Inserting Surfaces in SOLIDWORKS Drawing Views

Surfaces do not appear in SOLIDWORKS drawing by default. If the model is made up of a combination of solids and surfaces, the surface bodies are considered ‘construction reference’ bodies. With them being used as reference geometry, surfaces are usually not required in a production drawing. However, when the model is made up of both solid and surface bodies, the drawing is incomplete if surfaces are not displayed.

An exception to the above statement is when the model is made up entirely of surface bodies. With the model being fully created of surface bodies, they will all appear in the drawing view. Once a solid body is inserted, then the surface bodies will be removed from the drawing, and only the solid bodies will show.

Surface on SOLIDWORKS model with a solid body

When surface bodies are a necessity for a drawing, they can be inserted into a drawing view as model items: Insert > Model Items > Reference Geometry > Surfaces. In the Source/Destination section, the source can be selected as the entire model or a feature, and the import can be applied to all or selected views.

Surfaces in SOLIDWORKS Drawing Views as model items

If you are needing to include the surface bodies in a Section View, you can do that as well within the Section View PropertyManager. You can choose to include surface bodies or not, display the surfaces, and to have the surface included in the section cut or not.

Display of surfaces in section view

If you need additional assistance with showing surfaces in SOLIDWORKS Drawing views, please reach out to our Client Success Team.