Do mechanical graduate students need to be proficient in software?

catia should be more widely used now.

Products and Services

The modular CATIA series of products is designed to meet the needs of customers in product development activities, including style and appearance design, mechanical design, equipment and system engineering, Manage digital prototyping, machining, analysis and simulation. CATIA products are based on the open and extensible V5 architecture.

By enabling companies to reuse product design knowledge and shorten development cycles, CATIA solutions accelerate companies' response to market needs. Its digital prototyping process has been widely adopted in the market since 1999, making it the most commonly used product development system in the world.

The CATIA series of products has become the premier 3D design and simulation solution in seven major fields: automotive, aerospace, shipbuilding, factory design, power and electronics, consumer goods, and general machinery manufacturing.

[Edit this paragraph] Professional technology

CATIA advanced hybrid modeling technology

Hybrid modeling of design objects: In the CATIA design environment, regardless of Whether it is a solid or a surface, it achieves true interoperability;

Variable and parametric hybrid modeling: During design, designers do not have to consider how to parameterize design goals. CATIA provides variable drive and post-parameterization ability.

Hybrid modeling of geometry and intelligent engineering: For an enterprise, many years of experience can be accumulated into the CATIA knowledge base, which can be used to guide newbies in the enterprise, or guide the development of new models and accelerate new models. Time to market.

CATIA has convenient modification capabilities throughout the product cycle, especially later modifications

Whether it is solid modeling or surface modeling, CATIA provides an intelligent tree structure , users can easily and quickly make repeated modifications to the product. Even if major modifications are required in the final stage of design, or the original solution is updated, it is very easy for CATIA.

All modules of CATIA have full correlation

Each module of CATIA is based on a unified data platform. Therefore, each module of CATIA has true full correlation. Modification of the three-dimensional model can Fully embodied in 2D, as well as finite element analysis, mold and CNC machining programs.

The design environment of concurrent engineering greatly shortens the design cycle

The multi-model link working environment and hybrid modeling method provided by CATIA make the concurrent engineering design model no longer new. Concept, the overall design department only needs to release the basic structural dimensions, and the personnel of each sub-system can start working. They can work collaboratively without involving each other; due to the interconnection between models, the upstream design results can be used as Downstream reference, at the same time, upstream modifications to the design can directly affect the refresh of downstream work. Achieve a true concurrent engineering design environment.

CATIA covers the entire process of product development

CATIA provides complete design capabilities: from the conceptual design of the product to the formation of the final product, it provides precise and reliable solutions. Complete 2D, 3D, parametric hybrid modeling and data management methods, from the design of a single part to the establishment of the final electronic prototype; at the same time, as a fully integrated software system, CATIA combines mechanical design, engineering analysis and simulation, CNC Processing and CATweb network application solutions are organically combined to provide users with a strict paperless working environment. Especially the dedicated modules in CATIA for the automobile and motorcycle industries give CATIA the broadest professional coverage, thus helping Customers achieve the purpose of shortening the design and production cycle, improving product quality and reducing costs.

[Edit this paragraph] Advantages

CATIA has a surface design module that is far stronger than its competitors. It is necessary to introduce it here:

1. Generic Shape Design, GSD, generative modeling, a very complete curve operation tool and the most basic surface construction tool. In addition to completing all curve operations, it can also complete stretching, rotation, scanning, boundary filling, bridging, and repairing fragments. Functions such as splicing, bumping, cropping, smoothing, projection and advanced projection, chamfering, etc., with continuity up to G2, generating a closed volume, fully achieving the surface modeling functions of ordinary 3D CAD software, such as Pro/E. Fully parameterized operation.

2. Free Style Surface, FSS, free style modeling, almost completely non-parametric. In addition to all the functions in GSD, it can also complete functions such as surface control points (which can realize simultaneous adjustment of control points and deformations from multiple surfaces to the entire product shape), freely constrain boundaries, remove parameters, and achieve surface bridging and inversion that meet the standard of automobile A-side. Angle, smoothing and other functions, all commands can be easily reached on G2. With GSD and FSS, CATIA surface functions have surpassed all CAD software, even UG NX, a competitor in the automotive industry.

