Technical Communications

How to reset the 3DVIA Composer User Interface (GUI)

Resetting the GUI in 3DVIA Composer is easily accomplished through the menu: File -> Preferences -> General, then click on the either the “Reset Prompts” or “Reset GUI Layout” buttons.  

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SolidWorks Composer in SolidWorks Enterprise PDM

EPDM Search Results

In SolidWorks Enterprise PDM 2011, we now have the ability to view SolidWorks Composer files directly inside the view tab in Windows Explorer and in the search dialogue.  I see this changing the landscape for how we communicate our designs to the rest of the company….

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How to unghost actors in 3DVIA Composer

Unghost Tool

In Composer we can temporarily ghost an actor by placing the cursor over the actor and pressing the “TAB” key, and the actor can then be kept ghosted by pressing the “K” key. So how do you then unghost the actor that you set to ghosted…

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How to add a dummy part to a 3DVIA Composer project

Right-click at top of tree

Sometimes in 3DVIA Composer you need to show an item on the BOM but there was no actor in the file to represent it.  Items like glue or tape might need to be called out on the BOM.  What we can do is insert a “dummy” part…

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How to insert additional bodies into a 3DVIA Composer file

There is a simple procedure to use with 3DVIA Composer that allows you to insert a new actor (body) into an existing file.  With the receiving document open, simply go to the File -> Open menu and then  select the setting “Merge into the current…

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3DVIA Composer Line Widths

3DVIA Composer Line Widths

In the 3DVIA Composer Technical Illustration module, line widths can be a bit tricky to figure out.  This 3DVIA Composer tech tip should make it easier for you. There are two main types of lines in Technical Illustrations, “Strong/Silhouette lines” and “Weak/Outline lines”.  To control…

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Copying or resetting interface customizations and “clean” uninstall of 3DVIA Composer

3DVIA Composer Reset Registry

Note: this tip is for advanced users who are familiar with editing the registry of a computer! SolidWorks has the ‘Copy Settings Wizard’ to copy user customizations to other computers.  Unfortunately we have no equivalent with 3DVIA Composer.  All is not lost however for those…

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