Chapter 26: Modeling Multi-bodies
The folders also make bodies easier to identify, especially when combined with the setting found at
Tools ➪ Options ➪ Display/Selection ➪ Dynamic Highlight From Graphics View. This setting
quickly turns the body outline red if you move the mouse over the body in the body folder.
Hiding or showing bodies
You can hide or show bodies in one of several ways. I have already described the method of using
the bodies folders to hide or show all the bodies at once, but you can also right-click individual
bodies in the folders to hide or show them using the RMB menu. Remember that with the context
bars, you have the option to use them with the RMB menu as well as with left-click selections. I
include all context bar options in the RMB menu generically.
If you can see a body in the graphics area, then you can right-click the body and select Hide under
the Body heading. This works for both solids and surfaces. The Display Pane, shown to the right of
the FeatureManager in Figure 26.23, can also be used to hide or show bodies, change body trans-
parency and appearance, as well as change the display mode of bodies. Display Pane is a handy
tool for visualization options.
When you are hiding or showing bodies from the FeatureManager, but not using the bodies folders
and using the features themselves instead, things get a little complicated. If you want to hide or
show a solid body, then you can use any feature that is a parent of the body to hide or show the
body. For example, you can use the Shell feature in the mouse model to hide or show all the bod-
ies of which it is a parent.
Other facts that you need to know about bodies and their hide or show states are that the Hide or
Show feature is both configurable and dependent on the rollback state. As a result, if you hide a
body, and then roll back, it may appear again and you will have to hide it. Then, if you roll for-
ward, the state changes again. Also, a body can be hidden in one configuration, and then when
you switch configurations, it remains hidden. This makes it rather frustrating to work with bodies.
To me, it would be nice if bodies had simple on/off switches.
SolidWorks 2010 adds the Display State functionality from assemblies to multi-body parts. This is
extremely handy, and a very fast way to change color, transparency, or display modes for individ-
ual bodies. The best way to handle this is to expand the Display Pane and control Hide/Show,
Display Mode, Appearance, and Transparency directly from the Display Pane. Figure 26.24 shows
the Display Pane in action on a multi-body part.
In Figure 26.24, the FeatureManager panel is split so you can see the configurations and Display
State information alongside the bodies folder and display pane. If you are familiar with Display
States in assemblies, it is the same as for bodies.
Another change in SolidWorks 2010 that is related to the Display States, and in particular the
Appearances, is that you are now able to assign different materials to each body. I’m not a big fan
of this change because I think it starts to encroach too much on the realm of the assembly. If differ-
ent parts are made of different materials, the only situations in which I would model this way
would be overmolds, where multiple materials are molded onto one another, and inseparable sub-
assemblies, like purchased components such as screws with captive washers or a circuit board with
rivets. If you need to manufacture something that has different materials, you need to have each