Rapid Modeling of Vehicle Structure Under the CATIA / CAA Secondary Development

With rapid growth of the automobile industry, vehicle structure designing is continuously improving. However, due to the unique nature of these structures, a quick modeling and designing of them are often difficult for designers. To reduce the development cycle, researchers are exploring the secondary development of Computer Aided Three-dimensional Interactive Application, Version 5 (CATIA V5) by programming in Microsoft Visual Studio (VS) 2005 installed with Component Application Architecture/Rapid Application Development Environment (CAA/RADE). The main content of this article is divided into two parts. CAA/RADE and its design process are introduced in the first part. While quick vehicle structure modeling is given in the second part through programming in VS to import vehicle structure coordinates, create spherical surfaces for welding points, and change the color of parts. Efficiency and accuracy are realized in this paper for the design and manufacture of vehicle structures.