Catia adapter - User manual
Table of Contents
This guide is to explain step by step the process to transfer values or objects from Catia to COMET.
Before continuing further, please be aware of the limits of the adapter and of the troubleshooting page in the event an error should happen during the process.
General
To start the adapter, just run the executable from the unzipped folder.
Set-up and Initialization
Start your Catia software and open a Catia model.
Getting Started
From the main window connect to a e-TM-10-25 model. Once this is done, you should be able to browse the ElementDefinition tree. You can then now open a connection to the Catia instance. After this step you can browse the Catia product tree of the focus open model in Catia.
Main fuctionalities
From the main window of the adapter, it is possible to:
- To switch transfer direction,
- To view messages on the status bar,
- To visualize trees from both models,
- To refresh the E-TM-10-25 session,
- To Connect/Disconnect from data sources,
- To preview the net change,
- To visualize the exchange history,
- To refresh the Catia product tree panel
Security wise, login to a E-TM-10-25 source can be done with your COMET® login/password which your model administrator can also provide. The connection to Catia local and does not need any credentials to be established. For the adapter to find the Catia instance, both pieces of software need to be launch with the same level of user privilege.
Normal Operations
The Catia v5 adapter lets you transfer elements in one or the other direction.
When configuring a mapping from Catia v5 to the Hub, you can define or redefine the target 10-25 element definition of the top element in the Catia product tree. This element definition needs to be created on the Hub before doing the mapping, the adapter is not able to create a new one. Then all the child elements will then be automatically mapped based on their short name. But also redefine mapping by specifying element by element a different target element.
The previous operations register themselves in a process where once you have defined what element to transfer to what element of destination, you have the possibility to preview the impact on the target model, but also to filter those impact view based on a selection from the source model.
Then you can transfer your mapped values to their configured destination.
When you choose to transfer, the mapped elements are then transferred to the configured target model. In the case anything goes wrong at this stage, you can cancel, and the adapter will delete every configured mapping in the state of pending to transfer. Then the adapter will reload and re-apply the mapping automatically. When configuring a mapping from the Hub to Catia v5, you have two options either transfer parameters to a Catia element or to add a new element to the Catia product tree based on the source ElementDefinition. Please note that to add a new element to Catia, you need to use Catia V5 2020, because the templates were created with this version. You can also replace the templates located in binaries directory of the adapter under the folders Services\CatiaTemplateService\Templates\3dTemplates and Services\CatiaTemplateService\Templates\2dTemplates.
Supported Elements
If you chose to create a new Catia element based on an ElementDefinition, the source ElementDefinition must at least contain a Parameter of ParameterType shape kind with the ShortName “kind” of type TextParameterType or EnumerationParameterType holding one of the following values:
- Box
- Cylinder
- Cone
- Sphere
- Paraboloid
- TriPrism
- QuadPrism
- CappedCylinder
- PolyPrism
- Tetrahedron
- Wedge
- Capsule
- Triangle
- CylinderSegment
- SphericalSegment
- PlanarQuadrilateral
- DiscSegment
- ParaboloidSegment
This adapter will add the new shape to the Catia model based on this value to pick the right 3D or 2D Catia template furnished with the adapter.
Please refer to the limits page for more information on transferable parameters in addition to the shape kind parameter.
Limitation: CATIA v5 does not allow for parametric control of primitives. As such, all shapes are created from template geometry and their size is controlled through transformation matrices.
You can also transfer material information and color information; however, the material must be applied to the entire part to be mapped correctly.
Normal Termination
After all transfer are complete the tree views are refreshed showing Parameters and Variables with their new value. From the main window terminating the program is simple in the way that all connections to Catia and the hub are closed by the program automatically.