How can I toggle appearances in SW?
Is there a way to toggle the display of colors/appearances in a solidworks part? There are toolbar buttons for toggling display of things like wireframe, solid, shaded, zebra lines etc., but none for turning the display of colors on and off.
Something like this would be very useful because many times I add color to the model to make it look more realistic, but then it's more difficult to work with the part, especially if the color is black - it's hard to see anything.
2 Answers
You can select the color options that you want to control from; Tools > Options > System Options > Colors.
You can also control your color options through display states. Add new display states and uncheck link display states to confugurations if you want to select them individually. I do some furniture work and make display states for polished and unpolished woods as well as using different woods like Oak, Maple, Pine etc each with their own display state. You can work with your model in the default display state, then select one for rendering as you please. You can also use display states in assemblies to make parts transparent to show what's inside. Display states are a powerful tool, when you get used to them.