The Complete CATIA to Navisworks Conversion Guide

This guide is part of the RapidPipeline 3D Formats Knowledge Database. It shows how to convert CATIA to Navisworks, if you'd like to know more about the formats, please check out the following links:

• Learn more about the CATIA format
• Learn more about the Navisworks format

There are various ways to convert between CATIA and Navisworks. With RapidPipeline, you can easily convert and and optimize CATIA files, at scale. It supports Navisworks, as well as many other file formats (examples: 3dsMax, AutoCAD, Creo, FBX, glTF, Inventor, OBJ, PLY, Revit, Solid Edge, SolidWorks, STEP, STL, USD, USDZ, VRM), at high quality.

Below you can find a video explaining how to convert your files:

The CATIA file is a format mostly used for Advanced 3D design, engineering and manufacturing applications.
The Navisworks file is a format mostly used for 3D design review and project coordination software for BIM model visualization, clash detection, and construction planning.

The following limitations should be taken into account when converting CATIA files to Navisworks format:

CATIA Feature (not supported by Navisworks)	Limitation Details
Skinned Animations	Skinned Animations: supported in CATIA, but not in Navisworks. Skinned animations are commonly used for 3D character models in interactive applications, such as games or virtual worlds. They make it possible to easily animate the 3D model using a helper structure based on virtual bones, composing a virtual skeleton for animation control. In this example, a skinned animation is used to pose a 3D character. Without support for skinned animations, the 3D model will remain in its default pose, such as the default T-pose.
Morph Targets	Morph Targets: supported in CATIA, but not in Navisworks. Morph Targets, or "Blend Shapes", are commonly used to animate facial expressions and soft surfaces, for example cloth under a cloth simulation. They model various states of the animations with different vertex positions. In contrast to skinned animations, morph targets do not use any virtual bones, but work solely on the vertex data. In this example, a facial animation is achieved through morph targets. Without suport for this feature, in this example, the face will not show the animation.

Doing 3D conversion right, especially at scale, can be tricky, as 3D data is in general a rather complex (yet very powerful!) medium. This also applies to CATIA and Navisworks files - the conversion guide above provides a rough first idea about that. Once you know what you would like to do, tools like RapidPipeline can help you perform the necessary steps, and to even automate the process for thousands or even millions of files.

Especially when introducing pipelines and workflows at scale in an enterprise context, it is usually good to rely on dedicated tools and expertise, making sure you do not introduce any steps into your 3D workflow that are detrimental to the final output's quality, or that take your team too much time (and money).

If you're interested to hire dedicated expertise from the best in the field to help your company reach your goals fast and reliably, please do not hestitate to contact DGG. Being the creators of RapidPipeline, and ambassadors for open 3D standards for more than a decade, we have been building some of the world's most advanced 3D pipelines, having processed many millions of 3D assets.

Therefore, our expertise will help you to reach your goals faster, at scale, and with the least possible friction, since we are focused on maximum interoperability.

To get started with 3D data conversion and optimization today, sign up for a free account!

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