Quick Tips: How do you measure an angle in SolidWorks?

The measure tool will give you the angle - but there is a quicker way.  If you click on two planar surfaces, the status bar at the bottom of your screen should provide an angle.  This also works with two linear lines or edges.

Quick CATIA Tips: Avoid zoom on the specification tree

One annoying aspect of using CATIA is when you attempt to click one of the little plus signs in your specification tree but you miss and accidentally click a branch instead. Your models goes a shade darker and when you try and zoom in on your model it instead makes the tree get enormous or extremely tiny. To turn this option off simply go to Tools>Options>General>Display>Tree Manipulation. Disable the tree manipulation option by unchecking the box. Now this will prevent unnecessary tree zooming. If you still need to zoom in or out on the tree in this mode hold Ctrl while scrolling the mouse wheel instead.

Quick CATIA Tips: How to export the specification tree

I've personally never had to use this before but I can think of many applications where it would be extremely useful, especially in case where your customer or client may not have access or licenses for CATIA. To Export the Specification Tree go to Save As and select text file. You will get a text file that contains only your specification tree.

Quick CATIA Tips: Increase the number of Undos

Did you know that you can control the number of times CATIA will let you hit the undo button? This is a good tip if you are dealing with a large or complicated part model. The default number of undo levels is ten. In some cases it can be very useful to have a few more, but do remember that this will hog system memory so show restraint when altering this setting. Here's where the option is located:
R16: Tools > Options: Select General > Performances.
R18: Tools > Options: General > PCS

CATIA Quick Tips: How to create an axis system within a geometrical set

Another common CATIA question is how can you make a new axis system under a geometrical set and not the default axis system node? Well, to create an axis system in a geometrical set, when you create a new axis, in the dialog box, simply unclick the check box next to the "under the axis system node" option. This will place your new axis under which ever object you have defined as the current in work object. Easy, eh?

CATIA Quick Tips: How to rearrange the part tree order

A common question of CATIA users is how do you rearrange the order of a part tree? It's actually pretty simple. To rearrange the order of a part tree right click on the part and click reorder children. That's it! That's all there is to it.

What does CATIA stand for?

New users to CATIA are taught that CATIA officially stands for "Computer Aided Three-dimensional Interactive Application" (an alternative being Computer-Aided Three-Dimensional Interactive Analysis). If you're a veteran and have been using CATIA for more than a few months or years you might have heard a few alternate versions for what CATIA stands for, or maybe even come up with a few on your own. After using CATIA for almost three years now I've compiled a list of the best acronyms I've come across:

CATIA - Crash and Try It Again
CATIA - Could Actually Take It All-day
CATIA - Close and Test it Again
CATIA - Come and Take It Away
CATIA - Constantly Aggravated & Tortured Individuals

And for good measure there's also these unrelated bits:

CATIA - Central Australian Tourism Industry Association
CATIA - Catalysing Access to Technology In Africa
CATIA - Computational Advanced Theorem Interface Application


What are your favorite CATIA acronyms?