SOLIDWORKS MBD 2019 now includes Cosmetic Threads
Article by James Swackhammer updated February 1, 2019
Article
A once sore subject with SOLIDWORKS MBD is “Cosmetic Thread” appearance or lack of. Well, SOLIDWORKS MBD 2019 takes care of that. Now when you save out a PDF you get to see the thread picture.
If you are not aware of Cosmetic Threads, please take a look at a couple of our SOLIDWORKS articles listed below:
- SOLIDWORKS Cosmetic Thread Display in Parts, Assemblies and Drawings
- The “Easy Bake” recipe for Displaying Cosmetic Threads

This is a close up of the studs on a disk brake assembly
The quick rundown of Cosmetic Threads’ main purpose is to show a visual representation of the internal or external thread(s). Showing the physical threads tends to slow down assemblies and is essentially unnecessary.
Imagine you have a complete assembly of a car engine, having all the nuts and bolts showing their threads would be time consuming to design and mate together. This would significantly slow down the assembly when trying to modify it. So, because of this, pictures of threads replace the physical threads.

SOLIDWORKS MBD 2018 PDF with Cosmetic Threads missing
Looking at the before and after pictures shows the cosmetic thread can now be used and shown in published SOLIDWORKS MBD 2019 PDFs. This is the same assembly just opened in different versions.

SOLIDWORKS MBD 2019 PDF includes Cosmetic Threads
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