Anyone using CATIA V5 ?

[oceanmaster66]

I too would like to know if Catia V5 R19 has Catia for Yacht in it and has to be activated or if it is a separate add-in module. None of the brochures fron Dassault is very clear on the subject.

[marshmat]

Looking at the marketing materials and target market for CATIA Yacht, I would hazard a guess that they might be pricing this version somewhat more aggressively. I am sure the distributors are eager to talk to potential clients...

Still, CATIA is up in the same market as NX and Pro/E, even if all three of those are being pushed at the midrange market these days. Licences in this bracket often start at ten grand or so per seat, averaging more like seventeen. Some packages or modules in this bracket have annual maintenance fees that can run a couple thousand bucks a year. CATIA may run on a lower-end computer better than some competitors, and I've seen it run this way. But most of the time, a $17,000 licence is accompanied by five to ten thousand dollars in hardware, upgraded storage and backup capacity to handle the resulting models.... a firm buying multiple seats will probably have some server and network upgrading to facilitate all the collaboration features.... we're now into the mid twenties. Now you have to take courses, or pay your engineers to take courses, to make use of all this power. It's not hard to see how one could top $40k per seat, getting established in CATIA, NX or Pro/E with a good set of modules specific to your industry.

Now, depending on how busy you are and how quickly your clients need things done, it may be possible to earn that back in short order. A busy design house moving from 2D CAD to a fully-integrated system might even realize savings in the same fiscal year. But moving into upper-tier CAD systems is not a step to be taken lightly; you need to know you can earn back the initial cost.

[DavidJ]

Absolutely. Moving to any large design package should be done with lots of research. I also believe the biggest advantages of switching to Catia won't be noticed by firms presently working mostly in 2D cad. Or firms doing lots of preliminary designs or companies that stop at "design drawings".

The biggest advantages will be seen by firms already working in 3D. And these will be even greater still if the company is producing detail design drawings and CNC cutfiles. The farther you go with the design the more advantageous Catia would be.

If greater than 80% of your work is already being done in simpler 3D programs such as Rhino or solidworks then it might be time to look at Catia (or shipconstructor or proE or whatever best suits your scope of work). This also means things like computer hardware and servers shouldn't need to be upgraded. Solidworks has some of the highest requirements for video cards and other hardware. If you are presently trying to design an entire boat in solidworks, it is time to look at Catia.

[yachty4000]

Catia is used by parts of the indstry even by mainstream yacht designers. It is however a huge outlay it beauty is the bolt on options such as FAE, CFD and ability to be used to model complete CAM production process. It far more powerful than the average company needs hence why it is used by Airbus and Bosch. The only high profile advertised user is Oyster who you find on some marketing leaflets and therefore Rob Humphries designer but it used by a lot more for example cup teams use it because of it FEA features without remodelling. I know some of the big french mass producers use it. I never use it for initial hull modelling preferring specific Naval Architecture software but it part and assembley tools for interiors are excellent.

[dimitarp]

I also use CATIA 5 and you can view the result at: http://www.partenovcfd.com/product.html

[yachty4000]

http://intrinsys.co.uk/CATIA-boat-building.aspx here what the uk dealer says there a couple of short video on hull modelling and producing tooling thats shows how powerful it can be. If your slightly better at it than me :-)

[zeroname]

advertising ?

[yachty4000]

An advert I dont think so I am not connected to catia but thought those who havent used the software may be interested. Here the official site so I can't be accused of advertising on :-) http://www.3ds.com/products/catia/mi...or-yacht/#vid1

There now a Naval Architecture tool similar to the way ORCA plugs into Rhino for Catia but I haven't used it.

[LarryMcI]

Here's a current article about CATIA in the marine industry:
http://www.compositesworld.com/artic...ll-tool-design

[PhotoBoatGuy]

Originally Posted by ;4456

Is there anyone using CATIA to design sailboats? If so, why not?

... I've heard of a few places that use UG or ProE, but to me, they're less flexible than CATIA and certainly more expensive. (I've used all three packages for over 10 yrs and have seen a lot of evolution, and CATIA still stands out)

It seems to me the softwares that are dedicated to hull design are just that - hull design. It's inflexible and won't allow you to complete the whole project on the the same software; ie: interiors, plumbing, electrical, mechanical, drafting,etc.. Granted, I've not been exposed to a whole lot of them, but that's what I gather from most of those listed in this forum.

CATIA is also great to get the physical properties out of the design - and macros can be easily written (visual basic) to automate most tedious calcs (cp, displ, clr, etc...). So it wouldn't be to hard to include an hydrostatic module either - and it will talk with most CFD and Structural analysis packages.