3.Automotive Class A, ACA, automotive Class A surface, completely non-parametric, this module provides powerful curve and surface editing functions, and an extremely powerful one-click surface smoothing function. Almost all commands can reach G3 without destroying the original smooth appearance. It can realize synchronous surface operations (control point dragging, smoothing, chamfering, etc.) on multiple surfaces or even the entire product shape. It can handle the almost crazy requirements of Toyota and others for A-class curved surfaces (full G3 continuous, etc.). Currently, only pure modeling software, such as Alias ??and Rinho, can reach this level, but they cannot achieve the high accuracy of CATIA.

4. FreeStyle Sketch Tracer, FST, free style sketching, which can trace the basic shape curve based on the three views or photos of the product.

5. Digitized Shape Editor, DSE, digital surface editor, based on the input point cloud data, sampling, editing, and cropping have reached the requirements closest to the product shape, and can generate high-quality mesh small triangles body. Completely non-parametric.

6. Quick Surface Reconstruction, rapid surface reconstruction, provides various ways to generate curves for surface modeling based on input point cloud data or small triangles after meshing, and is completely non-parametric.

7.Shape Sculpter, a small triangular body shape editor, can perform various operations on the small triangular body. Its functions are almost as powerful as CATIA surface operations and are completely non-parametric.

8. Automotive BIW Fastening, automotive body-in-white fastening, designs the welding methods and welding geometric dimensions between various sheet metal parts of the automotive body-in-white.

9. Image & Shape, you can drag, stretch, twist the product shape like kneading plasticine, add "plasticine blocks", etc. to achieve the ideal design shape. Product appearance concept design can be completed extremely quickly.

1~9 are included in the Shape design & Styling module

10. Healing Assistant, an extremely powerful surface sewing tool, can automatically find and repair various broken surface defects. Mending.

CATIA is widely used in automobiles, aerospace, ships, military industry, instrumentation, construction engineering, electrical pipelines, communications and other aspects.

The largest customers are: General Motors (also using UG), Boeing McDonnell Douglas, Airbus, Ford, Volkswagen, Dyker, BMW, Volvo, Peugeot Citro?n, Toyota, Honda, Renault, Dassault Aircraft, Fiat, Mitsubishi Motors, Siemens, Bosch, Hyundai, Kia, China's SAIC, FAW, Dongfeng and other large companies. The European Union, its member states' militaries, and the US military are all loyal users.

CATIA V4 version has powerful surface and structural design capabilities and unparalleled accuracy. It is currently the main design software for the above customers. All parts and final assembly of the Boeing 777 aircraft, except the engine, are completely made of CATIA V4. From concept design to final commissioning and operation, a completely paperless office has been successfully implemented. It can be seen that CATIA has powerful functions.

CATIA V4 can only run on IBM's UNIX graphics workstations. In order to run more universally on various graphics workstation platforms and PCs, V5 was born, which includes server-workstation versions and stand-alone nodes. Version, the workstation version can run on various types of graphics workstations and Windows or various versions of Unix operating systems (not Linux), while the stand-alone version can run on PCs, notebooks, Windows or other operating systems. A very pleasing software interface, simpler to use but more powerful than V4, makes CATIA V5 the reason why companies such as Ford and Toyota switch to CATIA, and companies such as Volkswagen, Daiker, Peugeot Citro?n and others have also spared no effort to switch from the V4 platform to V5. .

CATIA's competitors include UG NX, Pro/E, Topsolid, and Cinmatron. Among them, NX, Pro/E and CATIA can be said to be three-thirds of the world. CATIA currently occupies the largest market share in design and engineering software. This comes from its strong customer base and military industry background. Compared with its competitors, CATIA's advantages lie in its pleasing interface, easy-to-use and powerful functions, strong functional support in specialized industries such as automobiles, aerospace, and shipbuilding, etc., and the global sales cooperation of IT leader IBM. Another very important point is the support from CATIA's parent company, Dassault Systemes' other brother software:

1. Delmia, a powerful production line planning and management software, cooperates with Catia to complete manufacturing feasibility analysis and implementation;

2. Inovia, a powerful data management and design support system

3. Smarteam, a powerful PLM software, tied with UGS Team Center as the most successful PLM software. The originator of PLM.

