Pick Smart with SmartPick in 3DEXPERIENCE CATIA

Difficulty in picking smart design constraints?

Using SmartPick in CATIA will automatically indicate when the element you are sketching is coincident to other sketch geometry such as lines, endpoints, arc centers, midpoints, intersections, etc.

Coincidence

When using SmartPick, CATIA will display different coincidence symbols next to your cursor as you create sketch geometry. In the following graphic, several Smartpick coincidence symbols are shown.

Alignments

SmartPick will also indicate when you are in alignment with other elements near your cursor. CATIA displays alignments using a thin dashed line. Sometimes the line may appear to be continuous because of the way the workstation renders the image.

Geometric Relationships/Constraints

SmartPick can also help you to define geometric relationships between elements. These include parallelism, perpendicularity, and tangency.

In the graphic, the left figure shows only an alignment. right figure shows that the line is also horizontal, (parallel to the horizontal axis of the sketch). The horizontal orientation is indicated by Smart Pick with the change in color, (the default is blue). Both horizontal and vertical use a change in color to indicate the proper orientation.

Similarly, next graphic shows the parallel and perpendicular relationships. Notice that the relationship is defined relative to the highlighted element. The relationship symbols displayed in the Graphics window correspond to the constraint symbol.

The creation of constraints is dependent on Geometrical Constraints command being active in the action toolbar under the Sketch section.

However, the relationship with other geometry will still be recognized by SmartPick even if Geometrical Constraints is not active, but no constraint will be created.

SmartPick Options

SmartPick recognition settings are available from Me Icon > Preferences > Mechanical > Sketcher > SmartPick. To temporarily deactivate SmartPick while sketching, hold the Shift. To lock a displayed relationship or alignment, hold CTRL after the symbol displays. You can now move your mouse and maintain the relationship.

For more tech tips and in-depth eLearning for 3DEXPERIENCE and other popular engineering design tools and topics, please visit https://www.myigetit.com to explore more. There are affordable subscription plans to get started on your upskilling journey! If you should have any questions, please reach out to iproducts@tatatechnologies.com for help.

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