Articles by: Matt Campbell, CSWE
Importing SolidWorks Files with Textures in Composer [Video]
If you have been working with SolidWorks Composer you will notice that when you import a file you lose any textures that the SolidWorks files might have had. You still get all the colouring though. There is an easy way to get SolidWorks files into SolidWorks Composer with textures. That is to save your file as a 3D XML file. If you do a Save As in SolidWorks you will see this as an option. The Composer can import this and will keep the assembly file structure. This is a great workaround if you are making marketing material. The only drawback is you lose the meta data so this file type is no good for creating BOMs. Watch this video to see a step-by-step demonstration of this workflow:
I have to credit this trick to Scott Lidgey. When you are rotating an actor in Composer, you can control the amount of revolution and make sure it rotates at a constant velocity. The trick to this is to click on the triad when you go to rotate and do not drag it. You will notice the property task pane ask you how many degrees. Now you can type any number you want and the actor will rotate that over time. I have created a video show this process.
Once you have finished your project in SolidWorks Composer (for this example, images for a user manual), you might need to send your images for approval before you export to Microsoft Publisher or Adobe InDesign. You can send your project as an .exe file. This means whoever is looking at your project does not require SolidWorks Composer or the Composer player, and you don’t have to raster out your images either, saving you time. Watch this video to learn how.
In the video below, I am going to export all of my views using the High Resolution Image workshop.
3DVIA Composer – Creating Raster Images with Transparent Backgrounds [VIDEO]
In the video below, I am going to show you how to take a view and export it with an transparent background.
In this tech tip video I am going to show how to use the texture workshop to rotate and pan your textures in SOLIDWORKS Composer.
Rotating Textures in SolidWorks [VIDEO]
In the video below I am going to show how to manipulate textures in SolidWorks. You can also learn how to rotate textures in 3DVIA Composer.
In the video below I am going to use glow to give the illusion that the light bulbs are on. I downloaded this model from 3DVIA.com : http://www.3dvia.com/models/0AFCED0012243608/chandelier-barocco
In the video below, I am going to show you how to rotate an actor when the pivot point is not in the ideal spot. The tools that I use are under the “Transform tab”.