Design molded parts with great productivity and flexibility through advanced functional features

CATIA - Functional Molded Part 1 (FM1) is a new generation of non-history based 3D modeling delivering unmatched productivity and flexibility. Dedicated to the design of molded and plastic parts, FM1 provides a set of high level dedicated functional features. By embedding dedicated functional specifications this new generation of advanced features, remove many user interactions involved in the design of plastic and molded parts. Unlike traditional 3D design CATIAs functional modeling frees the user from the notion of history in that the order of creation of the features have no impact on the design itself. FM1 is totally integrated into the entire CATIA V5 application portfolio. This integration provides molded part designers with a comprehensive solution covering the entire creation process.

Product highlights

Provides a collection of industry-specific functional features...
CATIA - Functional Molded Part 1 (FM1) is a flexible and productive 3D modeling package dedicated to the design of molded and plastic parts. The application provides direct access to a collection of intuitive functional features that are the most useful for designing molded parts. These are, for instance, core and cavity design functional feature that are daily used: Extrude, Revolve, Cut, Thicken surface, Rib, Boss, Cutout, Rest, Pocket, Grill, Reinforcement, Shell.

Functional Modeling for Flexibility and Productivity...
Functional Molded Parts 1 gives the molded part designer flexibility and productivity thanks to its functional modeling approach. Industry-specific functional features allow users to develop thin parts with a high level of productivity and flexibility. These functional features differ from most other CAD systems in that each performs in one operation a complex modeling task that would usually require several dedicated features. For instance, a grill can be created in one feature instead of defining complex pattern-based openings. This all-in-one concept saves considerable time when elaborating on a complex form.

A New Level of Usability...
Design flexibility makes it easier to capture design intent.

• Behavior-driven Design - Skilled features that encapsulate industry-specific behaviors give users the freedom to focus on WHAT to design rather than HOW to design it. The design team's capacity for innovation is significantly improved.
• Order Independence - Users have the flexibility to focus on their design intent and not on the order in which they create design elements.
• Effective Change Propagation - The built-in associative intelligence of functional bodies, volumes, and features ensures that design changes can be made quickly and safely at any time during the product's life cycle. This approach greatly facilitates concurrent engineering because Designer B can work on a functional part without any consideration of the way it was previously modeled by Designer A.

End-to-End Process Coverage through CATIA V5 Integration...
Total integration with the CATIA V5 portfolio of applications ensures end-to-end process coverage. This level of integration provides molded part designers with a comprehensive solution to cover the end-to-end plastic part creation process, from preliminary to detailed design. It can be used with such powerful products as its prerequisite CATIA - Part Design 1 product for 3D design in assembly contexts and with CATIA - Generative Shape Design for creating specification-driven shapes, such as complex sweeps and fillets. Draughting tools, such as CATIA - Interactive Drafting and CATIA - Generative Drafting, are highly recommended to extend the product's drawing production capabilities.