Powerful CATIA viewers and CATIA viewers online are worth something: no Catia viewer free
The 3DViewStation is the leading CATIA viewer
At Kisters you don't need any CAD license to view CatPart, CatProduct, CGR, 3DXML and MODEL files from CATIA V4, CATIA V5 and CATIA V6. The Kisters 3DViewStation reads both CATIA part and assembly files. However, should you ever get data in other data formats, such as from Siemens NX, PTC Creo, Inventor, DWG, DXF, STEP, JT, PDF, STL and many others, then the Kisters 3DViewStation is the software of your choice because it is a real Multi CAD Viewer. It offers support for over 60 different 3D solid data, 2D drawings as well as Office and image files and is therefore a very universal viewer for company-wide use. If CATIA data has to be converted into a neutral format so that it can be imported into another CAD system, the 3DViewStation also offers an export, e.g. in STEP, JT, Parasolid, STL and more.
CATIA Viewer online as an alternative to the desktop version
The Kisters 3DViewStation is very often installed locally on desktop PCs or notebooks for CATIA viewing. These are ideal for power users who need the software every day. For example, colleagues responsible for projects who sit down with their business partners and thus have to load their tool design with the latest version of a component together in an ad hoc meeting. Very grateful users of the 3DViewStation desktop version are sales employees who receive CATIA and other CAD files by mail or download link and who have to prepare offers for the production of the parts or assemblies, among other things. For this purpose, the CAD data is loaded, viewed and measured very quickly. Often a view with annotations, dimensions or sections is created so that in the event of an order it is documented what needs to be taken into account. Often a CATIA file is sent with the order, which must then be compared with the file version from the time the offer was created using the 3DViewStation.
Local or online viewer?
But is it always necessary to work with CATIA files that have to be downloaded? In a very early procurement phase, for example, it can be completely sufficient to store the data on my internal, central 3DViewStation WebViewer server and only give the business partner online access to this CAD data. In particular, we can view very complex products with large amounts of data within seconds because we completely avoid downloads here. In addition, it is very easy to ensure that the latest versions of the files are always used. Efficient data protection is also ensured because no CAD geometries are streamed onto the end device. And finally, the end user himself does not need any license or software installation for viewing and analyzing. For those who make the CAITA files available online, the access history can also be logged if necessary.
3DViewStation is a very fast Catia viewer:
- Load a 300 MB Catia assembly in a few seconds, as native CATProduct, as 3DViewStation is an extremly fast Catia Viewer
- Load a 5 GB Catia ssembly in 1 second or a complete ship consisting of 10 million parts in 15 seconds, as 3DVS file, which is world class 3D CAD visualization!
Use 3DViewStation anywhere:
- 3DViewStation can be used as Catia Viewer on Desktop PCs, Office Notebooks, Tablet-PCs, SmartPhones and in VR environments
- 3DViewStation can be used as 3D CAD viewer and 2D CAD Viewer either stand alone or integrated with 3DExperience or SmarTeam
- Load complex assemblies like a complete helicopter in seconds. Determine the objects of your interesst and start your Catia editing session from here ("visual load to CAD")
- Share your CAD data for review rather than sending sensitive or large files.
CATIA Viewer free?
Why should you pay for commercial software when there are free viewers? CAD system manufacturers often offer a restricted CAD license as a viewer for their own data. But in the end it is CAD software that cannot be used for design. For many users, the free products are enough and that is completely OK. But using a CAD system as a viewer ultimately also has disadvantages: the operation is not necessarily intuitive and can quickly overwhelm users without CAD experience. This is different with the 3DViewStation. Even inexperienced users can use our tools immediately and without training and use them to get all the information they need to do their job. If in doubt, our tutorial in the Help Center or videos on our website, e.g. in the BLOG or our YouTube channel, will help. As a provider of commercial software, we also provide our customers with support via email, telephone and desktop sharing.
PMI, manufacturing information, drawing replacement
The 2D drawing is still the legally binding document in many business processes. It has a frame and a legend with a lot of information about the creator, change status, version, release status, creation and change date. It usually has a series of detail sections with dimensions, tolerances, surface qualities, perhaps a parts list or free texts. For older products in particular, there are still scanned drawings, sometimes even paper, in the manufacturing industry.
What to do with the earlier 2D information in the age of 3D masters?
