CATIA

CATIA is the high-end product design system of Dassault Systèmes, headquartered in Vélizy-Villacoublay, France. The software originates from the aerospace industry: Dassault Systèmes was founded in 1981 to develop CAD for aircraft design, and 3D surface design software that later became CATIA was among its first products. Version 5, released in 1999, was the first one fully implemented for Windows. Today CATIA runs on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.

Features

• Advanced surface and solid modelling for complex shapes, as used in vehicles and aircraft.
• Systems engineering and modelling of products in the context of their real-life behaviour.
• Collaborative product development on the cloud-based 3DEXPERIENCE platform.
• Simulation, electrical and fluid systems design and manufacturing preparation through connected applications.

Model and limits

CATIA is aimed at large engineering organisations and is sold through Dassault Systèmes and its partners with individual quotes. For single designers and small workshops, SolidWorks from the same company or open source options such as FreeCAD are usually the more practical entry points.