[Bilingual CATIA Basics: Knowledgeware Capabilities] バイリンガルCATIA基礎: ナレッジ機能について

One of the strongest features in CATIA V5 is its knowledgeware capabilities, which allow you to perform design automation. The most commonly used workbench is the Knowledge Adviser. Geometric information can be controlled by parameters.

CATIA V5の強みの1つとしてナレッジ機能があります。これは設計の自動化に役立ちます。その際、最もよく使われるワークベンチはナレッジ・アドバイザです。形状情報をパラメータで制御することができます。

The follwoing 2 icon functions can be useful:

- The [Formula] icon([式]アイコン)
This allows you to create various kind of parameters in order to create relationships between existing parameters.

- The [Rule] icon ([ルール]アイコン) 
This allows you to define design rules of a part or product.

In order to explain how they actually work, take a look at the scenario below.

[1] Create 3 [Length] parameters by using the [F(x)] command, and name them [Point8X], [Point8Y], and [Point8Z].
[2] Next click the [Rule] icon to open the [Rule Editor] window, and then enter the following statement.

[1] [F(x)] コマンドを使って[長さ]パラメータを3つ作成し、 [Point8X], [Point8Y], [Point8Z]と名前をつけます。
[2] 次に[ルール]アイコンをクリックし、[ルールエディタ]を開き、次の構文を記述します。

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

if Geometrical Set.1\Point.8.coord(1) > 12mm
Message("Way to go!This point is acceptable!")
else
{
 Geometrical Set.1\Point.8.coord(Point8X, Point8Y, Point8Z)
Message("Hey, I told you! Change the value right now! You made it at: # ", Point8X)
}

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This means that if the X coordinate (X座標 ) of [Point.8] is more than 12mm, a message will be displayed, saying "Way to go! This point is acceptable!"
But if it is 12mm or less (say, 10mm), another message will pop up, saying "Hey, I told you! Change the value right now! You made it at: 10mm".

Here's the word list:

[The 1st step toward becoming a bilingual CATIA specialist] バイリンガルのCATIA使いへの第1歩

NOTE: This material is intended to be written for people who want to know about the very basics of CATIA V5 while learning some Japanese terms. It is also intended to be read among Japanese CATIA specialists who want to study English.

The following is only an introduction, a very beginning to CATIA, so it might not be helpful if you are expecting any tips on CATIA when you operate it.  But hopefully it might help someone wishing learn some specific terms in Japanese and English.

Here's the word list:

Workbench (ワークベンチ):

Creating geometries in CATIA V5 is to work in a workbench. Any 2D or 3D shape will be created in a workbench with various icon functions. 

There are different functions in each workbench in order to create a shape.

The major workbenches are:

1.    Sketcher - スケッチャー

2.    Part Design - パート・デザイン

3.    GSD (Generative Shape Design) - ジェネレーティブ シェイプ・デザイン

4.    Assembly Design　- アセンブリ・デザイン

5.    Drafting　- ドラフティング

Specification tree (仕様ツリー):

Every action you have taken in CATIA will be logged on the tree structure displayed on the screen. This is called the “specification tree” (仕様ツリー) and it looks like this:

Users will have to be conscious of this tree structure all the time because it will be important to know how the data was created. Visualizing the history like this allows a user or other users to modify the data when you need to. 

If the specification tree is not managed well, you or other people will be in trouble the next time you are at it. You might have to say, “Where the heck do I have to get back?? I can’t modify it!!” - It is almost like when you don't keep your room organized, and go to school in the morning leaving your locker room key at home. You call your mom from school later but she can't find it. She says your room is messy; she has no idea where to find it. Both you and your mom might be upset and you would ruin the day. (This is what my daughter did about a year ago ….)

Users/companies are always thinking about reducing the time of work and cut the cost. Being organized here on this specification tree is a very important factor to keep your modelling process more efficient and productive.

Feature/ Element (フィーチャー/ 要素):

In many cases, a 3D geometry will be created from a 2D sketch.

Let us create a geometry like this, for example.

This is how you create it:

1. Go to the [Sketcher] workbench.

2. Create a [Profile] like this in the [Sketcher] workbench.

3. The [Sketcher] workbench is intended to create 2D profiles only, so you will have to go to another workbench to make it 3-dimensional. Press the [Exit] icon.

4. When you exit the [Sketcher] workbench, you will be brought to either the [Generative Shape Design] workbench or the [Part Design] workbench. They are both capable of creating 3D geometries.

5. Let’s suppose you are in the [Part Design] workbench now. What you may want to do is create a 3D geometry by extruding the sketch you have just created.

