Visual Tutor for CATIA V5

Overview: Constraints are powerful tools that enable you to control the design intent of your sketches. The application and manipulation of geometric and dimensional constraints allows you to drive the size and position of each sketch with respect to the rest of the geometry in the part.

Constraint Types
Constraints fall into two types: dimensional and geometric.

Dimensional constraints assign a numerical value to the size and or position of the sketch geometry, and may define things like the length of a line, the radius of an arc, or the distance between a two items.


Geometric constraints assign a physical relationship between entities, such as whether a line and arc are tangent to each other, two lines are perpendicular to each other, or a line is collinear with an external linear edge of the part. CATIA displays geometric symbols on geometry to indicate what constraints exist. The following figure displays the various symbols used in CATIA.





You can apply constraints to geometry in a sketch and make them relative to existing geometry, such as solid edges and planes, in the model.