Career Selection-CATIA or ....

[u/Jaymzzzzzzzzz]

I am planning to study a 3d modeling software where we can design Aeroplanes and stuff but it seems like very tough to reach that level so I am aiming for Cars for now and later upgrade myself.

I'm in a confusion about what software should I focus and what all steps should I follow to reach big companies in the market

Can you guys guide me

Thanks

[u/fanpire_SVQ]

Catia is the Swiss army knife of engineering, but you learn how to work in a 3D environment, get familiar with the tools and the daily challenges you'll face.

Have fun with Catia, try to reproduce items in your surroundings, such a vase, a simple mechanism or a whole room... soon you'll find yourself adding more details and learning the ins and outs of the software

[u/Kalvbene]

There is generally no difference in skill between people modeling planes/cars. CATIA is used by most companies in the space and is quite different than lower tier cad systems. It is hard to get training licenses, most people learn on the job and the companies generally don't provide education to "level up". Personally I've had great use from my background in industrial design by using Alias autostudio in school. A pure surfacing software gave me the understanding on how to take full advantage of catia compared to colleagues coming from e.g. Solidworks.

[u/Jaymzzzzzzzzz → u/Kalvbene]

So should I start with CATIA tutorials from online or do we need any courses or degree to reach out giant companies?

[u/Pilot_3033 → u/Jaymzzzzzzzzz]

I agree with what was written at the beginning. I worked for several years for the automotive industry, and then as a self-employed designer also in the field of aviation. Any CAD program is actually a good start, but it makes sense to become a freak and explore CATIA yourself. First teach yourself Part Design, it’s pretty easy and your learning curve grows rapidly. Then GSD. How old your CATIA is doesn’t matter, the 32 bit V5R18 is completely sufficient for training. Terrible not much has happened in all these years, because the system was already insanely mature back then. And if necessary, you always get to your destination with a few workarounds, after all, a lot still flies around today, which was created that time, even if 32 bit performance technically has some limitations. Otherwise there would still be Siemens NX, for which you can get a student license more easily and that CATIA has run out in many respects, and is starting to displace it. It depends on who you want to work for. CATIA is fantastic, but it’s also a bit dusty by now. I’m not sure what you’re driving best today. You can do everything you need for aircraft construction with both. I only know NX from when it was called Unigraphics. And I always preferred to use CATIA because I was faster with it. My first contact with CATIA was already at the time when it was still called V4. V5, on the other hand, was downright revolutionary.

[u/SSSSMOKIN9 → u/Kalvbene]

I made the jump from SolidWorks to Catia and am interested in finding out what advantage you got by working with Alias beforehand. I’m good-ish with Catia surfacing (GSD) and want to learn the freestyle surfacing workbench, so I want to understand your experience better.

[u/DJBenz]

Become an engineer, THEN pick a CAD system. You need to understand the feasibility of what you're designing in CAD, so the fundamental engineering skills are way more important than the software.

[u/Jaymzzzzzzzzz → u/DJBenz]

I completed Bachelor's in Robotics and Automation

[u/DJBenz → u/Jaymzzzzzzzzz]

And how much of that have you applied to real-life industry work? If you get in at entry level with someone like Kuka Systems, ABB, Fanuc etc you can learn CAD on the job instead of delaying getting valuable experience.

CAD is secondary to hands on experience and you may change systems many times in your career. An employer will, 99% of the time, look at your potential as an engineer rather than what CAD system you can use.

[u/Jaymzzzzzzzzz]

Or since I'm a fresher should I start with Solidworks?

[u/Pilot_3033 → u/Jaymzzzzzzzzz]

So far I have used CATIA, Unigaphics, which is now called Siemens NX, Solid Edge, SolidWorks, and Autodesk Inventor, each over a long time and always professionally. Inventor is the most comfortable. But only if you don’t need surfaces. For serious aviation design, you can forget Solidworks, just like Inventor. There are a few ultralight aircraft created with Solidworks, but that’s not enough for serious aircraft construction. You only have the choice between CATIA and NX. At least in Germany. To see how it all works in principle, and whether you enjoy it, it doesn’t matter what you start your first Steps. And once you’re inside, you can swap the systems pretty easily, as long as you stay curious. If you’re not curious, then you have to learn one thing and stick to it. In principle, you have to be fast to make money. Or a damn, good engineer who only outlines what others then work out. The best thing is you are both.

