Draft Analysis with Die Direction within CATIA V5

The draft analysis button within CATIA V5 will helps you quickly gather the draft angle on multiple surfaces without the need for tedious manual measurements. Here is a quick rundown of how the icon works when you have a given die direction.

For the purpose of this demo, I have a part with several drafted surfaces that is oriented in vehicle location (i.e. not perfectly aligned with x, y or z direction) as seen in Figure 1. The die direction is indicated by the dashed red line.

The first step is to change your shading style to “Shading with Material” (Figure 2).  (Don’t worry if you forget- CATIA will alert you!) The next step is to click on the draft analysis icon in the Analysis toolbar (Figure 3).

Note that the draft analysis initially assumes a Z axis direction. The incorrect draft analysis is shown in Figure 4. Since our part was created in vehicle location, we must first fix the default direction that CATIA assumes. This can be done with the dragging of the compass (fast method) or by creating an axis system with respect to the die direction (requires a little more leg work).

Method 1: Move Compass

For the dragging method, begin by clicking on the compass direction icon within the draft analysis dialogue box (Figure 5). This will snap the compass onto the part’s origin. Reset your compass using View >> Reset Compass so that it is now ready to be moved onto the die line. Figure 6 shows the steps involved with moving the compass.

  Figure 5

Figure 7 below shows the correct results once the proper die direction is applied.

Method 2: Creating new axis system

You can create an axis system where the new z axis is in the same direction as the die line. After you have the compass on the part, right click on the compass and tell it to use the local axis system (Figure 8).

Now that the draft direction is fixed, you can gather the draft angles along different surfaces using the “on the fly” mode. Simply activate the icon within the draft analysis dialogue box and hover your mouse over the surface in question (Figure 9).

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Draft analysis is covered in detail in the CATIA V5 Advanced Part Design class from Rand 3D. Contact a Rand 3D rep for more info, class schedules and pricing. 

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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