Dassault CATIA

Dassault CATIA is the flagship high-end commercial CAD product from Dassault Systèmes, used at the largest aerospace OEMs (Boeing, Airbus, Embraer) and by most premium automotive manufacturers. It pairs surface-class-A modeling for industrial design with deeply parametric mechanical design and tight integration with the broader 3DEXPERIENCE platform.

Context

CATIA — Computer Aided Three-dimensional Interactive Application — was originally developed by Avions Marcel Dassault for Mirage fighter design and spun off as Dassault Systèmes in 1981. CATIA V5 remains widely deployed; CATIA V6 / CATIA on 3DEXPERIENCE is the current strategic version on the unified platform.

What it implements

• CAD 2D Drafting with the Drafting workbench.
• CAD Assembly through Assembly Design and DMU.
• CAD Simulation through GAS / Generative Structural Analysis.
• STEP AP242 Data Exchange read/write.

Relationships (see sidebar)

• Competes head-to-head with Siemens NX in high-end CAD; complementary to the Dassault 3DEXPERIENCE platform.

Vendor

Dassault Systèmes.

Resources

• CATIA – Design and Engineering Excellence — official product page
• CATIA: A Brief History | Dassault Systèmes — origins and overview
• Dassault CATIA V5 Topic 1 | Introduction To CATIA — beginner introduction