Managing Shapes

This task shows you how to create a shape from an ENOVIA LCA product in CATIA V5, send it to ENOVIA LCA to visualize it and send it back to CATIA V5.

How to create a shape in CATIA V5 and save it in ENOVIA LCA
You need to have created a Product Root Class (PRC) and a new Product in ENOVIA LCA Product Editor in order to begin interoperability with CATIA V5. For more information about creating a PRC, please refer to the ENOVIA LCA User's Guide.
Shapes are representations associated to the product in CATIA V5:
  • CATParts (detailed geometries),
  • alternative shapes (used for calculation for example).

You can manage alternate shapes which means:

  • from CATIA V5, you can:
    • save a new alternate shape,
    • modify an existing alternate shape,
    • delete an existing alternate shape.
  • from ENOVIA LCA, you can:
    • load alternate shapes into CATIA V5 by means of a dialog box.

For further information about CATShapes, please refer to Managing Representations in Product Structure User's Guide.

  1. In ENOVIA LCA Product Editor, select your document and send it to CATIA V5.

  2. In CATIA V5 Product Structure, add a part by selecting Insert -> New Part.

  3. Select this part and add geometry to it, for example you can create a pad by clicking the Pad  icon.

    To have further information on pads, please refer to the Pad chapter in CATIA - Part Design documentation.

  4. In Product structure, click the Manage Representations icon or right-click the part and select Representations -> Manage Representations... from the contextual menu.

The Manage Representations dialog box appears, displaying:

  • the Name of the representation,
  • the Source file of the representation,
  • the Type of representation,
  • whether the representation is the Default representation of the product,
  • whether the representation is Activated or not.

You can rename your shape by selecting the Rename... button, as well as associating another representation to it by selecting the Associate... button.

  1. Save both CATPart and the CATShape by clicking the Save Data in ENOVIA LCA Server ...   icon and this window appears. Select your document and click OK.

 

How to view the CATShape in ENOVIA LCA and send the CATShape and the CATPart back to CATIA V5

  1. In ENOVIA LCA Product Editor, expand your instance and right-click and select Document -> Show from the contextual menu.

In the tree, you can now visualize the CATShape attached to the CATPart (highlighted in red).

  1. Right-click the shape and select Send To -> CATIA V5 from the contextual menu.

  2. In CATIA V5, the CATShape is retrieved: right-click it and select Representations -> Manage Representations... from the contextual menu. The name of the CATShape is displayed:

  3. In ENOVIA Product Editor, select the CATPart and select Send To -> CATIA V5 from the contextual menu.

  4. In CATIA V5, right-click the CATPart and select Representations -> Manage Representations... from the contextual menu. The CATPart and the CATShape are retrieved.