Month: September 2020

Common CATIA V5 Shortcuts & Customization

Posted on by Swapnil Deshmukh

For any CAD software, Model manipulation options are very important to improve the productivity & for ease of use. This article will introduce you to all these options below.

Model Manipulation with Mouse

Function Options using your Mouse
Pan Hold Middle Mouse B
Zoom Hold Middle Mouse B + Click Right B or

Hold Middle Mouse B + Click Left B
Rotate Hold Middle Mouse B + Hold Right B or

Hold Middle Mouse B + Hold Left B


Model Manipulation with Keyboard

Function Option using your Keyboard
Pan CTRL + RIGHT Arrow Key: Move the model to the right

CTRL + LEFT Arrow Key: Move the model to the Left

CTRL + TOP Arrow Key: Move the model to the Top

CTRL + BOTTOM Arrow Key: Move the model to the Bottom
Zoom CTRL + PAGE UP: ZOOM IN the model

CTRL + PAGE DOWN: ZOOM OUT the model
Rotate SHIFT + LEFT Arrow Key: rotate to the left

SHIFT + RIGHT Arrow Key: rotate to the right

SHIFT + UP Arrow Key: rotate upward

SHIFT + DOWN Arrow Key: rotate downward

Listed below are the CATIA V5 shortcut keys that users need to know.

Esc: Abort the current process or exit the current dialog box (when there is one)

  • F1: Get CATIA V5 assistance by launching the contextual help documentation
  • F3: Toggle specification tree display on and off
  • SHIFT – F1: Context assistance (Get help on toolbar icons)
  • SHIFT – F2: Toggle the specification tree overview on and off – opens an overview on specifications tree in a new window.
  • SHIFT – F3: Structure tree activate around e.g. character size to modify (activate the graph if the model is active and inversely)
  • ALT + F8: Macros start
  • ALT + F11: Visual basic editor
  • CTRL + SHIFT + Right arrow: ROTATE the model Clockwise
  • CTRL + SHIFT + LEFT arrow: ROTATE the model Anti Clockwise
  • CTRL + Tab: switch between the different windows (swap active document windows)
  • CTRL + N: New document open
  • CTRL + O: Document open
  • CTRL + S: Document save
  • CTRL + P: Document print
  • CTRL + F: Search
  • CTRL + U: Update
  • CTRL + X: Cut out
  • CTRL + V: Insert
  • CTRL + Y: Redo
  • CTRL + Z: Undo
  • CTRL + G: Selection Sets
  • ALT + Enter: Properties

Did you know that you can improve your CATIA speed and efficiency by using both hands? One hand can work the mouse while the other can use keyboard shortcuts.

Customize the Commands:

You can also create your own shortcuts for the frequently required commands by customizing them.

Tools>Customize

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Select the Command Tab. Select the appropriate Categories and select the command (Hide/Show) which you want to create short key.

Click Show Properties button. Type the key which you want to use as shortcut key. In this example space bar key is used in the Accelerator field.

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Now whenever you will press Space Bar key it will allow you to Hide/Show the selected elements.

Power input mode

 The power input box is located in the bottom right corner of the status bar:

Power input mode is a user-friendly productivity assistant allowing you to:

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  • Enter numeric data more easily in editable fields and spinners (but cannot be used in combo lists); as such, it is intended as an alternative to typing values in dialog boxes (dialog boxes are however still available).
  • Enter commands directly (by typing the c: followed by the name of the command).
  • Entering selection queries using the query language available when using Edit > Search.

Power input is available in certain (but not all) application commands. Note also that prefixes used to run commands or selection queries vary according to the language.

To activate power input mode, select Tools > Options, click the General tab, and click the P2 option, then restart your session.

Activate Action Pad

This task explains how to set up pad options in order to perform viewing operations using the Tablet Pen on a Tablet PC. Note that you can use the pad to visualize both 2D and 3D objects

Tools>Options>General>Devices & Virtual Reality

If this option is selected, it means that the pad display is activated in the geometry area. By default, the pad is displayed to the right as shown below:

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Launching CATIA 3DEXPERIENCE on CLOUD in the Administrative mode

Posted on by Swapnil Deshmukh

To set drafting standards and set user default catsettings for 3DEXPERIENCE CATIA we need to launch CATIA in Administration mode (Admin mode). It can also allow us to lock certain software settings. For 3DEXPERIENCE CLOUD this can be accomplished using the following steps.

  •  Log in to 3DEXPERIENCE Platform with required credentials.

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  • Click on the 3DEXPERIENCE/ IfWe Compass.
  •  Select the small black/ grey arrow just to the right of one of the 3D Modeling apps (for example, Assembly Design).
  • A menu opens showing the available tenants as well as the 3DEXPERIENCE level being used.
  • From the menu, select the “Create Desktop Shortcut” icon (grey/ white arrow just to the right of the 3DEXPERIENCE level name).

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  • A Shortcut for the selected app is now placed on the Windows desktop.

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  • Open the contextual menu (Right-mouse-click) on the shortcut and select Properties.

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Copy the entire text string from the ‘Target’ field, located on the Shortcut tab of the Properties menu.

  • Create a new Text file on the Desktop and name it with the extension of .bat, instead of .txt. Paste the contents from Step 7 into the .bat file.
  • Launch the Desktop Shortcut (not the .bat file at this point).
  • When the login window is presented, cancel it by selecting on the X in the upper right corner of the window.
  • Go to the CATTemp directory (for example, C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\DassaultSystemes\CATTemp).
  • Open the latest Session Info File (for example, SessionInfoFile_username_d070_h13m21_p13584_0.txt) from the CATTemp directory. Then scroll to the bottom of the Session Info File. Here, you will find the list of Arguments used for launching the application.
  • Add any missing flags/ arguments shown in the Session Info file that were not included in the shortcut target from Step 8 into the batch file from Step 9.
    Note that steps 7-14 are required, that is, creation of a batch file (.bat), because the Desktop shortcut ‘Target’ field only allows 259 characters due to a Microsoft Windows hard coded limit.
  • In the Batch file add “-admin”, but without the quotes, just after exe of “3DEXPERIENCE.exe”
    (for example, “C:\Program Files\Dassault Systemes\B423\win_b64\code\bin\CATSTART.exe” -run “3DEXPERIENCE.exe -admin” -object “-Url=https://tenant_name-tenant_path:port/enovia -MyAppsURL=https://tenant_path:port/enovia/resources/AppsMngt -tenant=tenant_name)
  •  Save the Batch file ensuring that it remains as a .bat and not a .txt file.
  • Open the 3DEXPERIENCE CATEnv.txt file.
    Enter a directory path for the “CATCollectionStandard=” variable. (for example, CATCollectionStandard=C:\Users\user_name\Documents\ My3DEXP_CATCollectionStandardDirectory). Enter a directory path for the “CATReferenceSettingPath=” variable (for example, C:\Users\user_name\LockSettings).
  • Double-click the Batch (.bat) file created in Step 9.
  • Specify the your 3DEXPERIENCE login credentials.
  • To be able to modify & create drafting standards you need to log in as owner role.
  • This will launch the 3DEXPERIENCE CATIA in Admin mode with the ability to set activity of locks in Me>Preferences and Me>Standards for setting drafting standards as per the requirement.

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