Try the ‘Easy Mode’ wizard to create renderings with SOLIDWORKS Visualize

Article by Bryan Sprange, CSWE updated August 2, 2018

Article

Watch the video below and follow the steps for creating rendering with SOLIDWORKS Visualize Easy Mode

Getting started with Easy Mode

If you’ve opened SOLIDWORKS Visualize before, you may have been lost in the plethora of tabs and toolbars which are present in the default view. The great news is that by simply hitting the ‘space bar’, you can quickly learn how to use Visualize, and what each of the toolbars does.

The default view in SOLIDWORKS Visualize has toolbars on the side full of options and scene information on the bottom

The default view in SOLIDWORKS Visualize has toolbars on the side full of options and scene information on the bottom

Activating SOLIDWORKS Visualize Easy Mode

Pressing the ‘space bar’ activates SOLIDWORKS Visualize Easy Mode which cleans up the toolbars and places a simple step by step guide at the bottom of the window. This five step guide makes it really easy to generate a high quality rendering in a matter of minutes!

SOLIDWORKS Visualize Easy Mode

Easy mode cleans up the toolbars and leaves a simple 5 step method to get to your rendering

Step 1: Import

Going through the steps, if you already have your file open, you can skip the first step!

Step 2: Paint

Clicking on the paint button, a simplified appearances toolbar opens which lets you change the materials of your model by selecting from local or free online resources. With a simple drag and drop, it acts like the paint can from Microsoft Paint, and changes all of the faces of an existing appearance (setting pieces of your model to different appearances ahead of time will help).

Drag and drop appearances from local or cloud libraries

Drag and drop appearances from local or cloud libraries

Step 3: Scenes

Using the scenes button changes the environment and lighting of your rendering once again from a simplified toolbar that contains only what you need.

Tweak the setting and lighting of your rendering

Tweak the setting and lighting of your rendering

Step 4: Camera

The camera button gives access to the brightness of the project along with preset filters which can be applied!

Even apply a preset filter for added pop!

Even apply a preset filter for added pop!

Step 5: Render

Finally, the render button will quickly create your rendered image from a preset list of different settings (right click to choose which profile of render settings to use) saving you time from having to select all of the settings.

Easy mode makes it quick to get high quality renderings

Easy mode makes it quick to get high quality renderings

Overall, SOLIDWORKS Visualize Easy Mode is a great way to get used to the interface, or even to just generate a quick image. The fact that it is toggled by pressing the space bar means that you don’t have to hunt through menus to turn it on and off. If you haven’t tried Visualize before, or if you opened it and were turned away by the different user interface, try out easy mode and you’ll see how quickly and easily you can generate amazing visuals.

Once you have tried easy mode, explore all of the options which Visualize gives you to generate stunning visuals by taking Javelin’s Visualize course, or working through the MySolidworks Visualize training course.

Get your renders even Faster!

As an added bonus, as of SOLIDWORKS Visualize 2018 service pack 3.0, there is an AI Denoiser available which can reduce the number of passes required by a factor of ten! The Denoiser (second button from the left, looks like a brain) can easily be turned on and off from the heads-up toolbar.

Check out the images below which were rendered in only 40 passes and took under a minute each to process. For more info on the Denoiser, check out this blog post from DS SolidWorks

Left: Denoiser off, Right: Denoiser on. 40 passes, <1min processing time each

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Bryan Sprange, CSWE

Bryan Sprange is a Technical Solutions Expert at Javelin located in Winnipeg, MB., Canada. He has previously worked in the Aerospace industry as a Designer, and a Manufacturing Engineering Planner. Additionally, he has used many different CAD packages ranging from AutoCAD to CATIA. Bryan has a background in Mechanical Engineering Technology, and enjoys using all of the SOLIDWORKS features to their limits to find new and interesting ways to be efficient and accurate when helping customers with their designs.