How do you remove planes in Catia?

To effectively manage your workspace in CATIA, hiding planes is a common practice that helps reduce visual clutter while maintaining their functional presence for design and analysis tasks. In CATIA, "removing" planes typically refers to hiding them from your view rather than permanently deleting them. Hiding planes keeps them active in the background, allowing you to toggle their visibility as needed.

The method for hiding planes can vary slightly depending on whether you are working in a Part Design environment (CATPart) or an Assembly Design environment (CATProduct).

Hiding All Planes in a CATPart

When working within a single part file (CATPart), you can quickly hide all visible planes with a simple menu command. This is particularly useful when you have numerous construction planes and want a clear view of your 3D model.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Navigate to the Tools menu at the top of the CATIA interface.
2. Hover over Hide.
3. Select All Planes from the submenu.

This action will immediately hide all planes currently visible in your active CATPart, providing an uncluttered display of your geometry. To show them again, you can follow the same path and choose Show > All Planes.

Hiding Planes in a CATProduct Using the Search Function

In an assembly file (CATProduct), which often contains multiple parts and components, the search function provides a powerful and efficient way to manage the visibility of specific element types, such as planes, across the entire product structure.

Follow these steps to hide planes in a CATProduct:

1. Press Ctrl + F on your keyboard to open the Search dialog box.
2. In the "Type" dropdown menu within the Search dialog, select From element.
3. Click on an existing plane in your assembly's 3D viewer. Alternatively, from the list of element types, you can select "Plane" if it's available directly. This action tells CATIA to search for all instances of that element type.
4. Click the Search button (often represented by a magnifying glass icon). This will highlight and select all planes within your product structure in both the 3D viewer and the Specification Tree.
5. Once all planes are selected, right-click on any of the selected planes (either in the 3D viewer or the Specification Tree).
6. From the contextual menu, choose Hide/Show.

This will toggle the visibility of all selected planes, making them disappear from your view without affecting their definition or functionality.

Additional Methods for Managing Plane Visibility

Beyond hiding all planes, CATIA offers more granular control over individual plane visibility.

Hiding Individual Planes

If you only need to hide a specific plane rather than all of them, you have a couple of straightforward options:

• Via the Specification Tree:
  1. Locate the desired plane within its respective Geometric Set or Body in the Specification Tree (the hierarchical structure on the left side of the screen).
  2. Right-click on the plane's entry.
  3. Select Hide/Show from the contextual menu.
• Direct Selection in 3D Viewer:
  1. Select the plane directly in the 3D graphical area.
  2. Right-click on the selected plane.
  3. Choose Hide/Show from the contextual menu.

Using the Graphic Properties Toolbar

The Graphic Properties toolbar is another quick tool for managing element visibility. While it doesn't have an "All Planes" button, it offers a "Hide/Show" icon (often represented by an eye or a blank square) that works on selected elements.

1. Select the plane(s) you wish to hide (individually or using the Ctrl+F search method).
2. Click the Hide/Show icon on the Graphic Properties toolbar.

Understanding the Difference: Hide vs. Delete

It's crucial to understand that hiding a plane is different from deleting it.

Action	Effect on Plane Visibility	Effect on Design Definition	Reversibility	Common Use Cases
Hide	Plane disappears from 3D view.	Plane remains fully defined and active in the Specification Tree.	Easily reversible	Decluttering workspace, temporary visual focus.
Delete	Plane is permanently removed.	Plane and any features dependent on it will be affected or deleted.	Risky, often requires undo/recreation	Removing unnecessary construction geometry permanently.

Hiding planes is a non-destructive way to streamline your workspace, making it easier to focus on the active geometry without losing the underlying construction references.

For more detailed information on CATIA functionalities, refer to the official Dassault Systèmes CATIA documentation.