CATIA V5 to 3DCS: Use Publication to Save Time

A publication acts as a reference to a geometric or datum entity in CATIA V5.

In 3DCS Variation Analyst CAA V5 Based, users can use published surfaces that copy the surface name, surface color and other properties.

In addition to speeding up dimensional analysis, using this method also improves linking between components in your tree.

Options: User can set renaming (if the user changes the name of surface Extract)

Import: Import a text file with feature names. The Publication UI will create them, the user will have to select the geometric feature to update

Export: Exports a text file with the Publication names (Notepad can be used to set names)

Parameter: The user can select a length dimension, or XYZ coordinate for other users to use in their part files

To create a Publication:

1.Activate a part in an assembly

2.Use Extract on a surface

3.Change the properties; name, color, line type

4.Go to Tools and select Publications

5.Select each feature to be Published

Publications in Assembly Design (3DCS)

To add Published elements to the Assembly Design or 3DCS workbenches, add the icon to a toolbar by going:

1.Tools -> Customize, select the Toolbar tab

2.Select a toolbar to add the command (i.e., DCSTools)

3.Select the Add Command button

4.Search the list for Publications…, select and click the OK button

Browse: this option is added when adding Published elements to the assembly level. The user can use browse to add already Published elements created in the part documents.

• If adding Published elements to the top level assembly, the user will have to manually select the surfaces to Publish

• Adding Published elements to the sub-assembly; Click Browse…, and highlight each element to Publish and click OK

Using Publication In 3DCS

In 3DCS, with pre-created Publications, the user can use those surfaces as 3DCS CADSurfaces, or CADEdges. The name and parameters will be copied in 3DCS. Additionally, if the part is replaced in CATIA and the part has Published elements, the links to 3DCS features will not be lost. An update to the geometry will be needed.

*However, the names have to be exactly the same as the previous Published elements. The order of features in the tree isn’t required.

Process for using Published surfaces in 3DCS

1.In the part with Publications, Export a text file for the Publication names

2.In a new part, Import the text file

3.Select the new named features (ex: HL_TrimEdge)

4.Select the surfaces to be used in the 3DCS model

5.Replace the CATIA part in Assembly Design with the new part and Update the 3DCS model