CATIA Tip: Hiding Items- Visualization vs. Design Mode

Hiding components within an assembly is a vital action to navigating assembly analysis. However, based upon your company's CATIA settings, you need to be aware of the ramifications of hiding parts via the part’s surface.

See the example below. This CATIA session has cache management system enabled, therefore the parts are loaded in as visualization mode (light weight mode). While using the cache system, if you hide a part by right clicking on the surface, the hidden status icon is clearly visible in the specification tree.

If we compare that with an assembly that has been opened not using the cache system, the parts are automatically open and hold the full geometric weight of the solids they represent. Notice that the hidden status is NOT indicated in the specification tree—which might things more difficult later on when wanting to to bring that item back to visible status.

So long story short, do NOT get in the habit of hiding from right clicking on the surface of the part. The best practice is to hide the item from the specification tree. By hiding from the specification tree, you will get the hidden status symbol no matter if you’re in visualization or design mode.

About the Author

Technical Training Engineer<br><br>Trisha has been providing professional training services for Rand 3D clients since 2012. Her extensive experience makes her an ideal instructor for both on-site and online classes for people at all levels, from introductory to advanced. She currently focuses on teaching end users how to effectively use CATIA V5, VPM Navi, and Creo Parametric. She also helps develop and review training material. Trisha has a B.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering from Ohio State University, and she is a Dassault Systèmes Certified instructor for CATIA V5 Part, Assembly and Surfacing modeling.

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