Illustrations, Instructions, and Product Manuals They’re Everywhere!

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To do them right requires the proper tool–that’s SOLIDWORKS Composer. It’s easy to use and produces spectacular content that you really can’t–and shouldn’t try to do in CAD. For all the technical documentation you need to create, such as illustrations, work instructions, product manuals, or even interactive online content, Composer 2019 has many exciting enhancements to help you delight your customers.

Key dimensions and manufacturing information often need to be displayed even in technical illustrations. Users now have the option to include model based Product Manufacturing Information (PMI) when exporting from SOLIDWORKS or importing to Composer. All the DimXpert dimensions, annotation views and 3D views carry right over, and no longer have to be recreated in Composer. This means manufacturing intent is preserved directly from the source CAD model where it belongs.

The user interface in Composer 2019 has been modernized to be consistent with other SOLIDWORKS products and to support future scalability of high-res monitors. Existing users don’t need to worry though. Everything in the command ribbon is still in the same place. Also, Command Search is no longer buried in the user preferences. It’s right across the top of the menu bar, so even a casual user has a quick way to locate less-frequently used commands.

Accidental updates are no longer an issue with the Lock Views command.

The new Select Adjacent Parts command speeds up the process of picking parts that are connected to each other…like this group of components that need to explode together.

Another nice convenience: the Status Bar now lists how many items are selected.

 

Composer 2019 also works great with PDM Professional, with a new dedicated tab in the ribbon bar for common data management tasks such as searching, check in, check out and changing state. This is the initial rollout of a large development project, so expect more PDM functionality to be added in future releases.

All this recent development attention in SOLIDWORKS Composer is thanks to Product Manager, Mohit Daga.

“When I took over Product Management for SOLIDWORKS Composer in 2017, one of the first things I noticed was that SOLIDWORKS Composer and CATIA Composer were being developed as if they were the same product, but that’s just not the case. SOLIDWORKS users have different needs and expectations, so we addressed that by adding experts to the team specializing in User Experience, R&D, Quality and Localization. The result has been quicker and more focused development. Every enhancement to Composer is customer driven, and for 2019, we think we’ve delivered something for everyone.”

 

If you’re an existing Composer user, remember, there are no backward compatibility issues between SOLIDWORKS and Composer. This means you can upgrade to Composer 2019 right away–even if you’re required to stay on a prior version of SOLIDWORKS. If you’re just now hearing about SOLIDWORKS Composer, it’s a perfect time to learn more by visiting My.SolidWorks.com or by contacting your Value Added Reseller.

*Images and models courtesy of URB-E

Brad Williamson

Brad Williamson is a Senior Industry Process Consultant with Dassault Systemes who has been helping customers learn, use and succeed with SOLIDWORKS since 1996. Based in the Music City, when he’s not designing in SOLIDWORKS, you’ll find him out playing drums in the Nashville music and theatre scene.

@MusicCityTTM

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