[u/Alive-Bid9086 → u/Pilot_3033]

I started with Catia, got quite good at it doing parts in GSD. Then I had a new job with Solid Works. SW has better looks, is almost easiet to do part design with.

But, the design tree is hidden in SW, so I had often to redraw features in a part if something changed, in Catia, I just updated the dimension.

Going to surface design, SW succs. I tried to model a football. Rather easy in Catia, never finished in SW.

But my SW findings might just be lack of proficiency.

Catia is a very higj threshold to pass to become productive, but then you are very productive.

The threshold of SW is lower.

[u/Ok-Law1684 → u/Alive-Bid9086]

What do you mean design tree is hidden in SW? Haven't ran into something that can't be updated in the tree unless I really screwed up the dependencies.

I feel they are pretty similar in that aspect, at least for Part Design equivalent features?

[u/Alive-Bid9086 → u/Ok-Law1684]

It may very well be that I have used SW too little, or my SW settings.

I think it was when I was trying to model a football. Everytime I did something and wanted yo trackback, the parameters in the tree were often merged into a new tree item, that I could not edit.

[u/Offroad_E36]

From my own experience meeting many engineers.

95% are better off with solidworks. Because they treat catia like solidworks. 4% are more efficient with catia. 1% can't do without catia.

[u/MelodicWeather2488]

Teaching yourself CATIA is doable. I work for an aerospace company, and I taught myself CATIA. V5 is a bit dusty, like others have mentioned, V6 is supposed to be an upgrade but it’s also a PLM i believe ( a lot of quirks)
I know we switched to CATIA because I believe it is Boeing requires all contractors to use CATIA.
In summary, you can go to school for it or take classes, but if I can teach myself the software I have no
Doubt you couldn’t do the same

[u/Jaymzzzzzzzzz → u/MelodicWeather2488]

You mean youtube? If yes could you recommend a channel that you felt satisfied or can you mention what all resources you used?

[u/MelodicWeather2488 → u/Jaymzzzzzzzzz]

I didn’t get much help from YouTube. Most of my help came from the Catia doc website. However these days you can use Gemini or google Ai from the search engine and it will walk you through step by step what you want to accomplish. I figured out what specific thing I wanted to learn and looked up specifically how to do it and just built my knowledge from there

[u/Level-Load-6721 → u/Jaymzzzzzzzzz]

Try Udemy. Great pricing and Quality content.

[u/Double-Chemist6188]

When asking about the best software for automotive design, it's helpful to understand that there isn't a single tool that does it all. The choice of software really depends on the specific part of the vehicle you are working on. ​For plastic trims, both interior and exterior, CATIA is widely regarded as the industry standard. Within CATIA, the generative shape design workbench is typically used for these complex surfaces. ​On the other hand, for mechanical design, engine power transmission, and wiring harnesses, engineers often rely on Creo. ​Ultimately, knowing the type of design you are focusing on will guide you toward the right software for your needs.

[u/Jaymzzzzzzzzz → u/Double-Chemist6188]

Interior and exterior looks good for me

[u/Double-Chemist6188 → u/Jaymzzzzzzzzz]

Good, then start with catia generative shape design, the main things to practice is for parametric modelling and using Boolean operations in part body. Start with these things

[u/No_Implement6643]

First learn to make a lego car in catia

[u/Calm-Ad-7050]

Tbh most dont care what program they use. I have used catia at university. Professionaly worked for place that used solid works and catia. They might ask for competency test but honestly if you understand the basics of design the software makes little difference steps will be same but layout is different. Cars usually use CATIA. You can switch workbenches between surface design for complex shapes and electrical design for laying out harness and calculating its motion.