CATIA - OBJECT MANAGER 2 Product (COM)

General Issues

VRML Textures cannot be imported in VRML 1.0 files.
Graphics Performance Enhancement V5R18SP2 is taking more benefit from the graphics hardware (GPU). Graphics performance of V5 is enhanced thanks to the support of the OpenGL feature, Vertex Buffer Object (VBO).

This performance gain matches perfectly the requirements of V5 Products like:

  • Real Time Rendering: large model and gpu-consuming advanced materials based on CgFX shaders.
  • Digital Mock Up: very large mode with a great number of triangles to draw.

This graphics optimization is only available on Windows XP 32-bit & 64-bit and by exporting the following environment variable in your V5 install:
set CAT_VBO_ALLOWED=1

It is strongly recommended to switch on this optimization on the latest hw graphics having at least 512 MB of video memory like:

  • Nvidia Quadro FX4500, Quadro FX 5500, Quadro FX4600, Quadro FX 5600, Quadro FX 3700, Quadro FX 4700 X2, Quadro FX4800, Quadro FX 5800, QuadroFX 1700M, Quadro FX 2700M, Quadro FX 3600M, Quadro FX 3700M, Quadri FX1800, Quadro FX 3800.

    It is recommended to install the NVIDIA 182.08 driver series or later.

  • ATI FireGL V7300, FireGL V7350, FireGL V5600, FireGL V57600, FireGL V8600, FireGL V8650, FireGL V7600, FireGL V7700, FireGL V7750, FireGL V8700, FireGL V8750, Mobility FireGL V5600, Mobility FireGL V5700.

    It is recommended to install the ATI FireGL 8.543 driver series or later.

Refer to the DS certified configuration website to check your configuration.

View Mode Customization We do not guarantee an identical triangulation of meshes between releases and from one Service Pack to another.
Microsoft Office Document Image Writer When printing documents using the Microsoft Office Document Image Writer virtual printer, it is recommended to select the Monochrome mode in V5 (click the Options... button in the Print dialog box):

Otherwise, selecting the TIFF-Monochrome Fax option in the printer's Advanced Parameters may lead to a crash.
This is due to a problem with the Microsoft driver and is not related to V5. This problem will be corrected with Microsoft Office 2007.

Language-Specific Fonts Korean and Chinese characters may not be well rendered if you are working on UNIX.
Memory Leaks for GDI Objects Memory leaks may occur for Graphics Device Interface (GDI) objects when you create and destroy child windows.

For more information, browse the following Internet site:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;319740

CATDUA error A document, pointing to an another document, or to one of its containers stores the link information in its External Links Table. Along with this links, it also keeps in its memory the temporary links formed with the other documents during the process. Such links may remain as dead (inactive) entries within the document, though the external reference counter counts to zero. Under normal operation, such entries can neither be reused nor discarded from the document. This condition is detected as a DOC_8 error that is cleaned after a complete document scanning.

Using Paste as Result with Link option can also lead to a DOC_8 warning if a temporary link is used somewhere in the overall process. This will however depend on the exact data configuration and application used.

Another possible reason for DOC_8 warning is while you save a document from VPM to file base system, the PDM identifiers stored on the referenced features are removed. However, the links to feature catalog (where the feature definitions are stored) are still retained in the document. These links become useless and the Doc_8 warning is induced.
Print Settings The settings displayed in the Print dialog box can be modified through the Print dialog box only. The Windows Printer Properties dialog box does not reflect the settings used for printing (e.g. number of copies, page setup, etc.).

Open Issues

NVidia performance regression issue  To know more, please open the Knowledge Base and search for this QA article: QA00000018687.
3D Insight The following commands cannot be used with the 3D Insight product:
  • File > Print...
  • Tools > Image > Capture...
  • Tools > Image > Video...
  • Tools > Utility > PrintBatch.
Screen Dimensions on Windows Vista When using some Windows Vista configurations, the size of the screen is not correctly computed, which may lead to a bad visualization: for instance, points may disappear.

Workaround: Store your screen dimensions in the following two variables:

set CATWidthMMOfScreen=width_in_millimeters
set CATHeightMMOfScreen=height_in_millimeters

You have to do these measurements by yourself using a tape measure. The screen dimensions correspond to the horizontal measurement followed by the vertical measurement.
If your computer does not use the full screen for display (e.g. if there is a strip on the left side and right side of your screen), you have to measure only the part of the screen used for display.

