About Opening Data from 3DEXPERIENCE

You can open documents in CATIA V5 as a root, or perform a partial open. When you open a document as a root, the document appears in a new editor with expanded nodes.

This page discusses:

Use Partial Open

You can open a document from the Product Structure Editor in CATIA V5. You can also open one or more linked CAD documents along with the document.

The changes done to a product structure using Replace By Existing or Replace By Latest Revision operation in the web, are synchronized to CATIA V5. The synchronization in CATIA V5 happens only if the replaced instance is a part of the Open / Partial Open operation (otherwise an error message is displayed).

Note: You cannot expand the product structure when you perform a partial open. You must index the data to open it partially using drag and drop.

From the web UI, you can perform partial open on a document from the Product Structure Editor widget. This action opens the document in the context of its parent. From web search results, you can right-click a filter object, and select Open With > CATIA V5 to open the filter in CATIA V5.

If you have created new data in the web, then you must ensure that you include it in the partial open scope to open it in CATIA V5.

Opening Documents in Visu Mode

You can open assemblies in Visu mode in CATIA V5 using a dedicated cache populated with CGR (CATIA Graphical Representation) files.

The Visu mode loads documents faster than the full authoring mode. In the ENOVIA V6/3DEXPERIENCE tab of the Options dialog box, you must select the Download CGR files from server check box to download CGR files (only CATParts). This option ensures that the CATIA V5 cache is always up to date. If a CGR file is already present in the CATIA Cache folder, then the same CGR is not downloaded again. However, if the CGR is invalid, then you can download a new CGR from the server.

You can clear the Download CGR files from server check box to create a CGR using CATIA (this option must be used if the network is slow). Administrators can lock the value for Download CGR files from server. This allows other users using a session with the same environment to inherit those settings, and prevents them from changing the settings.

Opening Data Imported from Legacy Systems

You can open documents from legacy systems in 3DEXPERIENCE.

To open VPM V4, V5, or SmarTeam data (that is imported to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, or created using CATIA V5), the following setting must be done in the Options dialog box:

In the General > Document tab, ensure that you have Active (Yes) status for:

  1. ENOVIA V5 VPM
  2. ENOVIA VPM database
  3. SmarTeam

To open documents from ENOVIA V5 VPM using POWER'BY, you must install the E5I - ENOVIA plug-in product.

File Size limit

In Tools > Options > Compatibility > 3DEXPERIENCE platform, you can set the file size limit.

If the size of the files to be downloaded exceeds the set limit, a warning message appears. Click OK in the message to download the files. Click Cancel in the message to cancel the open operation.

Manage Multi-Release Files

When you work with CATIA V5 files of different release levels, the version of your files may get upgraded. This section explains the actions that you can take depending on your scenario.

Open Lower CAD Version File in Higher CATIA V5 Level

To activate a check when you open lower CAD file version in a higher CATIA V5 level, you must select the Show read-only option for lower file versions check box in Tools > Options > Compatibility > ENOVIA V6/3DEXPERIENCE > Multi release V5 data open.

If any object has lower CAD version than the current CATIA V5 release, a dialog box appears with the following options:

  • Yes: Open operation is completed with all the files that are candidates for version upgrade in the read-only mode. Once a document is opened in this mode, it can be modified in CATIA V5 session, but can not be saved in 3DEXPERIENCE.
  • No: The open operation is executed in the normal mode. The documents are not read-only and their version can get upgraded if they are modified in session and saved.
  • Cancel: The open operation is aborted.

Open Higher CAD Version File in Lower CATIA V5 Level

To activate a check when you open higher CAD version file in a lower CATIA V5 level, you must select the Show error for higher file versions check box in Tools > Options > Compatibility > ENOVIA V6/3DEXPERIENCE > Multi release V5 data open.

If there is a file with a higher CAD version than the current one, the following warning messages may appear:

  • Case 1: In the case of a root document of higher version, an error message informs you that some files to be opened were created or modified in higher CATIA version. These files are incompatible with the current CATIA level. The operation is aborted.
  • Case 2: In the case of a non-root document that is structurally modified in web, an error message informs you that the structure contains an unsynchronized instance that is incompatible with the current CATIA level. The open operation is aborted.
  • Case 3: In the general case of a document of higher version (not being root and not being concerned by structure synchronization), the dialog box has below options:
    • OK: The open operation is completed without loading the versioned objects.
    • Cancel: The open operation is aborted.

    If you open higher level data in a lower CATIA level without activating any setting, a warning message appears informing that there was an error during the open operation. The operation is aborted.

