CATIA V5: Copying and Pasting Tips

August 13, 2019 Scott Henderson

By Scott Henderson

 

Copying and pasting is a great way to reuse data and save some time. A simple right-click > Copy or a Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V is all it takes to get started. To make the best of these handy commands, it’s good to understand the ground rules.

In general, paste one branch higher in the tree.

Copy a solid feature? Paste in a body.
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Copy a body? Paste in a part.
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Copy a part? Paste in an assembly.
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Copy an assembly? Paste in an assembly.
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Watch the active level.

The blue highlighted area of the tree is the active level. If it’s in the wrong spot, the copy and paste operation will not be successful.

In this example, the top level of the assembly is blue. Trying to copy geometry in the part is not currently possible because CATIA is focused on the assembly.
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By double-clicking the golden gear level of the part reference, the focus is now on the part and the geometry can be copied.
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Be careful: A common mistake is to double-click the instance level of the tree instead of the part reference. Copy is still not available. The fix here is to double-click the golden gear level.
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These same rules apply to pasting. If the blue spot is not focused on the correct area of the tree, double-click the correct spot to fix it.

To link or not to link?

Creating links can be a big time saver. Modify the design of one part and have several update simultaneously.

To create a link, right-click the target location and choose “Paste Special” and “As Result with Link.” The item will come in as a singular shape, but connected to the original element.
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Assembly Considerations

Copying and instances

By copying a part instance, you are copying another usage of that part. This means that it is the same part in the assembly multiple times. It’s just as if you’d inserted the same file into the assembly repeatedly. Because of this, all of the parts are same CATIA file. By changing one part, all of the others will update.

In the example below, the same is in the assembly five times. The same part file is referenced for all of them, as shown by the golden gear level of the tree all having the same names. The instance level of the tree has different numbers at the end. The instances are different positions. In this case, there are five different positions of the same file.
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Linking Positions

When copying and pasting geometry between parts, just the shape data is linked. By copying and pasting geometry in assemblies, position and shape data is linked.

Copying from one part directly to another only results in the shapes being linked. In this case the PartBody was copied with a link to the new part. By changing the original part, the copied shape will update.
LinkingPositions

By copying in an assembly, both shape changes and positional changes are connected. In this case, the same copy/paste operation was performed, but by being done in an assembly, the positions will be linked, too. This is indicated by the chain link icon appearing in the tree.
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It’s a subtle change that can have a big impact on part updates!

A Deeper Look

Of course, adding links to parts will add more complexity. With some links incorporating positions, some combining shapes, and some just reusing existing items, it can all add up. To help keep it all straight, a further look into links and copy and paste options can be found in the CATIA V5: Advanced Part Design and the CATIA V5: Advanced Assembly Design & Management classes.

About the Author

Scott Henderson

Technical Training Engineer<br><br>Scott Henderson is a Dassault Systèmes Certified Instructor. With expertise in CATIA, DELMIA, and ENOVIA, he has been leading training classes and providing on-site customer support since 2006, focusing primarily in the Automotive industry.

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