Catia

[glorybound]

Does anybody have experience with CATIA? Have you used in for architectural viz?

[sandykoufax]

Is that a CAD/CAM tool for Car or Airplane ?
I'm just curious the price of it. Maybe more than 100,000$ ??
Sorry for the no answer.

[instinct]

Depending on the configuration you can get it way lower than 100k bucks.
I dont know for archviz. It is definately used a lot in Engineering and provides a VERY powerful toolset ranging from
plain part engineering over PLM/PDM, Piping, Electrical engineering, etc, etc, etc, etc to CFD etc etc etc hehe. All depending
on the configuration of course. Prepping Catia data for Viz is an Art of its own tho as for all CAD data.

Regards,
Thorsten

[glorybound]

I got a call today from a head hunter. A building envelope contractor (Division located in the Midwest with an annual volume of approximately 70mm is looking for people. They are doing all custom unitized work, and they have recently won a project designed by Frank Gehry. They are looking for individuals who are well-versed in Catia, and who want to build a career in this specialty subcontracting field of construction.

[instinct]

Mind you there is also a BIG difference between versions. V4 vs. V5 vs. V6. All of them are still in use at different places. and the version difference is in NO WAY comparable to Max 2k8 vs. 2k9 for example. They even use different file formats hehe.

With V6 licenses arent perpetual anymore and are only available for "rent" on a 2 year basis if i am not mistaken.

Regards,
Thorsten

[rmejia]

I think Frank Gerhy's Digital Project is based on Catia:
http://www.gehrytechnologies.com/

I believe they use Catia for designing airplanes, not really much for architecture, unless you're architecture is made of a bunch of titanium double curved metal surfaces. I thought it was about 20k for the program, which is an insane amount for somebody doing arch viz or most architects, since few people do what Gehry does.