DLNames The following commands do not support the DLName environment: File > Print..., Tools > Image > Capture..., Tools > Image > Album... and Tools > Image > Video....
Anti-Aliasing Full Scene The Anti-Aliasing Full Scene option available in Tools > Options > General > Display > Visualization  is not compliant with Object-to-Object shadows in the Real Time Rendering product.
Background Color When you set a white background color in Tools > Options > General > Display > Visualization, annotations, texts and lines with a white color cannot be seen.
Russian Fonts on SUN
  • When undocking toolbars, the title is not displayed at its full height and is partially truncated.
  • The Sketcher Tools toolbar is partially hidden by a white banner when creating a sketch.
Recording Videos on Windows 64-bit In the Video Properties dialog box you open through Tools > Image > Video, there is no access to DirectShow codecs on Windows 64-bit. The only accessible codecs are VFW (Video for Windows) codecs.
Off the shelf VFW 64 bit codecs are very rare and most often not compatible with V5. Consequently, a V5-compatible MJPEG VFW codec for 64-bit is provided. The DirectShow MJPEG codec is not provided on Windows 64-bit.
Refer to the official documentation for more information about how to install this codec.
Capturing Images Screen Mode on UNIX

On UNIX, the Screen Mode available through Tools > Image > Capture supports only 24-bit visuals (TrueColor or DirectColor): it does not support 8-bit visuals (PseudoColor or StaticColor).
Workaround: use the xdpyinfo UNIX command to check the current visual characteristics. If this visual is an 8-bit one, then change the settings of the Windows Manager to a 24-bit visual.

Capture white in black Option

If you capture images with the Capture white in black option activated, white specular spots displayed on parts in Shading rendering mode appear in black.

Printing Documents Large Memory Allocation

When printing large documents, the printing process tries to use the dpi value defined in the raster driver's settings and checks if memory allocation is possible before printing.

However, note that the detection of large memory allocation is available on Windows 32-bit only.

Print white vectors in black Option

If you print documents with the Print white vectors in black option activated, white specular spots displayed on parts in Shading rendering mode appear in black.

Rasterization Rendering Mode

  • This functionality is not supported in batch mode.
    Workaround: use VB commands.
  • For large formats (i.e. > 4A0), if the amount of allocated memory is exceeded, you may encounter problems when using 3D PLM raster printers.
  • For documents of type 2D Layout, note that:
    • On Windows, 2 GB of RAM is the minimum recommended amount of memory.
    • On UNIX, performances may be decreased when printing large formats (i.e. > 4A0).

Print Batch Utility

  • Documents generated with the 2D Layout for 3D Design product cannot be printed using the Print Batch utility as well as any utilities customized through VB Script macros. These documents can only be printed from an interactive session.
  • You cannot print in batch mode a document with a scale that does not correspond to the session scale. If you try to do so, some geometrical data will not be loaded, and the printing process will fail without displaying any error message.
    Remote printing has some limitations for documents with a non-standard scale. For instance, to print a Small Scale document in remote mode, the remote computer must be in a Small Scale session (i.e. Small Scale option selected in Tools > Options > General > Parameters and Measures > Scale).
    Loading and printing processes are done by the remote computer and therefore, the scale of the document must correspond to the scale session of the remote computer. This implies that when you are in a local Standard Scale session, you can print in remote mode a Small Scale document on the remote computer if the remote scale is in a Small Scale session. Moreover, no error message is displayed if the scales of the local/remote computers do not fit, or if the scale of the document and the remote scale session do not fit (in this case, the print will fail).

Clipped Entities

The clipping of entities is not correctly supported by the vector rendering mode named Dynamic Hidden Line Removal.
Workaround: use the Hidden Line Removal rendering mode instead.

PRINT_CAPTURE_DPI VARIABLE

The PRINT_CAPTURE_DPI variable is ignored when saving a CATDrawing to a TIFF file. The DPI stored in the settings is used instead.

