Catia V5 – Introduction

Catia V5 Software

How to create a simple teapot

MECH2022 Engineering Design Teapot in Catia V5

Starting CatiaV5R20 Installation instructions for the software are

included in an accompanying presentation

Either A.

Double click the Catia icon on your desktop

Or B. Go to the Start button

Note! Catia takes

a long time to start

up. Be patient, it

may take several

minutes. Do not be

tempted to try

again… it will take

even longer.

When the software opens, you will be

greeted with a screen like this.

Creating a New Part

Our first job is to create a new part

We give it a unique part name

Never get into the bad habit of just using

default part names

Never store your data in “My Documents” or

on your Desktop

Be organised! Housekeeping is a very

important part of the design process.

1. First of all we need to create a new part.

2. Select Part from the drop

down menu and hit OK.

To start with you will be creating CATPart files

Later you will build an assembly of parts which is

a CATProduct file

You will also create 2D CATDrawing files

Sometimes at this point a dialogue box

appears asking for a part name. If this

happens, fill in the details with the information

that is presented on the next slide

Note how the screen has changed and the icons around the edges are different.

You have just changed to the Part Design workbench. Different workbenches are

used in Catia to perform different jobs.

1. Right click on Part1 in the tree and select Poperties.

2. Modify the Part Number on

the Product tab.

3. Use the description as shown below with your own Student Number and User Name.

Spaces, brackets and the correct use of CAPITAL letters are important.

This is an important step for

keeping your files well organised.

If you fail to do this re-naming,

problems will occur when you work

with assemblies. You end up with

multiple parts called “Part1” even if

the filenames are unique.

Good discipline and “house-keeping” will save frustration!

1. Now we save the file.

2. By default it uses the Part Number

description you chose.

You are now ready to start

creating your model!

Creating an Axis System

It is much easier to work with an XYZ axis

There are also 3 default planes you can use

1. If an axis system does not appear as

default, you will need to create one.

2. Click OK

3. Now right click on the xy

plane in the tree and select

Hide/Show

4. Note how the

icons change

Planes now

hidden

Creating a Sketch

1. Now we start a sketch to define some 2D

geometry that is used for creating 3D features.

2. Select the xy plane on the Axis system. You could also select this from the tree.

3. Select the Circle tool

4. Click somewhere away from the xy origin for

the centre of the circle. Don’t worry about the size at this stage.

5. The circle is created. Drag the cursor away from the

centre and click to form the circle.

6. Now click anywhere in the screen so that the orange circle changes to white.

1 . Now we are going to constrain the position of

the circle so that it is exactly on the origin of our

axis.

Press and hold the Ctrl key. Select the circle

centre (A) and then the origin point (B). Both will

be highlighted orange as you do this. Remember

to keep holding the Ctrl key up until this point!

3. Choose the Coincidence tick box and

the circle will snap to the origin

automatically. A green circle will appear

at the origin to show that the centre is

now constrained to sit on the origin.

2. Select the Constraints Defined in Dialog Box

option.

You are ready to create the next part of the sketch.

Press & hold down

the Ctrl key until

you have clicked on

both “A” and “B”

A

B

1 . The circle needs to be given a size. We will

dimension the circle diameter.

Select the Constraint icon.

4. Now double-click the green

dimension so that the value can be

changed. Enter a size of 100 mm for the

diameter.

2. Left click on the circle. A

B

3. The circle goes orange.

Drag and drop the dimension

where you want it to be

placed.

1. Now we are going to draw a line and split the circle in half by trimming it.

2. If you look in the bottom left-hand corner of the

screen, you will see that Catia always prompts you for

what it is expecting to happen next. This is useful

when you are learning. In this case, it wants you to

select the start point of the line. Choose the 12 o’clock

position on the circle – the cursor will automatically

snap to the position when you hover close to it. Note

that the co-ordinates are X=0, Y=50.

3. Select the 6 o’clock

position for the end of

the line.

4. The line appears. Note how constraint symbols

have also been created as Catia automatically

detects where they should be used.

Now we will trim the left hand half of the circle to

remove it from the sketch.