4. VPM, a design data sharing platform. Design centers of multinational companies can use this software to share data and information status

5. Solidworks, three-dimensional engineering The software leader in the global mid-range market, after being acquired by Dassault, became the signature weapon against other mid-range software, and effectively supported the penetration of high-end software CATIA in the mid-range and low-end markets

6. Abaqus, one of the most powerful FEM software, has the advantage of nonlinear, dynamic, and implicit calculations. It has become an effective tool that can effectively solve complex problems in the automotive and aerospace fields. It is ranked as the two giants of high-end CAE software together with LS-DYNA.

[Edit this paragraph] History

CATIA is the abbreviation of Computer Aided Tri-Dimensional Interface Application in English. It is a mainstream CAD/CAE/CAM integrated software in the world. In the 1970s, Dassault Aviation became the first user, and CATIA came into being.

From 1982 to 1988, CATIA successively released version 1, version 2, and version 3, and the powerful version 4 was released in 1993. The current CATIA software is divided into two series: V4 version and V5 version. The V4 version is applicable to the UNIX platform, and the V5 version is applicable to both UNIX and Windows platforms. Development of the V5 version began in 1994. In order to make the software easy to learn and use, Dassault System began to re-develop a new CATIA V5 version in 1994. The new V5 version has a more friendly interface, increasingly powerful functions, and created a new style of CAD/CAE/CAM software.

France’s Dassault Aviation is a world-renowned aerospace company. Its products are most famous for the Mirage 2000 and Rafale fighter jets. Dassault System, the product developer of CATIA, was founded in 1981. Today, its leadership in the CAD/CAE/CAM and PDM fields has been recognized worldwide. Its sales profits have grown from US$1 million at the beginning to nearly US$2 billion now. The number of employees has grown from 20 to more than 2,000.

CATIA is the CAD/CAE/CAM integrated software of the French Dassault System company. It occupies a leading position in the world's CAD/CAE/CAM field and is widely used in aerospace, automobile manufacturing, shipbuilding, machinery manufacturing, and electronics. \In the electrical appliance and consumer goods industries, its integrated solutions cover all product design and manufacturing fields. Its unique DMU electronic prototype module function and hybrid modeling technology promote the improvement of corporate competitiveness and productivity. CATIA offers convenient solutions catering to the needs of large, medium and small businesses across all industrial sectors. Including: from large Boeing 747 aircraft, rocket engines to cosmetic packaging boxes, covering almost all manufacturing products. More than 13,000 users worldwide have chosen CATIA. CATIA originated from the aerospace industry, but its powerful functions have been recognized by various industries. In the European automotive industry, it has become the de facto standard. Famous users of CATIA include a large number of well-known companies such as Boeing, Chrysler, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz. Its user groups play a pivotal role in the world's manufacturing industry. Boeing Aircraft Company used CATIA to complete the electronic assembly of the entire Boeing 777, creating a miracle in the industry and thus confirming CATIA's leading position in the CAD/CAE/CAM industry.

The CATIA V5 version is the result of IBM and Dassault Systèmes' long-term continuous exploration in serving digital enterprises. The CATIA V5 version, which is designed around the system structure of digital products and e-commerce integration concepts, can establish a working environment for the entire product development process for digital enterprises. In this environment, all aspects of the product development process can be simulated and electronic communication between engineering and non-engineering personnel can be enabled. The entire product development process includes conceptual design, detailed design, engineering analysis, finished product definition and manufacturing, and even the use and maintenance of the finished product throughout its life cycle. The CATIA V5 version has:

1. Reconstructed new generation architecture

In order to ensure the development of the CATIA product series, the new CATIA V5 architecture breaks through traditional design technology and adopts The new generation of technologies and standards can quickly adapt to the business development needs of enterprises, giving customers a greater competitive advantage.

2. Supports scalability at different application levels

CATIA V5 can flexibly match and combine the development process, functions and hardware platforms, and can provide solutions for everyone in the product development chain. Professional members configure the most reasonable solution. Solutions that allow for any configuration meet the needs of the smallest supplier to the largest multinational company.

3. Independence from NT and UNIX hardware platforms

CATIA V5 is developed on the Windows NT platform and UNIX platform, and has Unified data, functionality,

version release dates, operating environment and application support. The application of CATIA V5 on the Windows platform can make it easier for designers to share data with office application systems; and the NT-style user interface on the UNIX platform can enable users to efficiently work on the UNIX platform. Tackle complex tasks.

