Environment Variables… CATIA Administrator… Environment Variables… For faster loading of CATIA: CNEXTSPLASHSCREEN=no (starts CATIA session without Splash Screen) CNEXTBACKGROUND=no (starts CATIA session without ‘stars’) CATNoStartDocument=yes (starts CATIA session without loading empty CATProduct)
Optimized CATSettings… General/General Benefit: Fast loading of drawings for Viewing/Printing Limitation: Not a recommended working mode for drafting; dimensions will be non-associative.
Optimized CATSettings… General/PCS Benefit: Memory is not consumed to store previous operations. Limitation: Undesired operations need to be ‘undone’ manually.
Optimized CATSettings… General/Display/Navigation Benefit: Memory is not used to ‘highlight’ geometry when cursor passes over it (only when clicked) Limitation: No pre-highlight for the element you are about to select
Optimized CATSettings… General/Display/Performance Tools/ Options / Display / Performance. Turn off ,,Occlusion culling’’ option. Set proportional and increase the ,,3D accuracy’’ value. 0.5 Set the ,,Curves accuracy ratio’’. 1.00 the ,,2D accuracy’’ value. 0.1 Level of details: Static 0.5 & while moving at 10. Pixel Culling: Static at 1 & while moving at 10. Benefit: Strong impact on graphical performance. Limitation: Decreased display quality.
Optimized CATSettings… Infrastructure/Product Structure/Cache Management Benefit: Faster loading of assemblies; much less memory used. Limitation: Parts must still be loaded in “Design” mode to perform work.
Optimized CATSettings… Infrastructure/Product Structure/CGR Management
Optimized CATSettings… Mechanical Design/Assembly Design/General Benefit: Accurate update status when in Cache mode; no “Unknown Update Status” icon. Limitation: Additional memory used as some parts are forced to be loaded, in order to compute update status.
Optimized CATSettings… Mechanical Design/Drafting/View Starting Value… Change per view. Benefits: 50% less memory required to generate the view, light weight file, faster loading. Limitations: Some view creation options not available. Dress-up elements not associative with 3D. No projection of 3D wireframe or points.
Optimized CATSettings… Mechanical Design/Drafting/Dimension Benefits: Associative dimensions in “Approximate” views. Limitations: Small increase in memory consumption.
Methodology… Inceptra™
1 2 Assembly Preparation Create Enhanced Scenes for… Detail Views Partial Projected Views Breakout Views Broken Views Auxiliary Views Create a new ‘Camera’ for each enhanced scene… Two ways to orient the viewpoint: CompassRMB/”Edit” Command line “C:TESTVISUPERFODRAW 1 2
1 2 3 New Drawing Assembly: Activate Visualization Mode for all Hide all components except one Drawing: Create all necessary Asy views (using ‘one part’ Asy) Create other views from Asy Scenes After views are placed, modify properties: Decide: Exact or Approximate Mode ?? Hidden lines, Dress-up Elements, Projected Wireframe/Points Save and close drawing Show all components Update (if necessary) & Save; Close CATIA Update Drawing using the Batch Utility “UpdateBatch” 2 3
UpdateBatch Utility… Benefit: Large drawings can be updated without the memory consumption caused by loading CATIA graphically. Multiple drawings may be updated simultaneously. Limitation: Seems to take much longer to complete than updating within CATIA.
Existing Drawings… What to do when memory limits are exceeded? Inceptra™
Option l STRATEGY: Reduce memory consumption by migrating existing drawing views from ‘Exact’ to ‘Approximate’ mode: Start CATIA, Open the Assembly: Activate Visualization Mode for all Update (if necessary) & Save All; Close CATIA Start CATIA, Open the Drawing: Select one existing view Modify properties: View with hidden lines Approximate Mode; value 1-4 View without hidden lines Approximate Mode; value 5-8 Update the view (if necessary) & Save; Close CATIA Repeat ‘STEP 2’ for each view. 1 2 3
Option ll STRATEGY: Break down the drawing into “manageable” pieces, then reassemble… In the file system, create copies of the original drawing, and rename them for each of the ‘trouble’ views In the Original drawing, delete the trouble views; save and close. In the Copied drawing(s), leave the ‘trouble’ view, but delete all others; save and close. Update all views using the ‘UpdateBatch’ Utility Once updated, open the Original and the Copied drawings Copy/Paste the view(s) back into the original 1 Original Copies 2
Large Assembly Drawing Methodology… Summary NEW DRAWINGS Use Enhanced Scenes (instead of Projected Views and ‘Overload Properties’) Only use HDL when absolutely necessary Use ‘Approximate’ mode instead of ‘Exact’ mode whenever practical Custom Views/ Partial Views Use Enhanced Scenes, or Product/Part Selection before view placement Use ‘UpdateBatch’ Utility EXISTING DRAWINGS Reduce memory consumption by converting views from ‘Exact’ to ‘Approximate’ mode Break down the drawing into multiples (for working), then reassemble To quickly load a CATDrawing for Viewing or Printing, Disable the option ‘Load referenced documents’ under: Tools/Options/General/General
Exact Mode vs. Approximate Mode Benchmarks Inceptra™
EXACT View Strategic Perspectives of MBD : Boeing Forces Assembly to load in ‘Design Mode’ EXACT View 1.2GB used to generate one view 20 rand.com
APPROXIMATE View What is MBD? Assembly can remain in ‘Visualization Mode’ APPROXIMATE View 500MB used to generate the same view 21 rand.com
File Size Comparison… Exact Mode CATDrawing is 3.5 times larger than Approximate Mode CATDrawing !!
50% Reduction of Memory Used Summary… Implementing Approximate Mode for Drafting Views: 50% Reduction of Memory Used 70% Reduction of Disk Storage