Using SOLIDWORKS Composer as a Sharing Tool

SOLIDWORKS Composer is a fantastic tool for generating design documentation, be this through imagery, animations, or interactive web content. Did you know that it also works very well as a design sharing tool?

Consider the following, I’ve created a SOLIDWORKS assembly for a Miter Saw design that I’d like to share within my company and outside with potential customers:

• Full feature history on each part is not necessary, and
• I would like to showcase a few key aspects of the design.

Use Pack & Go

One way of sharing this information, would be to send the entire SOLIDWORKS assembly by using Pack & Go. This will bundle all the part, sub-assembly, and assembly files required into a zip file for us to send away. This gives us a zip file that is well over 100 MB in size! Ouch!

What if we were to use SOLIDWORKS Composer to share this file instead?

I’ve gone ahead and created a quick composer file showcasing a few key regions of the design, including hiding specific parts, zooming in on specific areas, and showing important exploded views. Saving this out as a SOLIDWORKS Composer file (.smg) gives us a file size of just over 3 MB! That’s much better!

SOLIDWORKS Composer File Size Comparison

We can now send out this single file (as opposed to a zip file of potentially hundreds of parts) to whomever we’d like to share our design with. They can open and view our design using the free-to-download SOLIDWORKS Composer Player. Not only can the design be opened, it can also be zoomed, manipulated, parts can be hidden, and the assembly can even be measured!

SOLIDWORKS Composer Player: Measuring Capabilities