How Do I Drive The Mouse? You will need a mouse with a scroll-wheel in the middle

How to pan Click and hold the scroll-wheel down

Move the mouse The part will move around

How to zoom in and out Click and hold the scroll-wheel down

Click and release the LH button

Move the mouse The part will zoom in and out

How to rotate Click and hold the scroll-wheel down

Click and hold the LH button down (don’t release the scroll-wheel!)

Move the mouse The part will rotate

If you want to choose a different centre of rotation click on the screen or geometry with the scroll-wheel

You will have to think a bit to start with but using the mouse will become second-nature!

A Few Important Tips Sometimes when sketching, a grid appears. You may

prefer to switch it off – it can get in the way. Also, you

may find your geometry sticks to the grid points. Use

the two left-most icons shown to control these

features. If highlighted, they are on.

The two right-most icons control the automatic

creation of constraints (like horizontal & vertical) and

dimension creation, if you type numbers into the

dialogue boxes when sketching. Occasionally the part will

suddenly go grey and any

attempt to move the part only

results in the tree moving, or

zooming. This has happened

because you have clicked on

the white stem of the tree by

mistake. Click anywhere on

the white part of the tree to

restore control of the part.

If you get something wrong Hit Esc or Ctrl-z

Very rarely, some of your icons disappear for no reason!! Go to View – Toolbars – Customize

Click on Restore all contents…

Click on Restore position The icons may not re-appear exactly where they were.

Get into the habit of saving your work regularly There is an auto-save feature.

If Catia ever crashes, you can restore previous auto-save data when prompted.

A Few Important Tips

1. When selecting the geometry to trim,

the location where you click on a line or

arc is important to the result. Click on

the circle somewhere around the 1

o’clock position (A).

2. Then click somewhere on the upper

half of the line (B). Note the result.

Don’t worry that the geometry is still

open towards the lower half.

Select the Trim option to modify the sketch.

The resulting geometry after trimming.

Click Exit workbench to finish the sketch

A

B

3. Now select the circle again at about the 5 o’clock position ( C).

4. Finally click on the lower half of the line (D).

C

D

Creating a Solid of Revolution

1. Now revolve the sketch to create the base

feature of the teapot. Choose the Shaft option.

2. Remember that there are prompts to tell you

what to do next. Here it is asking for you to select

the rotation axis.

3. Select the centre

axis of the circle.

4. The resulting

solid is created from

the revolution.

Experiment with the Options

With all the sketching and modelling features

there are usually lots of options available.

Don’t be afraid to experiment and try them,

as it is the best way to learn.

Be inquisitive!

Creating the Flat Top and Bottom

Now we are going to sketch on the XY plane again.

1. There are two ways to choose the sketch plane.

Firstly, select the Create 2D Sketch icon. Then

simply click on the xy Plane in the part tree.

2. The other option is to select the right angle

‘L’ of the xy plane on the origin icon.

This time we are going to draw a rectangle to cut

the top and bottom off the sphere. We will

dimension the sketch and make it symmetrical top

to bottom. Select the Rectangle icon.

4. Select the top and bottom horizontal lines

and enter the dimension of 70 mm.

1. Click anywhere for the top left corner and

then the bottom right corner. Don’t worry about the size at this stage.

2. The rectangle is created. The green symbols are for

constraints that have been created

automatically. This means the lines

are perfectly horizontal and vertical.

You can add these constraints

yourself as well when you need to.

3. Now click anywhere in the screen so that the

orange square changes to white. Select the

Constraint option.

1. Select the Constraint

command again.

2. Dimension between

the top line and the circle

centre. (This is actually

the part origin 0,0)

3. Now instead of inputting the

distance in numbers, let’s say we

want this dimension to be half of the

height.

Double click on the dimension and in

the dialogue box enter “=“ and then

click on the 70 dimension on the

screen. The dimension goes grey.

4. Click the f(x) icon and enter the text to add “/2” so

that the equation divides the selected length by 2.

Click Exit workbench to finish the sketch

1. Now choose Pocket. 2. Enter the distance of 100 and click on

the Mirrored extent option so that the

pocket extends in both directions. Also

click the Reverse Side button so that the

geometry looks something like this.

