INSTALLATION:
GENERAL:
LICENSE:
APPLICATION – THICKNESS CHECKER:
APPLICATION – SECTION THICKNESS:
APPLICATION – DISPLAY:
APPLICATION – MISCELLANEOUS:
Q : Which versions of CATIA V5® are supported by GeomCaliper®?
A :On 32-bit OS, CATIA V5® R20, R21, R22,R23 and R24
On 64-bit OS, CATIA V5® R20 (x64), R21 (x64), R22 (x64), R23(x64) and R24(x64)
Q : Which operating systems can run GeomCaliper®?
A : GeomCaliper® works on Microsoft® Windows 7 32 and 64 bit
Q : What is minimum/ recommended System configuration?
A : GeomCaliper® requires 512 MB of ram with 500 MB or more of free temp space. 1 GB of ram with higher temp space is recommended for analysis of large parts.
Q : Is GeomCaliper® for CATIA V5® an FEA tool ?
A : This is not an FEA based tool. It’s a thickness measurement tool and the color-coded results are displayed for easy understanding.
Q : What is the difference between GeomCaliper® and the Thickness measure item tool provided in CATIA V5® ?
A : Thickness measure item provided in CATIA V5® is a simple measurement tool. For advanced thickness measurement and checking, GeomCaliper® is preferred. The differences between the two is given below

Description GeomCaliper® Thickness Measure Item
Ray measurement method
Sphere measurement method
Color coded results
Reports in XML/HTML
User selection of thickness range
Thickness at sections
2D Section thickness
3D Section thickness
Q : Which licensing mechanism is used by GeomCaliper ®?
A : GeomCaliper® is secured with FlexNet® licensing software from MacroVision®
Q : My license has expired. Where can I Renew the license from ?
A : Please contact GC.sales@geometricglobal.com for license renewal.
Q : Where can I purchase GeomCaliper® ?
A : Please contact our local resellers or send email to GC.sales@geometricglobal.com for purchase and pricing.
Q : What is Ray Method / Sphere method ? Is this a standard terminology for thickness definition?
A : The Ray method uses a straight ray, to calculate the wall thickness of a solid body. In this method, when you click on any point of the model, it triggers a ray, which travels straight before hitting the other side of the surface. The ray stops the moment it reaches another surface. Ray method is a standard terminology for thickness.
http://products.geometricsoftware.com/images/ray.jpgSphere method is a non-standard definition which may be applicable for certain application. The Sphere method uses a rolling sphere to calculate the wall thickness of a solid body. In this method, when you click on any point of the model, it generates a rolling sphere. This sphere keep rolling till it reaches two surfaces on its two sides.The locus of the center of all such spheres constitutes the mid-surface (referred as the medial axis in 2D).
http://products.geometricsoftware.com/images/sphere.jpg
Q : Why are the results shown by ray method and sphere method not identical ?
A : Please see definition of Ray Method and Sphere Method above.
Q : Which method to chose for thickness analysis?
A : Ray method is useful for inspecting wall thickness in product design, sheet thickness and checking thickness gradients. Sphere method is useful for deciding coolant channels, ribbing, weight reduction / coring, runner and raiser location.
Q : Why does spherical model show variation in thickness values when using Sphere Method?
A : The thickness value on sphere shows variation in thickness value because of tessellating the model from CATIA. Normal Ray method is recommended for finding thickness on a spherical model.
Q : What is Step and Sag ? How do they affect the thickness results ?
A : By changing the “Sag” value, the distance of the triangle from the surface changes.If the Sag value is low, triangles are generated closer to the surface and are smaller in size. Hence the tessellation error reduces. But the number of triangles increases. This can result in higher accuracy of thickness values but the computation time shall be higher. By changing the “Step” value, the length of triangle changes. A lower step value will result in triangles with smaller edge length. This can result in increase in accuracy of results. Please refer to the image below for Sag and Step definition
.