4. Capture and reuse of specialized knowledge

CATIA V5 combines the advantages of explicit knowledge rules to interactively capture design intentions during the design process and define product performance and change. Implicit

Empirical knowledge becomes explicit specialized knowledge, which improves the automation of design and reduces the risk of design errors.

5. Smoothly upgrade existing customers

CATIA V4 and V5 are compatible, and the two systems can be used in parallel. For existing CATIA V4 users, V5 will lead them to the NT world. For new

CATIA V5 customers, they can make full use of the mature follow-up application products of CATIA V4 to form a complete product development environment.

[Edit this paragraph] Applications

Aerospace:

CATIA originated from the aerospace industry and is the undisputed leader in the industry. It meets the needs of various applications in commercial, defense and aerospace fields with its accuracy, safety and reliability. In many projects in the aerospace industry, CATIA has been used to develop virtual prototypes, including the Boeing 777 and Boeing 737 of Boeing Aircraft Company (USA), the Rafale fighter jet of Dassault Aircraft Company (France), and the Bombardier aircraft. The company's (Canada) Global Express business jet, and Lockheed Martin Aircraft Company (USA)'s Darkstar unmanned reconnaissance aircraft. In the Boeing 777 project, Boeing Aircraft Company used CATIA to design 100 mechanical parts except the engine. And 100 parts including the engine were pre-assembled. The Boeing 777 is also the only large jet airliner to date that has undergone 100 digital design and assembly processes. There are more than 1,700 engineers, tool designers, technicians and project managers involved in the Boeing 777 project, distributed in different regions of the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom. They are connected through 1,400 CATIA workstations and work in parallel. Boeing's designers performed three-dimensional solid modeling of all 777 parts and pre-assembled the entire 777 in full size on the computer. Pre-assembly eliminates the need for engineers to create a physical prototype. Engineers can check and modify interference and inconsistencies in the design on the pre-assembled digital prototype. Boeing Aircraft Company announced that in the 777 project, compared with the traditional design and assembly process, the application of CATIA saved 50% of the time of repeated work and error modification. Although the time saved in the development time of the first 777 is not very significant compared with other models using traditional design processes, Boeing Aircraft Company estimates that the development of subsequent 777 models can save at least 50% of the time. CATIA's post-parametric processing function also showed its superiority and powerful functions in the design of the 777. In order to cater to the needs of special users, using CATIA's parametric design, Boeing does not have to redesign and build physical prototypes. It only needs to make parameter changes to get an electronic prototype that meets user needs, and users can preview it on the computer.

Automobile industry:

CATIA is the de facto standard in the automobile industry and is the core system used by top automobile manufacturers in Europe, North America and Asia. CATIA has unique strengths in styling, body and engine design, etc., and provides end-to-end solutions for the design and manufacturing of various vehicles. CATIA involves three key areas: product, process and people. CATIA's scalability and concurrent engineering capabilities significantly reduce time to market.

Formula One racing cars, sports cars, cars, trucks, commercial vehicles, trams, subway trains, high-speed trains, all kinds of vehicles can be used as digital products on CATIA. In the digital factory, through digital process to implement digital engineering. CATIA's technology is unparalleled in the automotive industry and is recognized by automotive parts suppliers in various countries. The recent purchasing decisions made by some well-known automobile manufacturers, such as Renault, Toyota, Karman, Volvo, Chrysler, etc., are enough to prove the development dynamics of digital vehicles. Scania is a world-leading truck manufacturer headquartered in Sweden. Its annual truck production exceeds 50,000 units. While other competitors' truck parts are still around 25,000, Scania has reduced its truck parts by half with the help of the CATIA system. Scania is now using more analysis and simulation throughout the entire truck development process to shorten development cycles and improve truck performance and maintainability. The CATIA system is Scania's main CAD/CAM system and is used entirely for the design of truck systems and components. The company has achieved a good return on investment by applying these new design tools, such as the application of generative component stress analysis using CATIA systems in the engine and body chassis divisions, to support reuse in the development process. Now, to further improve product performance, Scania is promoting the way designers, analysts and inspection departments work more closely together throughout the development process. This coordinated approach allows Scania to be more responsive to the market while simultaneously accumulating product knowledge from both physical and virtual digital prototypes.

