Catia V5 into Solidworks 2012 3

[closer9]

For various reasons we are considering switching from Catia V5 to Solidworks 2012. We have been told that SW now has a translater that will do a decent job of converting. I've done some searching, but haven't been able to find anything to say whether or not this is really the case. Most of the info I find is older versions of each software package.

I'm hoping to get some files sent off to a rep to convert, but would like some feedback from those who have actually been through this.

thanks!

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

A translator for Catia to SW has been requested for a long time, but as far as I know, it doesn't exist within SW yet.

I believe the following link shows the simplest method.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21560273/Importing-a-Catia-File-Into-Solid-Works-With-Adobe

 

[AnnaWood]

Try Sycode.....

http://www.sycode.com/index.htm

They have translators for Catia v5 to SolidWorks.

It will still be a dumb solid.

Cheers,

Anna Wood
SW2011 SP4, Windows 7 x64

http://www.renderbay.com

http://www.solidmuse.com

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[AnnaWood]

Sycode is likely working on the Catia V5 to SW2012. SW2012 was just released a few weeks ago. It takes a bit of time for the partner community to catch up to the latest SW release.


Cheers,

Anna

Anna Wood
SW2011 SP4, Windows 7 x64

http://www.renderbay.com

http://www.solidmuse.com

http://www.phxswug.com

 

[closer9]

hmmm... I will check out the links. Thanks!

 

[KevinDeSmet]

I can understand such a switch, were you forced in the past by an OEM to deliver in Catia even though you don't really need it for your work?

Certified SolidWorks Professional

 

[kellnerp]

A translator for Catia to SW has been requested for a long time, but as far as I know, it doesn't exist within SW yet.

Not exactly true. I had a CATIA to parasolid translator in DesignStar which was the standalone CosmosWorks in the day. I think that that might still be available as an addin for Simulation. It worked quite well.

TOP
CSWP, BSSE

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[closer9]

KevinDeSmet,
Yes. I'm in manufacturing. I do all the tooling design (among other things). Because design needed it, everyone was forced to use it. Seems the only ones still using Catia are our design guys, but some of them have even gone to SW.

Catia maybe be great for surface modeling, but I spend more time fighting it, and looking for work arounds than actually working.

I'm hoping to get some files off to the SW vendor and see what he can do with them.

 

[tummen]

We investigated this at my company about a year ago. We handle parts from catia all the time as we make fixtures for SCANIA and they draw all things for trucks in catia. It was then said that Dassaut was working on a secret plugin for SW that was only going to be offered to customers in real need of this. we could never get a price for the product and in the end we had to buy capvidia / transvidia. this is a product that took alot of our money and was said by our VAR to be a really good program. byt it is little more then a catia file reader with a bad percentage of convering and many many many bugs in the software. In the end i gave up even trying to report them.
I dont know the size of the parts you want to translate byt remember that opening an engineblock from catia in solidworks will result in 20-50 000 surfaces that will practically kill sw and make it unusable. sofar we have had no luck converting this kind of geometry to sw with good results. If you make simple things and need to convert 20 faces you migt be ok.

 

[ajack1]

I will probably get shot down for suggesting this on a Solid works forum, but Inventor LT has built in Catia translators and can be purchased for around £1,200 and there is a free 30 day trial to see if it does what you want.

You can both import and export Catia at all levels, as well as other formats.

We have found it works just as well, but not perfectly, as stand alone translators that cost far more money and you get Inventor LT thrown in, not that we use it, but I guess it might have a use one day.

With a 30 day free trial what have you got to lose?

 

[closer9]

ajack1,
Are you using SW? If so, and you're bringing Catia files in, what are you sending them to SW as?

I don't care who makes it or sells it. I need something that works. Cost is a concern, but not the biggest.

tummen,
Most of the parts I would be translating are quite simple. However, they can be rather complex with assemblies with upwards of 50 parts.

However, in a worst case, I can design new tooling in SW, and redraw anything necessary from old Catia drawings.

 

[ajack1]

No we actually use a system called Visi Vero which I believe is superior for tooling design, now I really will get shot down.

Most of our work is automotive tooling design so are usually only bringing in one part, but with a lot of surfacing to it, we then save and import as a step file from LT.

We actually purchased LT just for the Catia translators and find they work better than anything apart from Transmagic but that was rather costly.

 

[TheTick]

CATIA is a strange duck. It does strange things when translated that would make one think the translation is bad. There are "errors" that carry through because they are endemic to CATIA, and not the result of translation issues.

The most annoying of these foibles is CATIA's tendency to call surfaces "parallel" or "perpendicular" when they are not. CATIA will accept surfaces as parallel when normals are out of parallel by .000001°. That angle is 100 times greater than SolidWorks allows for parallel condition.