Importing CATIA Files

tom_helsley

I just tried importing some CATIA V5 files.  While the .CATPart files worked fine, the .CATProduct files didn't.  Are there plans to support importing .CATProduct files in the future.

lougallo

@Tom_Helsley Most assembly files we currently do not support only since they are typically containers for parts. The only assembly file we are supporting through their Pack and Go tool is SolidWorks.  In most cases the best option is to export as STEP, ACIS or Parasolid and import that.  Since features are not imported, an export of the assembly is the current the best way to do it.  

In many of the assembly file formats, the approach will probably continue to be performed with an export format since the native formats require the OEM's engine to find the external references.

lougallo

@Tom_Helsley Most assembly files we currently do not support only since they are typically containers for parts. The only assembly file we are supporting through their Pack and Go tool is SolidWorks.  In most cases the best option is to export as STEP, ACIS or Parasolid and import that.  Since features are not imported, an export of the assembly is the current the best way to do it.  

In many of the assembly file formats, the approach will probably continue to be performed with an export format since the native formats require the OEM's engine to find the external references.

OpenR2

Just tried to import a CATProduct from CATIA. The CATProduct contains the pointers to the reference parts but it also contains the transformation matrices. All the positioning is done on the instance inside the CATProduct. Is exporting to STEP still the only option? How about PLMXML pointing to the CATParts?

martin_kopplow202

The same here: We usually get assemblies as Catia CATproduct files pointing to a set of CATpart files. Since we do not have Catia, there is no way of converting, they must be used as is. Also, more and more clients provide data organised by plmxml files (e.g. JT data for providing a design envelope) and without a means of loading these in a design, it's a dead end. 

NeilCooke

@martin_kopplow202 - we have supported CATProduct files for some time. Add all the files to a ZIP file and name it to be the same as the CATProduct file. Then import. We don't support plmxml, but we do support JT.