In the Assembly workbench, locate the “Scenes” toolbar. (If you cannot find the toolbar, go to View>Toolbar from the windows menus at the top of the screen and turn it on).
When creating multiple scenes, it is always a good idea to start off by creating a default generic scene that displays the original product file with all components in their correct location. That way, you can always go back to an initial state of the assembly. Uncheck the “Automatic naming” option and label this scene either “Initial State” or “Default.” If you do not uncheck “automatic naming” then it will label the scenes “Scene.1, Scene.2, etc.”
Once you click “OK” to the dialogue box, it will place you in a scene creation mode. You will be able to tell you are in this mode, because the background color will immediately turn green by default. Because this is our initial state or “Default” scene, we will not alter the state or location of any components, so simply hit the “Exit Scene” icon.
Now various exploded views can be created and saved for the assembly. Using the same method as above, create an enhanced scene and call it “Exploded 1.”
Once you are you in the scene creation mode (i.e. green background), snap your compass to the various parts you wish to move. Note, if you receive the following warning, select the “Do not display…” option and hit “Close.”
I find the easiest way to move part around for exploded views is to do it manually with the compass. In this example, I am going to focus on showing just the exploded view for the right side parts, starting with the fasteners. In this model we have four bolts and four nuts. I would like to create my exploded view so that all four nuts move out together (same for the bolts). This can be done with the compass and holding down the control key on your keyboard.
Next, select on the four nuts from your model or tree while holding down the control key on your keyboard.
Moving the items with the compass can be manually done by clicking and dragging on any of the green lines of the compass. For this model, I would like to create a logical explode by simply pulling the nuts out from their original alignment to the bolts, this will be done by moving it along the w direction. Instead of estimating the distance that you would like to drag the items away, you can tell CATIA to move them an exact amount by editing the compass. Either double click on the compass twice, or right click on the compass and select “Edit.”
When done, simply close the “Parameters for Compass Manipulation” dialogue box. Using the same method as described, I have separated the set of 4 bolts out a distance of 100mm and the right bracket out a distance of 50mm.
Once completed, I exit the scene. In your specification tree, you will now find the two scenes listed under the Applications and Scenes branch of the tree. You can create as many scenes as you’d like.
To now apply those exploded scenes to your assembly, you will apply the scene by right clicking. The option is within an additional drop down.
Scenes can also be a beneficial tool when it comes to creating an exploded view for a drawing file. To create an exploded view within a drawing that will always stay exploded, simply click on the scene name from the specification tree before clicking on the surface of the model.
Then from the part file, select on the scene from the tree, then the surface.
The drawing view will now reflect the scene configuration.
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Scenes in CATIA are covered in more detail in both the Rand 3D CATIA Advanced Assembly Design & Management and DMU Navigator and Space Analysis classes.
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