SOLIDWORKS Composer Quick Start Guide #3: The Digger

Hello and welcome to the third episode in our new series, the SOLIDWORKS Composer Quick Start Guide. This guide is intended to orient new users in SOLIDWORKS Composer and walk them though the basic features of the software. SOLIDWORKS Composer is a technical communication software that uses your existing CAD models to create intuitive and informative deliverables such as animations, interactive PDFs, high-resolution images, and more. This series of videos is intended to orient new users in SOLIDWORKS Composer and teach them how to use its basic functions.

This episode will cover our patented Digger tool which is one of the most liked features in SOLIDWORKS Composer. The Digger is used to add additional detail to views and deliverables. You can zoom in to your design, view it layer by layer, capture images and do much more with the Digger. To call the tool, simply press the spacebar in the viewport. The various functions of the Digger are displayed along its circular border. Clicking one of the tool buttons will select it, and you can easily move the slider to adjust the intensity of the selected tool.

The various functions of the Digger are:

The Onion Skin Tool: As you scale up the slider, layers of the piece disappear so you can get a better look of what’s going on inside your piece.
The X-Ray Tool: This tool’s function is similar to the onion skin, but the layers fade out gradually instead of disappearing instantaneously.
The Cutting Plane Tool: This tool cuts the pieces along an “invisible” plane determined by your camera orientation and the slider position. As you scale up the slider, the further the tool cuts into the piece.
The Zoom Tool: Scale up to zoom in, scale down to zoom out.
Change Center of Interest: This tool alters the location of the target area selected. It can be used to provide focus to the desired area within the design.
Lock / Unlock Depth Direction: The depth of the cut of the onion skin, x-ray, and cutting plane tools is dependent on the camera angle. If you wish to fix the depth of the cut, but view that cut from a different angle, cut to your desired depth, then click this button.
Light Change: By clicking and dragging this tool inside the Digger window, you can add additional lighting your Digger image.
Capture Picture in 2D Image: If you like what you’ve captured in the Digger and want to save it, this feature can be used to create a 2D image of it. You can change the properties of this image in the properties tab in the left pane. After the image has been created, you can call the Digger again if you wish to add additional detail.

We’re glad you were able to tune in. Be sure to subscribe to the SOLIDWORKS YouTube channel to stay up to date with the newest videos in the series, and be sure to check out the SOLIDWORKS Tech Blog and SOLIDWORKS Composer Forums for more fantastic SOLIDWORKS and SOLIDWORKS Composer content.