Hence, why isn't it widespread among yacht designers? I'm including a little pict of a quick design I did in less than 1 hr to show how quick a boat can take form in CATIA...

Any insight on my comment will be greatly appreciated !

Manon

It seems to me a question of how much you want your model to do. For instance, I am a Rhino fanatic. There is NO hull feature that I can't model in Rhino. That's not idle boasting. I've been using it since v1.

With plug-ins you can achieve most of the functionality you talk about that pertains to a designer. You can even calculate hydrostatics and GZ curves in Rhino, using intrinsic Rhino commands, in less than an hour.

You can also model piping, interiors, sails, etc. And it has a full set of tools to allow you to do your 2D drafting in the same file as the 3D model, or in separate files.

However, in a Shipyard environment, you have a different story. There, you need to keep track of a myriad of parts, components, modules, etc. that would boggle the mind of even the most hardcore practitioner in lesser programs. Catia's database and its ability to treat the entire vessel (hull, structure, outfit, systems, etc.) as one entity is simply astounding.

If your needs run in that direction, then Catia seems like it would be a valid choice, along with SolidWorks and a few other solids-based systems. However, if your primary concern is fairing the hull, getting the hydrostatics and GZ curves, doing your drawings and collecting your fee, I'd say buying Catia is a bit like buying an 18-wheeler to get you to the 7-11.

I'm attaching an image of a model that I did in considerably less than an hour from a single rectangular surface. In fact, I even wrote the tutorial on how to do it in a single evening while watching TV.

[The Loftsman]

Good reply PhotoBoat Guy,
It's all horses for courses, and unless you are going into mass production of Ships,boats,aeroplanes or automobiles then the software that does for the user is the one to use, remember the grass is always greener,etc,etc.

[bydgroup]

Hi!

I have been using catia v5 for already 5 years for designing and engineering yachts, sail and motor. (previously used Microstation 3D and Rhino)

In the following link you can find a full project done with catia V5, where we have used the real power of it, which is being able to do the full project from concept design to production (cnc models, FEM, production drawings etc)

http://www.bydgroup.com/proyecto/pro...ang=2&proj=167

In our website all projects have been done in Catia.
http://www.bydgroup.com

Our experience has been great, and it can only be compared with UX or proE, although I find it more flexible.

And I have to say that is true, its very expensive, but at the end of the day if you are doing a full project it worths it. The parametric design allows you to refine your project all time with the click of a button which is really helpful (if everything has been doing right). But you have to make your work properly structured in the CATIA way, and to learn it it takes quite some time, I would say year... or years. Its a completely different way to design if you compare it with rhino etc...

Surface and solid modelling is great, and also the visualization is amazing all time.

With regards to the Catia for yacht... let say that is only a pack of modules, which are needed in the yacht design industry. They have developed some plugin or connection last year with maat hydro + for hydrostatics calculations within Catia, as Catia itself does not have it, but we didnt bought it initaially and I found the connection to be very expensive to be bought separately. Also the have developed in the same plugin a weigh analysis tool, that allows you to place your weights geometrically, which is quite helpful.

My recommendations:

If you only design hulls, and some styling, but not doing production 3d models, then catia is not for you, you should better use rhino or similar soft

If you design hulls, prepare cnc 3d models, do production 3d models with structure, piping, Hi quility surfaces etc, the Catia (or proE/UX) is for you.

I hope this helps

[tuanshipland]

Originally Posted by PhotoBoatGuy

With plug-ins you can achieve most of the functionality you talk about that pertains to a designer. You can even calculate hydrostatics and GZ curves in Rhino, using intrinsic Rhino commands, in less than an hour.

You can also model piping, interiors, sails, etc. And it has a full set of tools to allow you to do your 2D drafting in the same file as the 3D model, or in separate files.

However, in a Shipyard environment, you have a different story. There, you need to keep track of a myriad of parts, components, modules, etc. that would boggle the mind of even the most hardcore practitioner in lesser programs. Catia's database and its ability to treat the entire vessel (hull, structure, outfit, systems, etc.) as one entity is simply astounding.

If your needs run in that direction, then Catia seems like it would be a valid choice, along with SolidWorks and a few other solids-based systems. However, if your primary concern is fairing the hull, getting the hydrostatics and GZ curves, doing your drawings and collecting your fee, I'd say buying Catia is a bit like buying an 18-wheeler to get you to the 7-11.

I'm attaching an image of a model that I did in considerably less than an hour from a single rectangular surface. In fact, I even wrote the tutorial on how to do it in a single evening while watching TV.

Hi PhotoBoatGuy,

May you share your tutorial how to do that on Rhino? I really want to compare CATIA, Rhino with others. Share on this topic or send my email < tuanshipland@gmail.com >

Thanks in advance,

TuanShipland