Shipbuilding industry:

CATIA provides excellent solutions for the shipbuilding industry, including specialized hull products and shipboard equipment and machinery solutions. Hull design solutions have been used by many shipbuilding companies, such as General Dynamics, Meyer Weft and Delta Marin, involving the design, manufacturing and assembly of parts for all types of ships. The structural design and definition of the hull is based on a three-dimensional parametric model. Parametric management of dependencies between parts, changes in related parts can affect the appearance of the hull. Hull design solutions are fully integrated with other CATIA products. Traditional CATIA solid and surface modeling capabilities are used for basic design and hull smoothing. Bath Iron Works uses GSM (Generative Shape Design) as a parametric engine for conceptual design of destroyers and data exchange with other ship structure design solutions.

Version 4.2 of CATIA provides direct integration with Deneb machining and has been developed in collaboration with Fincantieri. The robot can process straight and arc welds and overcomes the bottleneck of automatic line programming of robots.

General Dynamic Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding used CATIA to design and build the U.S. Navy's new Virginia-class attack submarines.

A large number of systems ranging from nuclear reactors, related safety equipment to all life support equipment require a comprehensive and effective product data management system (PDM) to manage the entire submarine product definition, not just a bill of materials, but all three-dimensional digitization products and welding equipment. ENOVIA provides powerful data management capabilities.

Meyer Werft has always been a leader in the application of CAD technology, covering all aspects of the shipbuilding industry from design, parts, shipboard equipment to commissioning. Before the first steel plate is cut, the three-dimensional design and demonstration of the entire product has been completed.

Delta Marin designs the bridge, deck and propulsion system according to the hull during the design and construction of the ship. Ship owners use 4D robots for browsing and inspection.

Wenchong Shipyard in Guangzhou, China has also successfully applied CATIA. Use CATIA for three-dimensional design instead of traditional two-dimensional design.

Plant design:

Based on their extensive experience, IBM and Dassault - Systems develop next-generation solutions for the shipbuilding industry, power plants, process plants and engineering and construction companies. Includes piping, equipment, structural and automation documentation. CCPlant is the first object-oriented knowledge engineering technology system in these industries.

CCPlant has been successfully used by Chrysler and its extended enterprise. The design of the Toledo Jeep plant under construction was modified using CCPlant and Deneb simulation. Cost savings are already evident. And it will have a profound impact on the future operation of enterprises.

Haden International's coating lines are mainly used in the automotive and aerospace industries. Haden International used CATIA to design its advanced coating production line, and CCPlant significantly shortened the design and installation time. Shell uses CCPlant to develop new production processes at its Rotterdam plant. The Rotterdam plant has an annual processing capacity of 20 million tons of crude oil and can produce a variety of complex chemical products such as plastics, resins, and rubber.

Processing and assembly:

It is not enough for a product to be designed, it must also be manufactured. CATIA is good at 2D/3D association, analysis and NC for prisms and tool parts; CATIA's protocol-driven hybrid modeling solution ensures high-speed production and assembly of precision products, such as machine tools, medical equipment, offset printing machines, clocks, and factory equipment. A success.

In the machine tool industry, users require products that can be manufactured and assembled quickly and accurately. The powerful functionality of Dassault System products enables them to be used in a wide range of product design and manufacturing areas. Large manufacturers like Staubli benefit greatly from Dassault System products. Staubli uses CATIA to design and build textile machinery and robots. Gidding & Lewis uses CATIA to design and build large machine tools.

Dassault System products are also used by many small businesses. Like Klipan, which uses CATIA to design and produce electronic terminals and control equipment for power stations. Polynorm uses CATIA to design and manufacture pressure equipment. Tweko uses CADAM to design welding and cutting tools.

Consumer Products:

Consumer products companies of all sizes around the world trust CATIA, in part because of the innovative style, modeling tools and high-quality rendering tools of CATIA-designed products. . CATIA has been used to design and manufacture a wide range of products: tableware, computers, kitchen equipment, televisions and radios, and garden equipment.

In addition, to verify that a new concept is consistent in aesthetics and style choices, CATIA can generate realistic renderings from digitally defined products. Product sales can be promoted before the actual product is produced.