Product Origin 1

[wallybanger]

OK, this is really pissing me off. How in the hell do you define the origin of a product?

The one thing that drives me f'n crazy about catia is that the products don't have a coordinate system.

I find myself adding an empty part to all of my assemblies just so I have a point of reference.

I can go to a bunch of trouble with an assembly and then when I add it to another assembly, it never comes in in the right god damn place.

Errrrrr!! Anyway, if anyone could shed some light I would appreciate it.

 

[zyx82]

Have you tried constrains? Try fixing the initial assembly and then constrain all that others that you put in afterward.
If I'm not mistaking the default origin of an assembly is the axis system of the first part that you put in.
P.S.: It all depends on how you start building the parts within the assemblies in the first place. That's what's nice about Catia you have full control for what happens to the relations between parts, assemblies, sub-assemblies.

 

[itsmyjob]

IF you have tubing Workbench, you will see 'the AXIS' of the product.

If you don't : right click the Compass and select the option 'snap to selected element' then select you product in the tree, the compass will move to the origin of the product and eventually give you the coordinate // root level product.

Be careful about the active level when you move parts...

Eric N.
indocti discant et ament meminisse periti ​

 

[tbuelna]

wallybanger,

You sound like most of the frustrated, ex-Unigraphics users I know. You just need to re-adjust your thinking.

It is not necessary, nor even desirable, to have a specific coordinate system in a CatProduct. All of your parts in a product are positioned relative to each other using constraints. A specific coordinate system is not required in a product because each product sub-assy will be positioned at its next assembly.

The beauty of using constraints is that changes to the individual part models will produce automatic updates in the next assemblies if the constraints are created thoughtfully.

Good luck.
Terry

 

[solid7]

It is easy to define the origin of the product by creating a reference CATPart as the first item in your tree. Since the XYZ planes form the global axis, anything constrained (or created in context) relative to this geometry will be based around the origin. If you want parts to fall into place without a lot of jockeying, this is the simplest way to accomplish it.





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[wallybanger]

Thanks for the replies guys.

First of all I'll say that sometimes I work with imported, complex, junk parts that have been converted god knows how many times before I get them and are just a MESS in the tree.

I have been creating "Reference" parts to define the origin but I think what I did was add the parts and when I realized the origin was F'd up, I added the reference part in last. I tried re-organizing it to the top of the tree and that didn't work.

So would I have to remove (or cut/paste) everything else in the tree to establish the reference part as the default origin for the product?

lol not Unigraphics (thank god, I hear it was a NIGHTMARE), I was on ProE before the big change

Again, thanks for the help guys..... this stuff gets TURBO frustrating.

 

[ewh]

I hear it was a NIGHTMARE

Not really... NX is actually very easy to use if you forget anything learned on other systems and approach it with an open mind. Much depends on the methodology that you first learn; thereafter any other system with a different approach can be a nightmare.
The main reason many consider Unigraphics so difficult is because there are many ways to accomplish the same thing. It is not structured so that you must follow a set procedure to achieve anything.

"Good to know you got shoes to wear when you find the floor." - [small]Robert Hunter[/small]

 

[solid7]

It is not structured so that you must follow a set procedure to achieve anything.

Not that true, really. In fact, Catia is one of the most open structured CAD systems available. (more so, IMO than any NX product)

I tried re-organizing it to the top of the tree and that didn't work

Edit -> Components -> Graph Tree Reordering


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Catia Design|Catia Design News|Catia V5 blog

 

[ewh]

It was my understanding that you must start with a sketch to create anything in Catia.

"Good to know you got shoes to wear when you find the floor." - [small]Robert Hunter[/small]

 

[PeterGuy]

that is not correct, you can start with pretty much anything you like