5

Stack Size defines the maximum number of commands which can be undone for each document. Lower the value better the performance. More the stack value, more will be the memory consumption.

Tools ➞ Options ➞ General ➞ PCS ➞ Undo stack size

Virtual Memory Setting

Virtual memory of the system should be set to recommended value.

Set trigger memory from 70% to 90%.

A warning message gets activated when the application detects that the memory consumption exceeds the given threshold.

Set 2D and 3D Accuracy for Display

2D and 3D Accuracy settings can be controlled at:

Tools ➞ Options ➞ Display ➞ Performance

Set 2D and 3D Accuracy to maximum value (0.5 or 1.0).

3D Accuracy Settings for Display

The 3D Accuracy Setting controls the tessellation of surfaces.

Proportional:

Calculating tessellation according to object size. The larger the object, the coarser will be the tessellation. For the same accuracy value, the tessellation on small objects will always be finer than on the larger objects.

Fixed:

It sets a fixed accuracy value for calculating tessellation on all objects which does not vary with object size.

In Fixed settings option, user can set a sag value (from 0.01 to 10) for calculating tessellation on all objects which does not vary with object size. The sag value defines the chordal deviation for curves and surfaces.

Pixel Culling

The minimum object size in pixels technology is used to define the size in pixels of objects to be displayed or hidden in the geometry.
Setting a high value enables to quickly move large parts.
Setting a low value displays more details. For example, setting a value of 2 means that objects whose size on screen is lower than 2 pixels are static.

Anti-Aliasing

This technology is used to smooth out the uneven edges of objects.
For better performance, anti-aliasing should be disabled.

Tools ➞ Options ➞ General ➞ Display ➞ Visualization

Level of Detail (LOD)

The Level of Detail technology or LOD adjusts the polygonal representation of an object to the distance of the user. The idea is that it is not always necessary to view a high level of detail in the geometry because some objects are far away, enough to make the detail meaningless.
Set a high value to remove details.
Set a low value to see all details.

Occlusion Culling

The occlusion culling technology improves rendering performance by rendering visible objects only. It is used to detect and prevent occluded objects from being rendered.
Occlusion culling optimizes memory consumption and CPU usage.
Recommended for large and highly compartmented assemblies.

Use approximate mode for creating views in drafting.

Tools ➞ options ➞ Mechanical design ➞ drafting ➞ View ➞ View generation mode ➞ approximate view

Use CGR management while working on large assemblies.

Tools ➞ options ➞ Infrastructure ➞ Product Infrastructure ➞ Cache management ➞ Check work with cache system

Proper CATIA Media Setup

CATIA V5 64 bit is to be installed on a 64-bit machine. Also install updated service packs for respective release on GA code.

Recommended DS Hardware

System configuration should be as recommended by Dassault Systèmes. Refer the below link.

https://www.3ds.com/support/hardware-and-software/

Cleaning Data

Assembly cleaning: Regularly clean the assembly as mentioned below:

Files ➞ desk ➞ right click on part/product ➞ CATDUAV5 ➞ select priority 3 ➞ check clean option at bottom ➞ RUN

Repeat this procedure for all parts and products.

Corrupted CATSettings

Delete corrupted CATSetting.

For Operating System: Windows XP

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator (User Name) \Application Data\DassaultSystemes\CATSettings

For Operating System: Winows7/10

C\User\Username\App Data\ DassaultSystemes\Roaming\CATSettings

Delete all files in CATSettings folder (except licensing file).

Using Publications in CATIA V5

Posted on October 20, 2020January 6, 2025 by Santosh Gade

With the help of Publications in CATIA V5, one can make different geometrical features available for use in the specification tree.

One can publish a plane, a sketch or a parameter which is not readily visible in the specification tree.

In assembly workbench, during Contextual Design, Publication option becomes very useful.

In CATIA V5, go to Tools ↦ Publication

The Publication command is used to:

Publish a geometrical element
Edit the default name of the published element
Replace geometric element associated with the given name
Create a published element list
Import this published element list
Delete the published element

Publication dialog box shown below:

In Assembly Design workbench, the dialog box also displays a Browse button.

Following geometries can be published in CATIA V5:

Wireframe features (Points, Lines, Planes and Curves)
Sketches
Bodies i.e. part body, other bodies
Different Part Design features like Pad, Pocket, and Hole etc.
GSD features like Extrude Surface, Fill, and Join etc.
Freestyle Design features like Planar Patches, Curves etc.
Sub-elements of all geometrical elements like Faces, Edges, Vertices etc.
In the image displayed below, Face is selected as an element to publish which is highlighted in the geometry.

Rename the face as Branch1_Face. The face is published as

To publish axes, right-click cylindrical faces and select Other Selection à Axis.

Rename it to Branch1_Axis.

During the use of Publication, one can decide to rename or not rename the elements that are published by using Options menu in the dialog box. Before renaming, one of the following work modes can be set:

Never – This is the default option. It will not allow to rename the published element.
Always – One can always rename the published element.
Ask – The application will ask whether to rename the published element or not.

Note:

One can rename any element except for axes, edges and faces.
Exclamation mark is not allowed for renaming the published element.

Check Ask and click OK to exit.

As shown in the following image, a face and an axis of the CRIC_Branch_1 part has been published.

Advantages of using Publications in CATIA V5

Publishing geometry has the following advantages:

- Published geometry can be given a name which can easily be recognized e.g. in case of publishing edges, faces etc.
- Publications are used to make a particular geometry easily accessible from the specification tree.
- By using the required setting, only published elements can be used as an external reference if it is the requirement.
- Publications are very helpful when replacing one component of an assembly with another because published elements having the same name are automatically reconnected during replacement. Else one would have to reconnect them manually if they were not published.

Category: Blog