Checking V4 Model Data Before Copying it to V5: Interactive Checker

The following sections describe the usage of the Interactive Checker.

The first task explains how to check CATIA V4 Model data before copying it to CATIA V5.
The second task gives the user the example of a Check KO with a Skin Offset.
And the third task explains why a Check validity operation on a V4 model may be OK and the document's geometry is invalid in CATIA V5.
 

Checking CATIA Version 4 Model Data Before Copying It to CATIA Version 5:
This first task shows you how to check CATIA Version 4 model data before copying it to CATIA Version 5.
Open the document DRAFT_REFLECT_KEEP_EDGE.model.

Before checking either the geometry or specifications of Version 4 data, you should understand the distinction between the two:

  • The geometry is just the three-dimensional representation of the elements contained in the data. An example would be the set of faces that make up a solid. It is roughly equivalent to the Boundary Representation (BRep) used in CATIA Version 4. 

  • Geometry Check is a check by transferring the solid's geometry only through copy - paste special - As a Result.

  • The specifications are made up of the entire history of the actions performed to obtain the data. They are shown in the form of a tree and are roughly equivalent to the CSG tree used in CATIA Version 4.

  • Specification Check consists in transferring the solid with Geometry and the History tree: copy - paste special - As Specification. Note that a specification check is only meaningful when applied to exact and mockup solids.

  1. Select one or more geometrical elements in the geometry area:

This activates the Geometry Check and Specification Check icons in the Model Edition toolbar.

  1. In the Model Edition toolbar, click the Check Specifications or Check Geometry icon. The Check Validity dialog box appears:

In our example, the Check Validity box shows that:

V4 Draft Reflect Line Keep Edge that has been copied / pasted As Spec in CATIA V5, migrated As Result, with its branches. No error is detected during the Check.
Messages for the solid's transfer with history tree can be:
  • "Geometry check OK": you can transfer the solid's geometry only through Copy - Paste Special - As Result. When you transfer the solid as geometry only, it is transferred as datum (BRep). You can only perform operations on the geometry.
  • "0 operations not implemented": all the operations (Fillet, Union, Intersection, etc) of this solid's tree are implemented, which means that you can start the migration and the same operations will available in CATIA V5.
  • "1 primitives checked as geometry only": one primitive cannot be migrated As Specs, but only As Result.

Certain types of  primitives will be converted as datum:

  • Pyramids
  • Sweep Spines, Sweep with non closed profiles, Until a Sweep
  • Projects
  • Import Solids (Link to a solid in another model)
  • If the solid contains one of the above primitives, unsupported solids are transferred as BRep only. The V5 body is based on both specifications and datum features.
  • Draft Reflect Line Keep Edges. This feature is not a terminal leaf into the tree of feature. So all the branch standing before must be migrated As Result.

In the Check Validity dialog box there are four columns:

  • the first column showing the overall result, color-coded as follows:
    • G (green): will be copied as is to CATIA Version 5. The check is OK.
    • R (red): will NOT be copied to CATIA Version 5 as is. This is a KO Check.
    • Y (yellow): will NOT be copied to CATIA Version 5 because of a link to a red-coded item. This is KO Check due to the element supporting by the solid.
  • the Version 4 identifier,
  • the format i.e. Specifications,
  • the Message column providing the number and type of problems.

  1. To view the results of a specification check, double-click on the contents of any of the columns in the Check Validity dialog box. The tree structures of some models are very large. Use the scrollbars to locate any red elements. There are several in the model shown below. Here is just one example:

  2. If one element is red, right-click it to find out exactly what the problem is:The $ symbol means that the Pipe item is an unresolved feature in V4 (same symbol in the V4 tree).

If you click the background and not an element, a menu containing two options is displayed:

  • Reframe graph, which centers the tree structure
  • Print whole, which prints it (for details, see "Printing Documents" in the CATIA - Infrastructure User's Guide).

If you make an Interactive Checker and encounter a reading problem of V4 elements (not updated solid), the copy / paste operation is locked by the Check, the solid cannot be pasted. Then it is advisable to run the CATIA Cleaner utility on the model to be copied.

It is also possible to perform a batch Check using the new batch conversion tool. For more information see Converting CATIA Version 4 Models into CATIA Version 5 with the PLMV4ToV5Migration Batch.
 

 

A CHECK operation on a Version 4 model containing a SKIN OFFSET that cannot be converted into CATIA Version 5
This second task shows you how to convert a V4 model despite the invalid geometry of its Skin Offset.
Open the V4 model document: SKIN-OFFSET.model.

  1. Apply a Check validity operation on a V4 model, the model's Skin Offset cannot be converted into CATIA V5 because there is no image of a Skin Offset in CATIA V5.

In CATIA V4, the Skin Offset is valid but this element cannot be migrated into CATIA V5 and it is systematically KO at the Check operation.

You can however copy As Result and paste the V4 model into CATIA V5. But it will have the same defective quality in V5 as in V4. The Geometry Check operation allows to analyze the geometry quality of the V4 model's components.

  1. You cannot copy / paste the V4 model into CATIA V5 otherwise a warning message is displayed : the V4 element could not be converted properly.

There is an advice in this message: "Clean the model". Indeed, you can resort to the Cleaner to repair some anomalies. The Cleaner will check the structural data of the model before migrating it in CATIA V5.

The user has access to the V4 model geometry (except the Skin Offset) in V5:
For more information about how to use the Cleaner, refer to Cleaner Version 4.

A CHECK operation on Version 4 model data may be OK, but this migrated document has however invalid geometry in CATIA Version 5
This third task explains how the V4 model can be migrated despite a KO Check result (on Surfaces).
The Geometry Check may be valid, but sometimes V4 Geometry cannot be supported in CATIA V5: design is tolerated in CATIA V4 but not in CATIA V5. Therefore, it is necessary to solve this incident during the migration.
Open the V4 Model entitled ANOMALIES.model.

  1. Apply the Specifications Check on this model : select one or more geometrical elements in the geometry area and click the Check Specifications icon . The Check Validity dialog box appears; the Geometry check is OK for the Faces:

The Geometry of some Surfaces (*SUR1-> *SUR8; *SUR10, 11 and 13) is invalid but the Faces Check is OK. The Face geometry is valid whereas the Surface geometry is not, because the Face is an element, a restriction of the Surface and it was created separately.

  1. Copy / Paste the V4 model into a V5 document, a CATPart for example.

  2. Update the CATPart document. You can visualize the model in CATIA V5 but there are anomalies in Surface 3 and Surface 4 for instance.

This component has not always the same shape as in CATIA V4, before the Copy / Paste operation. SUR 3 and SUR 4 (enclosed in red) have no longer the same quality, both elements are twisted and have X shaped Faces.
It is possible for you to transform the invalid geometry in the Shape Design workbench. Further, in the Freestyle workbench, you can display the control points in order to analyze the surfaces and modify them.