In order to extrude a 2D sketch, select the [Pad] icon. (This icon exists only in the [Part Design] workbench.)

The specification tree will look like this:

Among the users of CATIA, the terms such as [feature] and [elements] are used quite often. In this case, [Pad.1] will be called a feature.

If you make a hole on this geometry, [Hole.1] will be added in the specification tree and it will also be called a feature (フィーチャー).

The specification tree, by the way, will be displayed like this:

There is not much to distinguish with it but a feature (including [Pad], [Hole], etc.) can also be called an element (要素).

Part/ Product (Assembly)

When multiple geometries will be created, they can be managed & treated as 1 [Part] file, or as 1 [Product] file (an assembly file) with multiple [Part] files in it.

[Example 1:]

If 2 geometries will be created and will be managed in 1 [Part] file, the specification tree will be displayed like this:

[Example 2:]

If 2 geometries will be created and be managed in 1 [Product] file with multiple [Part] files, the specification tree will be displayed like this:

[Example.1] and [Example.2] are two different things. They are more different than how they look.

#1. [Example.1] is 1 [Part] file, so only 1 file will be created. Because it is 1 [Part] file, it will be treated as if it were 1 single machine part, so even if there are many [Bodies] or [features] in it with multiple geometries, constraints (e.g. fixing, positioning with coincidence/ offset, or contacting) will not be applied in order to define relationships between one [Body] and other. But it is simpler than a [Product] file to save and manage data, since it is 1 single file. The [Save As] will be used to save data (just like MS Word or Power Point).

#2. [Example.2] shows that there is 1 [Product] file as the dominant product with 2 [Part] files under it. This means that 3 files (1 [Product] file and 2 [Part] files) will be created and will have to be managed. This sounds like bad news because you have to keep as many as 3 files instead of 1. - The good news, however, is that constraints (e.g. fixing, positioning with coincidence/ offset, or contacting) can be applied to these [Part] files in order to define relationships between one [Part] and other, so they will be treated like separate parts. 

For this reason, 1 [Part] file can be re-used independently if it is saved somewhere you determined. This way, you will be able to keep multiple [Part] files out there in order to manage them, and you may want to call it a parts catalog. The [Save As] command will not be used here because each file ([Product], [Part]) has to be saved with the save directory you will define respectively.

A [Product] structure (an assembly modelling) enables to be developed to kinematics (simple machanisms analysis).

Select the [Save Management] command to display the list of files that are open. In this example, the [Product] data contains 1 [Product] file and 2 [Part] files. Make sure that each file will need to have some items to be defined, such as a file name titled as [Name] and save directory titled as [Location].

[Be determined and confident] 腹を決め、自信を持って

People often (so very often) say that ever since the IT revolution has taken place, the world seems to have changed dramatically with a great speed. They also say that the speed has getting even faster along with the trend of “globalization” or “internationalization”. Living here in Japan, there is no single day that I don’t hear such a word. You can hear someone mentioning it on the morning train, in a park or a lobby when you eat lunch, or in a restaurant or a hospital you may visit.

So many people say, “It is so cool you guys speak 2 or 3 languages at home.” The way they say it is almost like they are envious for someone who succeeded in a diet to become skinnier, or the face has become to look younger.

I can’t imagine a life without speaking multiple languages. I like where I am now and I am proud of being bilingual. I think it is a great benefit for my 13-year-old daughter to live with two languages. She speaks Japanese with her Japanese friends, while using English in her school as well as at home.

I'm pretty sure, however, there will be a time when she takes it negatively about it. She might feel she belongs nowhere. It is true that my family and I feel we are different here in Japan, but we also feel the same way out there in America, too. - We are different anywhere.

When you start thinking about it, you might want to say, “It is a great tragedy!” They might imagine a situation where a spirit that has nowhere to go after its physical life, just like the “Wandering Hollander”. – But it is out of the point.

The point here is that it is not to feel inferior or superior, but to be determined to be able to accept this "in-between" status between one language (culture) and another. That is a process through which bilingual (bicultural) individuals will feel comfortable to stay where they are, and they take pride in it. – There were times when such people were really hard to live because there was more ignorance or discrimination existing than there is now today.

The globalized economy is even good news to those who are growing or have grown bilingually.

I have come to think of Darwinism. There is a key word “survival of the fittest” by Charles Darwin that describes that suitable ones will be preserved in the struggle for life. I am not saying that just bilingual individuals are the fittest, but the world has become to consider more of them.

This “In-between” position, therefore, will no longer be considered unstable, but could be a distinctive category where such people live more comfortably in order to make more possitive impact on society.