CATI-SolidWorks Tool-Room Series
Part 2: CAD translations, healing, repair and CATIA
by
Robert Konczal, CTO, CATI
Preface:
This part of the Tool-Room Series deals with the importing and exporting
of 3D CAD data. SolidWorks by itself has a very diverse and
comprehensive set of tools to address reading (importing) and writing
(exporting) 2D and 3D CAD data. The Open and Save As commands of
SolidWorks gives you this functionality with ease of use. However, what
happens when the data is not clean or designed to a sloppy tolerance?
This is a common scenario that users will experience if they receive
data from systems that allow hybrid modeling techniques (mixture of
wireframe, surface and solids modeling functions). A quick set of
questions will determine if you need to read further:
- How many models do you have to translate
to SolidWorks in a month?
- Do you use the SolidWorks Diagnosis
tools to try to fix gaps and incorrect surfaces? If yes, what is your
success rate?
- What do you do when the translation to
SolidWorks fails to give you a valid solid model and you cannot fix the
errors with SolidWorks?
- How much time on average do you spend
trying to get a valid solid model?
- In your quotes, do you include your
engineering time spent on data translation?
- Do you need to read or write Native
CATIA V4 or V5 data with SolidWorks?
If any of these questions ring a bell in
your business process you have a need to review this portion of the
SolidWorks Tool-Room—FormatWorks add-in for SolidWorks.
FormatWorks is the first and only Gold Partner product that repairs 3D
models and solves frustrating data import problems in SolidWorks. The
latest release offers expanded support for translation of CATIA models
into SolidWorks. It also includes many new repair functions, which are
aimed at further simplification and ease of use. The translator combined
with automatic repair and healing provides the proper treatment of CATIA
files for SolidWorks.
The Gold level integration with SolidWorks ensures that SolidWorks
customers can get the results they need quickly and correctly.
FormatWorks 2004 is even more tightly integrated with SolidWorks. It is
specifically designed for data import and repair of models in the
SolidWorks environment. Repair can be performed on imported 3D models or
models created in SolidWorks. All kinds of geometrical and topological
problems preventing SolidWorks from forming of a valid solid can be
easily resolved with the help of FormatWorks.
FormatWorks now offers the capability to isolate and repair problematic
areas in parts and assemblies. This new feature automatically provides
the workflow necessary to correct the problems. This not only simplifies
the work involved in repairing problems, it drastically reduces the time
required to obtain a correct model. FormatWorks will automatically
isolate all problematic areas in a part (e.g. gaps, invalid topology,
bad surfaces), create new part files with the problem area, and allow
you to repair the problematic areas independently. Once repaired, they
are automatically inserted into the original model.
FormatWorks 2004 also supports imported data containing assembly
information (IGES or native CATIA V4, e.g.). FormatWorks 2004 will
identify all separate model entities and automatically create a
SolidWorks assembly.
FormatWorks 2004 basic configuration includes one data importer. The
user can chose between IGES, VDA-FS, CATIA V4 or CATIA V5. Additional
importers and (all) exporters are optional.
See it in action at CATI or send a part to me at bobk@cati.com to open
discussions.
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