This operation will remove the top and

bottom of the teapot. At some stage, try

the other options to see what they do.

The preview button is a useful tool to

see what happens before you click OK.

The resulting geometry

Creating the Spout

From this point onwards, the instructions will not show every single step as you should be

getting used to the methods involved.

Also, the sketch geometry is not fully constrained for convenience. It is good practice to

make sure every item of sketch geometry is fully constrained and that you use round

numbers wherever possible.

The first way to create the

spout is to draw a series of

lines and blend the joins with a

radius or two, know as

Corners in this package.

Instead of drawing individual

lines, you can choose a

Profile.

1.

2. You change the size of the radius

by inputting a larger value in the

dialogue box. Double click on the

dimension after it has been

created to do this.

This may not make the spout a

good resulting shape so there is

another option.

Splines are more artistic than a

series of joined lines and arcs.

They are harder to fully constrain

but dimensions can be added if

required.

1. As a better alternative,

try the spline option for

creating the spout profile.

2. Click to form a series

of control points. Once

you have finished (by

double-clicking the final

point, or pressing the esc

key), the points can be

pulled around to achieve

the shape you want. This

will be the centre line of

your spout.

Now we create a sketch plane on either end of the spline so that the cross-section

profiles can be drawn. These end profiles will then be joined by following the spout

centre spline that you have just sketched.

1. Choose Plane and then the Normal to curve option.

2. Click on the spline to choose the Curve and

then the spout end of the spline to define the

Point.

This is what you should end up with.

The spline sketch is still visible.

Note how the tree has changed.

A Geometrical Set is a collection

of geometry used for creating the

part.

1. Do the same on the other end of the spline.

This is what you should end up with.

The spline sketch is still visible.

1. Create a 2D Sketch on the second of

our planes, the one near the teapot body.

Draw a circle with a diameter of 20 mm.

We want to constrain this to the end of

the spline, but it may be hard to do with

the sketch in a true planar view.

Use the mouse to rotate the

model around to make it easier

to see the sketch and the spline.

Practice manoeuvring the model

around until you have a view

something like this.

To constrain to the end of the spline, we have to use the end point as a

reference element for the sketch.

1. Like you did before with

the very first circle, hold

Ctrl and click the end of

the spline (A) and then the

circle centre (B).

2. Choose the Constraints

Defined in Dialog Box

option.

3. Select the Coincident Constraint. The circle

will move to this point and turn green to show

it is fully constrained.

A

B

Click Exit workbench to finish the sketch

Do exactly the same on the other plane. Sketch a circle 10 mm in diameter on

the spout end of the spline and constrain it to the end point with a Coincidence.

You should end up with something like this.

1. Now we choose the Multi-section Solid function to create the spout.

2. This dialogue box opens.

Select the two sketches you created as

the Sections in the first box.

3. Then click on the Spine tab below.

Choose the curve for the centre line of

the spout.

Click the preview button and then

when you are happy to proceed click

OK to create the spout.

1. Now we create the handle by

sketching the outer ellipse

shown below. Note that it is not

fully constrained in this example.

2. To create the inner ellipse, use

the Offset function.

3. Change the

dimension to the

offset to 8 mm.

4. Once the sketch is complete, exit

the sketch and select the Pad

function.

Strictly speaking you should dimension the major and

minor axes of the large ellipse as well as its centre

location on the sketch to fully constrain it.

Use the Dimension option with 5 mm Mirrored extent

1. Now the outer profiles of the handle are

softened by adding a fillet radius to all four

sharp edges.

2. Click on all four outer

edges and enter a radius

size of 2 mm, before clicking

OK.

The handle should look like this.

1. The next stage is to make the teapot

hollow. Select the Shell command.

2. For now, we will only make the end of

the spout an open end. This is done by

selecting the end of the spout as a face

to be removed. The face where the lid

would sit will be dealt with in a moment.

3. You have to choose a wall thickness for the

shell operation. You can also decide if you want

the shell to be on the inside of the part, the

outside, or both. You may want to try the

various options before setting the wall thickness

on the inside of the part.

Depending on the wall thickness you choose and the inside or

outside options, it may not be possible to compute the solution.

