catia-automation

name	catia-automation
description	Use when automating CATIA V5 engineering drawings, exploded views, multi-view PDF generation, A1 detail drawings, detail-page PDFs, or when using the local CATIA Drawing Assistant software.

CATIA Automation

Use this skill for CATIA V5 drawing automation with the local CATIA Drawing Assistant.

Tool

Primary software:

cd "D:\path\to\catia-drawing-assistant"
catia-assistant status
catia-assistant --product "D:\path\to\MiniDrone.CATProduct" --base-name MiniDrone views
catia-assistant --product "D:\path\to\MiniDrone.CATProduct" --base-name MiniDrone explode
catia-assistant --product "D:\path\to\MiniDrone.CATProduct" --base-name MiniDrone detail-a1
catia-assistant --product "D:\path\to\MiniDrone.CATProduct" --base-name MiniDrone detail-pages
catia-assistant --product "D:\path\to\MiniDrone.CATProduct" --base-name MiniDrone all
catia-assistant-ui

--product can be either an open CATProduct name or a full .CATProduct path.

Explosion Scale

Default explosion scale is 0.65. Use lower values for a tighter exploded view and higher values for a wider exploded view:

catia-assistant --product "D:\path\to\MiniDrone.CATProduct" --base-name MiniDrone --explosion-scale 0.55 explode
catia-assistant --product "D:\path\to\MiniDrone.CATProduct" --base-name MiniDrone --explosion-scale 0.75 explode

Workflow

1. Verify CATIA is open with status.
2. Confirm the target .CATProduct is open or provide its full path.
3. Generate original multi-view drawings with views.
4. Generate exploded multi-view drawings with explode.
5. Generate A1 original and exploded detail multi-view drawings with detail-a1.
6. Generate detail-page PDFs with detail-pages when line weight hides details.
7. Verify PDFs with page counts and a rendered preview when layout matters.

Outputs

Default outputs go under output/:

• <base>_multiview.CATDrawing
• <base>_multiview.pdf
• <base>_exploded_multiview.CATProduct
• <base>_exploded_multiview.CATDrawing
• <base>_exploded_multiview.pdf
• <base>_multiview_detail_A1.CATDrawing
• <base>_multiview_detail_A1.pdf
• <base>_exploded_multiview_detail_A1.CATProduct
• <base>_exploded_multiview_detail_A1.CATDrawing
• <base>_exploded_multiview_detail_A1.pdf
• <base>_detail_pages.pdf
• <base>_exploded_detail_pages.pdf

Important Rules

• Do not overwrite the source CATProduct.
• Do not use balloon/circled-number callouts; this was intentionally removed because automatic callout targeting was unreliable.
• If PDF lines look too thick, use detail-a1 or detail-pages; detail-pages generates seven pages with one large view per page.
• If a generated PDF is locked, generate a new output name or close the PDF viewer.
• Avoid calling Product.Update after moving exploded components because constraints can pull components back into assembled positions.

DeepSeek

DeepSeek support is optional. It may suggest JSON configuration or explain failures, but local scripts must execute CATIA automation. Do not let AI output directly control CATIA without validation.