CATIA V5 _PART DESIGN_Animated sketches

The best option to simulate a mechanism with CATIA V5 is of course by using the dedicated one named DMU Kinematics Workbench. But as CATIA is a very interactive and versatile CAD software some simulation can be also done in other workbenches. For example sketch animation is sometimes a very useful feature and this can be done in PART DESIGN namely in SKETCHER Workbench.

Here are few examples of how to animate a sketch.

EXAMPLE 1.

Once you are in Sketcher Workbench draw 4 single lines and connect them with the appropriate geometrical constraints (coincidence between the end points) and dimension. The sketch can be animated only when all the elements are fully constrained, therefore they appear in green color.

Of course a much faster way to do this is to draw the lines in one profile by clicking the 1st icon on the Profile toolbar, but for a clear understanding of how this works I show you this in a detailed way.

If your sketch is green then, click the Animate constraint icon and type the parameters as show. For the number of steps the bigger the value, the faster the animation. Then just play with the Video Playback buttons.

EXAMPLE 2.

Let´s say you want to animate a Piston-Like sketch. For this draw an axis and create a fixed point on it as shown.

Make the sketch green by defining the geometrical constraints and dimensions as shown.

In the Constrain toolbar click on the animate constraint icon, type the parameters and play the animation with the Video Playback buttons.

EXAMPLE 3.

In Sketcher Workbench, the sketch animation ideas are unlimited. Again, always remember: to do that correctly your sketch must be also green, meaning all the geometrical and dimensional constraints are fully defined. Let´s take for example a Loader Sketch where you wish to animate the Loader Arm move (up and down). For this just click on the length as shown below, then click on the animate constraint icon , type the parameters and play the animation.