SOLIDWORKS Composer

SOLIDWORKS Composer Tech tips and Tutorials for creating technical documentation

SOLIDWORKS Composer Kinematic Links

SOLIDWORKS Composer Kinematic Links

SOLIDWORKS Composer does not support mates like SOLIDWORKS, and SOLIDWORKS mates are not transferred to Composer during the import process. Mating relationships between actors must be re-created in Composer. Learn more about SOLIDWORKS Composer Kinematic Links. Kinematic Links can be used to mimic SOLIDWORKS mates In most cases, linear and rotational translations should suffice for…

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Importing Hidden and Suppressed Components into SOLIDWORKS Composer

import hidden components

When working in SOLIDWORKS, components can be “removed” from an assembly by either Suppressing or Hiding them. In SOLIDWORKS, Suppressing a component takes it out of the assembly, including the calculation of mass properties and mate positions, and the component name in the FeatureManager Design Tree becomes greyed out. When a SOLIDWORKS component is Hidden, it is simply made invisible….

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Access and control backup file options in SOLIDWORKS Composer

SOLIDWORKS Composer Backup File Options

SOLIDWORKS Composer stores a backup of the original document before any changes are saved to the file. It is one version before the last saved version of the document. SOLIDWORKS Composer Backup file settings/options can be accessed through File > Preferences > Application Preferences dialog box opens > Advance settings.  Ensure that Show Advanced Properties…

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How to hide and show a BOM in SOLIDWORKS Composer Animations

Maximum opacity-BOM shown

SOLIDWORKS Composer geometric actors or collaborative actors such as a BOM can be shown or hidden in an animation. If once the actor is hidden it will remain hidden throughout the animation and if we try to show the actor, it will be visible throughout the animation. Hence, hide or show is not the right…

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How to create Multiple Animations from a SOLIDWORKS Composer Assembly

Save Root

SOLIDWORKS Composer is used to create the technical documentation or animations referring to the various processes such as assembling components. There is always a need to create multiple animations from the same composer assembly such as one animation could show the exploded position of the parts and then slowly assembling one part at a time…

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How to Speed Up a SOLIDWORKS Composer Animation Export

Delete unused keys in animation

SOLIDWORKS Composer can often take an extended amount of time to export animations as MP4. The main cause for the slow processing is due to the number of animation keys within the animation key track. There could be a lot of extra unwanted keys in an animation which do not serve any purpose in the…

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Copying or Moving animation keys in SOLIDWORKS Composer

While working with a SOLIDWORKS Composer animation, there could be cases when we have to copy or move the animation keys from one time-frame to another. Maybe there is a need to copy the location, opacity, material or event of an actor. By selecting a specific geometric or collaborative actor > Toggling ON “show keys…

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Searching the Help in SOLIDWORKS Composer

Greetings, users of SOLIDWORKS Composer! In our previous article we explained how to access the Help for SOLIDWORKS Composer. In this article, we explain how to get the keyword search function working in the Help.  The difference it makes in our productivity is like night and day when we can filter for results based on…

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Controlling the Display of Hidden Edges in SOLIDWORKS Composer 2021

Now in SOLIDWORKS Composer 2021, the visibility of hidden edges can be controlled, when we select or highlight elements. We can define the colour and intensity used to display hidden edges whereas this wasn’t possible in SOLIDWORKS Composer 2020. To control the visibility of hidden edges follow the steps below: In the Default Document Properties/Default…

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