Term Description
Step Defines the maximum length of the bar. The Step acts on the length of the generated bars. A higher steps generates longer bars. This can be viewed in the image show below.
Sag Defines the maximum distance between a bar and the object to tessellate. The Sag parameter takes the curvature of the objects in to account. A lower sag creates bars that are “nearer” the object to tessellate. This can be viewed in the image show below

If, e.g., a flat surface is present, then increasing the sag will have no effect on the size of the triangles. However, changing the step value will result in change in the triangle size, hence the accuracy and computation time shall change.
Q : What is “Ignore Thickness at Edges”?
A : When using sphere method for thickness computation, the edges and corners show low thickness values. These low thickness values are not of concern and it is desired that they are filtered out of the analysis results. ignore Thickness At Edges® option in Sphere Method allows the user to specify the maximum thickness value, which should be ignored at the edges. Figure below shows the effect of the option of ignore Thickness at Edges.
Q : Changing the maximum thickness value to be ignored in the ignore Thickness   at edges shows no change in the results. Why ?
A : When the limiting thickness value is specified in the ignore thickness at edges, then following conditions must be satisfied for the thickness to be ignored:
  • The area should be near the edge
  • The thickness value should be less than the limiting thickness value
  • The sphere must interfere with the neighboring face
Hence if thickness value input is beyond the maximum edge condition then any further increase in the input value will not have any further effect on the display at edges.The figure below explains the above scenario.
Q : What is the accuracy of the computed values?
A : The accuracy of the results depends on the model resolution selected while launching GeomCaliper® from within CATIA. Setting higher resolution would result in higher accuracy, but the analysis time would increase.
Q : What is difference between 2D thickness at Section and 3D Thickness at Section? Which one to use when?
A : 2D thickness at section provides the thickness of the model at the section boundary. The user can either select the “Ray Method” or the “Sphere Method”. For 3D thickness at section, thickness is computed at a point within the section plane. Spherical waves originates from the point ( source) and propogates in 3D till it hits the body. The radius of such a sphere is the 3D thickness of the model at the given section. Figure below shows how the 3D thickness at section is computed.2D thickness at Section is used to find thickness on the surface of the model along a particular section. 3D thickness at section is used to find thickness at any point within the solid model on the given section
Q : Why my application slows down when finding the thickness of the model at mouse location ?
A : This could be due to graphics card problem. Use “Point Click”option fromTools->Default Settings->ThicknessMeter->Point Click. Also you can use “Point Click” option from the tool bar when probing thickness values on model.
Q : The thickness values at the mouse location flickers and disappears when the mouse is not moving.
A : This could be due to problem with the graphics card. You need to change the hardware accelaration. Go to Hardware accelaration ( For Window 2000 Professional version, gotoDisplayProperties->Settings->Advanced->Trouble Shooting and switch off “Disable cursor and bitmap accelations”. This can be done by changing the slider by one unit to the left from full accelaration.
Q : Why results are asymetric for symetric body ?
A : Please use finer “Model Tessellation” while launching GeomCaliper® from CATIA.
Q : Why GeomCaliper version 2.3 shows more number of Grey/White areas on the model than previous versions?
A : New feature ‘Improved Accuracy of Thickness Checker tool’ in version 2.3, displays important and more relevant results only and filters out or hides the non-critical results.
GeomCaliper works on a tessellated model data. Due to the tessellated domain, thickness values may be incorrect at certain locations in the model depending upon shape of the surface and the tessellation quality. This is a known limitation of GeomCaliper.
This feature, now, automatically hides or filters-out such incorrect results and displays only the correct, relevant and critical thickness values on the model. Hence there are more number of Grey areas on the model as compared to the previous versions.
The advantage of this feature is while locating the critical regions on model (using feature ‘Locate Critical Regions’), these filtered-out incorrect thickness values will be ignored. This will result in finding the real critical regions easily and avoid the false regions due to incorrect thickness values. The count of critical regions listed will be reduced drastically thereby making critical region search and analysis easier.
Q : How can I customize the report?
A : GeomCaliper® provides template xsl file in the GeomCaliper® install directory. By customizing the template xsl file, the report can be customized.
Q : Does GeomCaliper®support hot-key for view manipulation same as in CATIA V5®?
A : The hot keys for rotate, pan and zoom are provided in GeomCaliper®. These hot-keys operate in the same manner as in CATIA V5®.