3D CAD systems have been around for decades. Once again, the aircraft industry led the way. What began in the IT departments of some manufacturers exists today in the form of independent 2D and 3D CAD system manufacturers. In the beginning, the focus was on pure geometry and construction topics for a long time. At the end of the 3D construction process, a 2D drawing was created. That was and is often still a laborious, interactive process that unfortunately has to be carried out in 3D after every change. And changes are the order of the day in the manufacturing industry.
Since this is very inefficient and compensated for many of the advantages of 3D construction, slowing down the downstream processes very much, a concept was sought that is often called "3D master" today. Why not integrate all the information that was previously on the 2D drawing into the 3D model? That was the hour of birth of PMI, Product Manufacturing Information.
PMI, Product Manufacturing Information
Today you can add 3D annotations to 3D models with CATIA. These can be dimensions or tolerances. Views can be created that only show parts of an assembly, with a specific camera position. Or views of a component in which only certain annotations for certain ISO views are shown. Or predefined cuts in a specific position, with a defined camera setting. Geometries and objects can now have attributes that provide information about the creator, last change and release status, even an ERP ID can be stored. Free texts can be placed as so-called billboards in the 3D room. With all these measures it has been possible to successfully reduce the use of 2D drawings. Large corporations today completely do without 2D drawings and, in combination with the archiving of 3D data as e.g. STEP data, also see themselves on the safe side from a legal point of view.
Extensive functionalities for your CATIA viewer
As a 3D viewer, the Kisters 3DViewStatiuon is significantly faster in terms of loading time and much easier to use than e.g. CATIA itself. We can not only view CAD files, but also provide many other functions. Most users only want to e.g. view, zoom, measure a CatPart or CatProduct and call up the PMI views. Some find comparisons important or the possibility of adding their own comments as markups or annotations. The Kisters 3DViewStation with its 3D Advanced Analysis, Feature Recognition and IP Protection modules is far more powerful than many customers expected. The clash and clearance analysis (collision and distance analysis with spacer bands) makes our 3DViewStation a sought-after digital mockup (DMU) tool. The split function, wall thickness and draft angle analyzes are not only popular with foundries, model and mold makers due to the simple operation typical of the 3DViewStation. They are also dramatically cheaper than comparable CATIA modules. With our TechDoc option, the 3DViewStation is often used as an authoring system for creating maintenance and servicing instructions, an alternative to the 3DVIA Composer. And all of these functionalities have been developed in close collaboration with our end customers to ensure that they meet the needs of the real world.
Get 3DViewStation now! Try it now for free and without obligation!
Why wait? Talk to us today and let us explain the advantages of the 3DViewStation as a CATIA viewer for desktops or as a CATIA viewer online by phone. We are also happy to meet via web meeting and on-site at your premises or at trade fairs and user conferences in Germany, Europe, the USA and Asia. You can also easily download a test version for your desktop PC yourself and try out the Kisters 3DviewStation with your data at your leisure. If you are more interested in a CATIA online viewer, you can also test the 3DViewStation WebViewer version at any time - online of course, without any installation. Simply register and view and analyze a public example or upload your own CATIA, other CAD, drawings or Office data. You can determine whether these CAD files should be publicly viewable or whether you want to store them in a private area.
30 years of CAD viewer experience
Whether as an Enterprise CAD Viewer, a 3D CAD Viewer, 2D CAD Viewer or CATIA Viewer offline or online - we have the right solution for you. For over 30 years we have been offering viewer solutions for the manufacturing industry, initially viewers for industry standards and standardized formats such as TIFF, CALS, JPEG, and then also for the up-and-coming Autodesk products with DWG, DXF, DWF and PDF. Then the 3D era began and so today we are currently supporting the high-end CAD systems with the 3DViewStation, especially CATIA, Siemens NX (formerly UGS) and Creo (formerly Pro / Engineer). JAVA was only used briefly for web-based viewers. Today, however, browser-based HTML5 solutions such as the 3DViewStation WebViewer version without any client installation have established themselves - for PCs, notebooks, tablets and smartphones. Our CATIA viewers have long since become an important part of more complex applications such as the PLM systems 3DExperience and SmarTeam. You can find them just as easily as a viewer online in product configurators and after-sales solutions as in spare parts catalogs. Finally, the invitation that you are welcome to sign up for our newsletter in order to receive information about innovations from us from time to time.