1. Next we cut the end off the spout

to make it look more realistic. Select

the xy Plane to sketch on and draw

a rectangle to use for cutting.

2. Choose the Dimension

limit for the Pocket operation

with a distance of 20 mm

and using the Mirrored

extent option.

The spout should look like this.

1. We will create a lip on the top and

bottom of the teapot. Select the face

shown as the sketch plane.

3. Select the outer edge of the plane on top of

the teapot. It will appear as yellow on the sketch

to show it is linked to the existing geometry.

4. Offset the outer edge by 3

mm. Add a dimension to control

the offset. You may need to add

a negative value to make sure

the circle is offset inwards. This

will create a wall that is 3 mm

thick when it is extruded.

4. Exit the sketch.

2. We are going to use an existing edge to create part

of our sketch geometry. Select the Project 3D Elements

function shown.

1. Use Pad > Dimension > 3mm.

Make sure the extrude is in the upward direction!

2. You can click on this arrow to

reverse the direction or use the

Reverse Direction button.

1. Now we will do the same on the bottom of the teapot. Instead

of creating a sketch and extruding it, there is a simpler way to

achieve the result. We use the Mirror command.

2. First select the feature to be

mirrored. You can choose more

than one, but here we will select

just the Pad we made for the lip on

the top. Click on the feature in the

part tree on the left of the screen.

3. Then click on the Mirror

Plane in the dialogue box

and choose the xz Plane

from the tree.

If all goes well, you should end up with this result.

As a point of interest, why do nearly all teapots have a hollow

feature in the base and not have a solid flat bottom?

1. Nearly there now. Let’s make an opening in the top for where a lid

would go. Select the face shown as the sketch plane.

1. Creat a D shaped profile, which is

typical of the opening in many traditional

teapots.

2. Choose the Pocket feature and select

the “Up to next” option instead of a

dimension. This means that the profile will

cut through the part until it breaks through

and then stops. You could do it with a

Distance like before, but this means you

don’t have to know the value required.

There are other options. Try them at some

stage to learn what they do.

1. Now we are onto the refinements that

turn our teapot into something that looks

realistic. Any hard edges that remain on a

part always make it look computer

generated. It is also difficult to manufacture

sharp edges. Soften them with a fillet radius.

You may have to try some of the other

options to get fillets to work properly as they

are created from complex mathematics. If a

solution is not possible the fillet won’t work.

Experience is the only way to learn this…

2. Here we use a 3 mm radius to

blend the join of the spout. Carry on

right round the teapot. Here a

combination of sizes were used.

See what looks right.

Some fillet sizes will be too big. For instance, a 3 mm

radius would not be possible on the tip of the spout.

This is a useful feature. It allows you to “rewind” the

part. This means that you don’t always have to add

new features to the end of the part. This is a problem

most beginners have, thinking that anything new has

to go at the end of the tree. This is not always the

most suitable place.

1. Right click in the tree on the Multi-sections Solid

feature that we created for the spout. Select Define

In Work Object. Note how the part is frozen at this

point in the build process. An underline in the tree

denotes the In Work Object.

2. As an example we are

going to model the handle

in another way to the first

one we tried. We will do

this and “switch off” the

original handle without

deleting it.

See the next slide for details!

1. Create an ellipse on the XY Plane as shown. Draw

a vertical line, turn it into a construction element

using the sketch tool shown and trim the ellipse back.

Exit the sketch.

2. Just like you did before, create a sketch plane

Normal to Curve at Point.

3. Try drawing an Elongated Hole and make it

symmetrical to the x axis.

You want to end up with

this geometry for creating a

Sweep

1. Use a Rib feature to produce a handle

like this. It has a constant cross-section

unlike the spout, which used a Multi-

sections Solid command instead.

2. Finally we switch off the earlier handle. Right click

and select Deactivate. Notice how the feature chosen

and its “children” are shown Deactivated in the tree

with a sort of “no entry” icon.

This is sometimes better than deleting the features, until you are certain you have the

perfect end result. You can keep several options available until you have decided.

Never Be Tempted to Copy!

Catia files are finger-printed electronically so

it is easy to trace copies of the same file