Saving Multiple Sheets in a Single Vectorial File When using the Save multisheet document in a single vectorial file option available in Tools > Options... > General > Compatiblity > Graphics Formats, the only V5 viewer supporting multisheet information is the TIFF viewer. Other V5 viewers for GL2, GL, CGM, SVG and PS do not support this feature.
3D XML

Saving in 3D XML Format - General Information

  • When working on 3D XML files from 3DLive, note that:
    • The review structure is changed at save: different reviews on a same level will be merged into a single one and the reviews on assembly nodes will be saved under the root.
    • 3D XML V4 format allows more markup than supported by CATIA V5R17 SP5. A V4 3D XML  file received from another source could have such information (e.g. spline, big arrows,...). If this 3D XML is modified in R17 SP5, such markup will be lost. A warning message is displayed to inform the user when such information is present in a source 3D XML.
  • DMU contents (Scene, Presentation, Measure, Section and Annotated Views) are now treated as one (Design Review).

DMU Navigator

See the DMU Navigator Program Directory.


Materials

See the Real Time Rendering Program Directory.


CATDrawings

See the Interactive Drafting and Generative Drafting Program Directories.


Scenes and Presentations
  • User-defined attributes of scenes are not saved in 3D XML format.
  • If a Presentation references applicative data which cannot be saved in 3D XML, then the links to these applicative data are removed from the .3dxml file. A warning message is added in the conversion log.
  • Presentation rendering styles supported in 3D XML format are (all other rendering styles will be converted to Shading with Material with edges and points in the 3D XML file):
    • Shading with Material
    • Shading with Material, edges and points (custom mode)
    • Wireframe (NHR)
    • Triangles shading, no edges & points (custom mode)
    • Gouraud shading, edges, dynamic hidden line removal (custom mode).

Measures (Item and Between)

  • When saving in 3D XML format a product containing Measure Between or Measure Item stored in a complex DMU Review structure (with sub-reviews), the measures between are also saved in the 3D XML file. However, when reopening the 3D XML file, the Measures are created in a default DMU Review: the complex DMU Review structure is not retrieved.
    • Associativity is not retrieved when saving in 3D XML. The re-created measure between is broken and thus non associative.
    • When saving in 3D XML format a product containing Measure Between or Measure Item stored in a complex DMU Review structure (with sub-reviews), the measures between are also saved in the 3D XML file.
    • The customization of the repositioning of lines and text for a measure (green-colored) is not retrieved in the 3D XML file: when reopening the 3D XML file, all measures appear in the default position
    • The customization of the measure display is not retrieved in 3D XML format: when reopening the 3D XML file, all values are saved and the measure is displayed using the current customization.
    • Only Measure Item and Measure Between can be exported to 3D XML format. Measure Thickness and Measure Arc (by 3 points) are not taken into account. In Measure Between, the angle measured is not exported either.
    • Measures with names such as "MeasureBetween.5" or "MeasureBetween.XXX" will be saved as "MeasureBetween.1", "MeasureBetween.2", etc.
    • Maximum Distance cannot be saved in 3D XML format.
    • When saving in 3D XML format a product containing Measure Between or Measure Item stored in a complex DMU Review structure (with sub-reviews), the measures between are also saved in the 3D XML file.

Sections
  • Selected objects that are cut are not exported.
  • The behavior of sections with respect to the associativity mechanism and/or the Section Freeze mode is not exported.
  • Information related to the grid (activated, values, behavior) is not exported.
  • Applicative data under a section are not exported. This means that measures, distances, 3D annotations and 2D annotations are not exported if they are stored under the section.
  • New product > Insert a 3D XML containing a section:
    • The section appears in the specification tree but is not valid.
    • The section is not displayed in the geometry.
Double-clicking a Document on Windows When double-clicking a document icon using the Windows Explorer or My Computer, the following error message may appear, even though the double-clicked document is correctly loaded in session:
  Ignore the message.
Interrupting Batches on UNIX Using the Interrupt contextual command in the Processes tab of the batch monitor lets you interrupt batch execution. When you interrupt a batch on UNIX, an abnormal end is generated.
Ignore the abnormal end.
Rendering Styles When using View > Render Style, the Customize View mode appears twice:

This mode should be named Customize View Parameters as explained in the documentation and should appear only once in the list.
This will be fixed in a forthcoming release.

Knowledgeware xlsx files (Excel 2007) used by Design Tables cannot be saved in ENOVIA. Only Design Tables that use .xls files can be saved.

Documentation Addenda

None