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Memory Management in CATIA V5

Generative Drafting Workbench

DS Support White PAPER

Introduction
Generation of drawing views requires loading of all the related 3D documents. Memory consumption increases due
to loading of both 2D and 3D data. This document will help users identify and manage such memory allocation issues
effectively through some best practices used in generative drafting workbench. It gives information on generative
drafting memory management according to the scenario, the options, and the processed 3D data. The aim is to help
users to choose the best memory saving methodology according to their needs.

Contents
Introduction .........................................................................................................................................................2
Part 1. Diagnosis of Memory Problem in Generative Drafting.................................................................................4
Part 2. General V5 Options to Reduce Memory Consumption.................................................................................6
1.
2.
3.

Work with Cache System ....................................................................................................................................................... 6

Set the undo stack size to Zero .............................................................................................................................................. 6
No automatic backup option should be Activated:................................................................................................................ 6

Part 3. Best Practices ............................................................................................................................................7

A.
B.
C.

Choice of the View Generation mode .................................................................................................................................... 8

Information of memory save in each View Generation mode............................................................................................... 9
Miscellaneous....................................................................................................................................................................... 12

Part 1. Diagnosis of Memory Problem in Generative Drafting

While working on Generative Drafting workbench some of the following memory usage problems are encountered
by the users:
Warning messages are shown; e.g. detected low virtual memory condition, detected a full memory address space
condition.
Operating system error panel pops up indicating that there is no more memory available.

CATIA crashes with or without any warning message. Abend trace (generated in the CATTemp directory) file contains
some information related to the memory usage, such as malloc failed.... In the Stack Trace of Abend trace the
memory percentage more than 70-80% also indicates memory exhaustion problem. Refer to the image below.

In some cases, Memory problem may lead to a CPU loop. A CPU loop means that the CATIA session is/seems to be
frozen. CPU is used at 100% and action requested by the CNEXT process may not be executed.
Memory Warning: Warning message appears as per the trigger set by user in tools- options.

This popup warns that because the amount of remaining memory is becoming low, user should save your data and
exit the session:

Part 2. General V5 Options to Reduce Memory Consumption

1. Work with Cache System
Using a cache system considerably reduces the time required to load the data and memory usage. In this mode,
only a representation of the geometry is available and the corresponding cgr file is loaded. This file does not
contain actual design with all specifications. Hence, this file is light weight and less memory consuming.

2. Set the undo Stack Size to Zero

Stack size indicates the number of commands of global actions which can be undone for each document. For
undo to work, each operation is stored in the memory. Number of these operations stored is defined by the
stack size. If it is not set to 0, memory is used to remember several operations. If the "undo" capability is not
essential, set the stack size to the minimum: 0.

3. No automatic backup option should be Activated:

If "warm start" capability is not essential, please activate the No automatic backup option. With the "No
automatic backup" option, documents are not saved automatically. By Default, Automatic Back-up is activated.
And with this option, a save operation (frequency given in minutes) can be specified. Each save operation
consumes memory. Hence, activating "No automatic backup" option saves memory usage.

Part 3. Best Practices

In the following section, user can save memory by considering these points:
A. Choice of the view generation mode
B. Information of memory save in each view generation mode
C. Miscellaneous
There are four types for view generation modes:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Exact
Approximate
CGR
Raster

A. Choice of the View Generation mode

Here is a simple algorithm which may help choose the type of view (check these items in the given order):
Exact mode:
If generation of fillet edges or threads, or Exact 2D Geometry, or complex breakout, or unfolded views is needed;
If associative dimensions are needed.
Raster mode:
If 2D geometry is not needed (if only an overview, without geometry dress-up is needed).
CGR mode:
If a precise 2D geometry computed from visualization data is needed.
Approximate mode:
If none of these item suits the need, the approximate mode may be the best to settle memory allocation problems.

B. Information of Memory Save in each View Generation Mode

Exact Mode
Exact mode is useful when the user requires section/breakout views, details Views, Associative dimensions,
Generation of 3D specifications (threads, fillets, dimensions, FT&A) and Generation of Threads.
Memory optimizing tips related to various options in Exact mode.
1. De-activate the Exact preview for view generation. In this case, a part or product open in Visualization mode will
not be loaded in Design mode for the preview, which optimizes memory consumption.

2. De-activate the Fillet representation modes and Generation of Axis-lines/Center-Lines/Threads if not needed.
This prevents the generation of the above elements in the views. Hence memory required for view generation is
reduced.

3. If hidden line representation is not asked, and many instances or bodies are hidden by other, use the "Enable
occlusion culling" option. This will load only the parts which will be seen in the resulting view (instead of loading all
of them, which is the case by default), which optimizes memory consumption and CPU usage.

4. Option "Only generate parts larger than" can be used to filter the smallest instances inside the whole product
structure, if there is no need to load them.

5. Memory consumption according to various fillet options in Exact Mode

The Memory consumption is different for various types of fillets projection mode. Boundaries projection requires the
least memory and projected original Edges requires the maximum memory in Fillet generation.

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Approximate
Approximate views are not as high in precision and quality as exact views.
This generation mode dramatically reduces memory consumption. Approximate mode has advantage of
section/breakout view creation. For restriction of approximate mode, please refer to the documentation.
CGR
CGR views are not as high in quality as exact views, but they consume much less memory during the generation. This
may be useful when dealing with sophisticated products or assemblies involving large amounts of data.
Raster Mode
Raster mode consumes very little memory. They do not load the parts in design mode. Use Raster mode to get a 2D
geometry image if only an overview is needed. Sections, dress-up are not possible in raster view. Refer to the
Documentation for more details.

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C. Miscellaneous
1. For Part Drawings, use Part MML. It means copy the PartBody from the original CATPart. Create a New
CATPart and Paste Special (paste as result with link). Or copy the .CATPart (or .model) document within a
new CATProduct. In both above cases, Geometry specifications of original Part are not needed for View
Creation. Hence Memory is saved.
2. Activate the Technological result for bodies containing threads. Thread generation in views requires loading
the whole .CATPart. Technological Results created in the Part prevent loading of CATPart and thus save
memory.
3. Since 3D data is not unloaded, memory usage increases after creating/updating several views. Save, close
the all documents, and re-open may help to release this memory.
4. Unnecessary data may be loaded in addition by another workbench. Make sure that these data are released
before starting drafting workbench.
5. Starting a new session to execute the drafting scenario guarantees that the minimum number of code
libraries are loaded (no 3D application/workbench additional code).
6. Use the Batch Mode of update to run the update in the background and help user carry on with other
operations on the computer.

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