What is Catia

[James_Sr_ICT]

Bill:
Morning. fixture's, test labs, sound's like it could be some interesting stuff.

[osdhillon]

CATIA V5 is parametric windows based software. Originally it started from Version 1.6 -V4.2.2 (Unix Based) It was a powerfull 3-D solid design tool. I have been using it since 1994. In 1997 it moved to windows platform. At the moment version 14.0 is out and V.15 is due in two months. It combines, Surfacing, Solids, Drafting, Machining package, Plant design, Powerfull analysis/simulation, digital mockup and knowledgeware. I have used Ideas, unigraphics in the past, but CATIA is different. You can design the part (3-D solid) and then define the machining process all in catia. No doubt you need years of experience to become an expert but for home user (simple parts, assemblies and then creating G-codes) it can be learned in few weeks.

Worth a try!!

Cheers
Onkar Singh

[cncwhiz]

I am a Pro E user and use Pro manufacturing as well for programming. You can not compare Catia UG or Pro E to mastercam surf cam etc. The high end software can do nc programming but that is only a small part of the software. You can not do "FEA" or assemblies to build a car or what ever complete with bill of materials along with alot of other things for complete manufacturing. If you are doing basic modeling and nc programming you don't need these programs. To use these programs to do those kind of things is overkill big time. As far as high leveled engineers being snobby like was talked about before. This can be the case. But some of us programmer machinists have snobbgy egos as well.

[SPHINX]

REFER THIS http://www.3ds.com
THERE IS NO NECESSARY TO BROUGHT ALL PACKAGES
AND I THOUGHT V5 MORE EASY TO LEARNING THAN V4
I USE V5 CAM NEAR 3 YEARS

[rickwinters]

Originally Posted by James_Sr_ICT Catia is way overrated, over priced and is user unfriendly. There are several Cad-Cam systems on the market that will do the same thing for thousands less and are very user friendly.

Please sir - could you name some of those user friendly progs? I'd sure appreciate it....

[James_Sr_ICT]

Sir: I'm sorry it took so long to reply. My preference in CadCam programs is Mastercam. I have used mastercam sense it was V3.2 and run out of DOS.
It is very user friendly and easy to learn. It can be expensive if you get level 3
and all of the addon's, around 13 to 15 k I would guess. I have heard that
BobCad V20 and SurfCam are good packages but I've never used them. Do
yourself a favor and stay away from Catia and Unigraphic's if possible. In a
small shop, you need to get up and running ASAP and Catia and UG will take
twice as long to get good at. I would be interested in what your going to do
with a cad package after you get it, so if you want to chat about it, feel free
to e-mail me. jimsrict@sbcglobal.net Later, James Sr.

[gopinb]

Hello All,
I would like to know about the various CAM packages available in the market like MasterCAM, UG cam, Catia, DellCAM etc, about their advantages and disadvantages based on Features available, functionality, economical.
If you people have any information or any links where I could find such info, please mail me at gopimng@rediffmail.com.
This would be a great help. Waiting for responce,
Regards, Gopinath

[tex]

Originally Posted by CNCadmin OK what is this software and how much is it?

It is a CAD-CAM-FEA package used to design, test and manufacture BOEING 777 from scratch. I think this says a lot.

[dave925]

I use Catia at work to design business aircraft. I don’t know what the cost of Catia would be for a single license, but at work we have thousand of licenses and our standard budgeted price for the basic module (Solids and Drafting) is over $10k with an additional $1500 yearly fee. Once you add in the Analysis and Manufacturing Pkgs it cost approx $40k with $5k yearly fees.

Catia is a very powerful design, analysis and manufacturing tool. Catia was design by Dassult to be used for the design of sophisticated Aircraft containing thousands of complex parts.. If you are not designing aircraft, Catia is probable overkill.

The CAD aspect of Catia is similar to SolidWorks, Alibre, SolidEdge ect. The real power of Catia is what you can do with the models after you have created them. Unless you need to do high-level Finite Element Analysis or Aerodynamic analysis of your design, Catia will be overkill.

Learning the basic CAD of Catia is not that difficult, especially if you have any experience with other feature based CAD software. But it will take years to learn all the nuances of Catia. Catia does have its quirks.

I am currently in the process of upgrading my Cad software at home to start the design of a CNC router. I currently have TurboCad V8 Pro. I am currently evaluating Alibre Design software, which so far is the front-runner. If someone gave me a free copy of Catia to use at home, I would probably use it, but if I had to pay anything for it, I would use something else.