Open Higher and Lower CAD Files in the Current CATIA Level

To activate checks when you open higher and lower CAD files in the current CATIA level, you must select the Show error for higher file versions and Show read-only option for lower file versions check boxes in Tools > Options > Compatibility > ENOVIA V6/3DEXPERIENCE > Multi release V5 data open.

The following priorities are followed when you open such data:

1. Root Document Higher Version Check

If there is at least one incompatible root with higher version, then this gets first priority. An error message informs you that some files to be opened were created or modified in a higher CATIA version. These files are incompatible with the current CATIA level.

2. Structure Synchronization on Non-Root Document Higher Version Check

An error message appears informing you that the structure contains an unsynchronized instance that is incompatible with the current CATIA level when:

  • There is at least one non-root document that is structurally modified in web.
  • The document owns an incompatible child that must be loaded using synchronization.
In this case, the open operation is aborted.

3. Non-Root Document Higher Version Check

  • If there is at least one non-root document of higher version without any lower version documents, the warning message has the following options:
    • OK: The open operation is completed without loading the version objects.
    • Cancel: The open operation is aborted.
  • If there is at least one non-root document of higher version along with lower version documents, the warning message has the following options:
    • Yes: The open operation is completed with all the files that are candidates for versioning in the read-only mode. Incompatible higher version documents are not loaded in session.
    • No: The open operation is completed as usual.
    • Cancel: The open operation is aborted.

4. Lower Version Check

If there is at least one lower version document, you can complete the open operation with all the files that are candidates for versioning in the read-only mode.

Important:
  • The behavior described in the above sections is applicable for all the commands involved while opening data from 3DEXPERIENCE. It is not applicable for CATIA V5 file based open operations. You must perform Load from 3DEXPERIENCE on the unloaded documents. For more information, see Loading Documents from 3DEXPERIENCE.
  • For a scenario, only one error or warning message appears.
  • When you select the check boxes in the Multi V5 Release Data Open section, the selection is remembered for the next CATIA V5 sessions. You do not need to restart your session to take the modification into account.
  • You can use the CATIA V5 launcher to open multiple CATIA V5 levels. For more information, see Installation and Setup: Install: Social and Collaborative: 3DEXPERIENCE Open: Collaborative Design: Design with CATIA V5: Using the CATIA V5 Launcher.

Overwriting Documents

You can overwrite documents in Design with CATIA V5.

While working with Design with CATIA V5, you may have to open the same documents multiple times. You may have modified the documents in your local 3DEXPERIENCE V5 cache. In such cases, before opening the documents from the server, you must get a confirmation before overwriting any files present in your cache. Overwriting files ensures that you do not download the file again (if it is already present on the disk).

In Tools > Options > Compatibility > ENOVIA V6/3DEXPERIENCE tab, you can select the following options in the File overwrite behavior in case of conflict section:

  • Ask: The Confirm file overwrite dialog box appears after choosing this option.
  • Always: You can overwrite the local changes by the changes on the server.
  • Never: You cannot overwrite the local changes by the changes on the server.

You cannot overwrite data when you have already loaded it in your session.

In the Confirm file overwrite dialog box, you can choose the documents to overwrite, and submit your choice. You can select Overwrite All to overwrite all the files listed in the dialog box. You can select Overwrite None, if you do not want to overwrite any file. You can retain all the local modifications performed on these files.

In the Confirm file overwrite dialog box, you can view CAD Type of all kinds of documents:

  • PS documents such as representation documents and drawing documents.
  • Non-PS documents such as catalog, analysis, process etc.
You can also sort the document based on the CAD Type by clicking the sort icon in the CAD Type column.

If you use the 3DEXPERIENCE > Load command, the Overwrite dialog box does not appear. In this case, modified files are automatically overwritten.

Using PartSupply Components in CATIA V5

You can use a PartSupply component in CATIA V5 from the side panel or from the document chooser.

To use a PartSupply component from the side panel, you can perform operations like Open/Insert/Replace. After you perform these operations, the component is imported in 3DEXPERIENCE. The imported components are automatically switched to the Released state.

If you again insert the same component using PartSupply, the component is not imported. The identity of the PartSupply component is retrieved in 3DEXPERIENCE.

A PartSupply component is imported in the Common Space collaborative space.

  • For the On-Premise environment, a user must be added to the Common Space. You can assign the user any authoring role for this collaborative space.
  • On Cloud, all the designers can access this collaborative space.

Note: You must connect to 3DEXPERIENCE before you download data from PartSupply.

You can download only the first-level dependency links to the local cache. If you want to retrieve objects further pointed by this link, use 3DEXPERIENCE > Open on the pointed object.