CATIA V5 Tutorial: Improve Performance for Managing Large Assemblies

Managing large assemblies (CATProduct) in CATIA V5 is a tricky process. Even with high end PC, working with large assemblies often leads to CATIA crashes. In this article, we will give you some important optimization tips when you deal with large assemblies.

A. Working with Cache System

Activating Cache improves performance of your system drastically. When this mode is activated, CATIA loads all the parts in assembly in Visualization mode. Visualization mode doesn’t load entire CATPart with history. Hence it’s much lighter on system memory than parts in Design mode.

How to activate Cache System?

1. Go to Tools—> Options
2. In the Options list, select Product infrastructure under Infrastructure.
3. Check “Work with Cache System” box in Cache Activation.
4. Set desired path for Cache directory.
5. Set Maximum size of the Cache Directory depending on available free space.
6. Click OK.
7. Restart CATIA.
Next time you open assemblies (CATProduct), CATIA will load all the parts in Visualization mode. If you want a part in editing mode, Right-click on the Part Representations –> Design Mode.
B. CGR Management

You can optimize CGR format files for large assemblies. To optimize it,

1. Go to Tools –> Options.
2. Select Product Structure Options in the left pane.
3. Click on cgr Management tab.
4. Check “Optimize cgr for large assembly visualization”.

5. Click OK
C. Changing Display Options

By tweaking some display settings, performance can be improved to a great extent.

Disable Occlusion culling by unchecking “Occlusion culling enabled”.
Change 3D Accuracy value e.g. 0.10 (Increasing value increases performance).
Change Level of Detail while Moving (Increasing value increases performance).

Change Pixel Culling level While Moving (Increasing value increases performance).

D. Disable Automatic Saving
By default CATIA takes a automatic backup every 30 minutes. During this period resources get hogged up. This can be disabled while dealing with large assemblies. Choose “No automatic backup” radio button to disable it.

E. Reduce Stack Size
Stack size is the number of “Undo” which is allotted for a CATIA session. Reducing this size increases the memory capacity and hence increases performance.
To reduce stack size,
Go to Tools –> Options
Select “General” tab in the left pane
Click on “PCS” tab and reduce the “Stack Size” value
Click OK

F. Product Visualization Representation
Opening assemblies with all components deactivated and activating needed ones as desired will improve memory usage.
To change this settings,
Go to Tools –> Options
Select “Product Structure” in the left pane
Click on “Product Visualization” tab
Check “Do not activate default shapes on open” box
Click OK

And do set Memory Trigger Warning Limit when memory use gets exceeded beyond the set limit.
Performing all the above given settings should improve your systems performance. You might less often see the CATIA termination error “Click OK to terminate” !