Use of Color in Models

[matt]

Here's a reprint of one of my favorite articles from a couple of years ago. Model colors are essential for a lot of things.



Use of Color in Models



Color is something some engineers avoid.The model above is not just boring, it’s hard to see which parts are different from one another. You can tell they are all sheet metal, but sheesh. It’s a monochromatic wasteland. Color is capable of conveying a lot of meaning, but all of that is lost here. Boring, yes, but that’s not the point. It also misses the opportunity to communicate.

The use of color on a model does not mean you’re weak or trying to be artistic, or a closet marketing monkey. It means you’re visually organized. It means you have a system and can identify parts quickly, at sight. Color can be used in models to help you quickly and visually identify different types of geometry in parts and assemblies. You can even use colors in multibody models to help you identify faces that will eventually go into creating a particular body or area of the model. Visualization techniques can save you a lot of time, and if you standardize techniques across your organization, that savings will really accumulate. I know people have some very ingrained habits when it comes to color, and those habits don’t always have anything to do with productivity.
Colors used to identify different parts or materials on an overmolded insert part for a razor assembly.



Color is rarely used in the design phase to make parts look like they will in the real world. I have seen people make assemblies of all gray parts, and that drives me nuts. Color is an ally, it is your friend. You can use it to help you.

There are some settings In SolidWorks that I don’t see many people use in the Document Properties that allow you to automatically apply colors to different types of features. One of my favorites is to change any surface feature to yellow.



You can assign a specific color to derived (inserted) parts, holes or fillets. These are Document Properties, under Model Display, so the settings are saved in templates. If you use different templates for different types of parts, you can save the colors there, and have one color for sheet metal, one for machined, another for plastic, colors for purchased parts, or electronic components.



If you consider transparency and display type (wireframe/shaded), as well as model sectioning and exploded views, there are a lot of other things you can do to improve the visualization of your models, especially those with interior parts. Visualization is one of the easiest and most valuable things you can do with your 3D product data.



Color can also be used in evaluation and analytics. Stress analysis has always used color to categorize results. It was Paul Sr from Orange County Choppers who summed up his understanding of FEA by saying “Red is bad, blue is good”. That was a classic, but really true. Advanced selection uses color to sort parts by size. Color is used in draft analysis to help show draft angles of faces.



Zebra stripes, curvature analysis, draft analysis are all functions that make use of colors to help visualize analysis results.

One of my favorite tools for dealing with colors is the Display Pane. Display Pane works for both parts and assemblies, and it enables you to go to specifically the FeatureManager entry that you want to color, and see if it has any overrides or is using default colors. Access the Display Pane with F8. When you start using colors, this will be your best friend. Truly one of the best interface functions added to the SolidWorks software in a long time.



My technique for selecting colors is fairly random, but because I’m using colors to identify items, I tend to go for contrast. I know it offends a lot of people to look at models with wild contrasting colors, but I’m obviously not doing it for the aesthetics.



Color can also be used in wireframe and on drawings. Wireframe can be a better option than transparency sometimes if performance is a consideration. There is a setting (shown in the second image from the top) that forces SolidWorks to use the same color for wireframe display as it uses for color. This makes it easy when you use the Display Pane to switch from shaded to wireframe, because the parts all remain the same color. In wireframe, colored parts are much easier to select than strictly black edges.

My point here is that color is not just for making things look pretty, it’s for making things stand out, organizing things together, conveying information at a glance that you’d otherwise have to look at a table to get. Yes, you’re going to run the risk of offending your interior decorator types, but haven’t you been looking for a way to do that anyway? Color is functional. Use it and benefit.

[Dtief190]

I use some color. Circuit boards are green. Parts that are black I usually make dark grey. Indicators, I make the color they light up. Panel exteriors are usually black also, but I can't work on the model with black as the color because the sketches are too hard to see.

[Glenn Schroeder]

I helped with trouble-shooting a couple os Assemblies for a student on the old forum recently whose Parts were black. Not just one or two, but almost all of them. Like you mentioned with the gray ones, it drove me nuts, but even more than gray does. I couldn't see anything because it all blended together. I changed the color of some of the Parts just so I could see what was going on.

[MJuric]

Here's a reprint of one of my favorite articles from a couple of years ago. Model colors are essential for a lot of things.



Use of Color in Models



Color is something some engineers avoid.The model above is not just boring, it’s hard to see which parts are different from one another. You can tell they are all sheet metal, but sheesh. It’s a monochromatic wasteland. Color is capable of conveying a lot of meaning, but all of that is lost here. Boring, yes, but that’s not the point. It also misses the opportunity to communicate.

The use of color on a model does not mean you’re weak or trying to be artistic, or a closet marketing monkey. It means you’re visually organized. It means you have a system and can identify parts quickly, at sight. Color can be used in models to help you quickly and visually identify different types of geometry in parts and assemblies. You can even use colors in multibody models to help you identify faces that will eventually go into creating a particular body or area of the model. Visualization techniques can save you a lot of time, and if you standardize techniques across your organization, that savings will really accumulate. I know people have some very ingrained habits when it comes to color, and those habits don’t always have anything to do with productivity.
Colors used to identify different parts or materials on an overmolded insert part for a razor assembly.



Color is rarely used in the design phase to make parts look like they will in the real world. I have seen people make assemblies of all gray parts, and that drives me nuts. Color is an ally, it is your friend. You can use it to help you.

There are some settings In SolidWorks that I don’t see many people use in the Document Properties that allow you to automatically apply colors to different types of features. One of my favorites is to change any surface feature to yellow.



You can assign a specific color to derived (inserted) parts, holes or fillets. These are Document Properties, under Model Display, so the settings are saved in templates. If you use different templates for different types of parts, you can save the colors there, and have one color for sheet metal, one for machined, another for plastic, colors for purchased parts, or electronic components.



If you consider transparency and display type (wireframe/shaded), as well as model sectioning and exploded views, there are a lot of other things you can do to improve the visualization of your models, especially those with interior parts. Visualization is one of the easiest and most valuable things you can do with your 3D product data.



Color can also be used in evaluation and analytics. Stress analysis has always used color to categorize results. It was Paul Sr from Orange County Choppers who summed up his understanding of FEA by saying “Red is bad, blue is good”. That was a classic, but really true. Advanced selection uses color to sort parts by size. Color is used in draft analysis to help show draft angles of faces.



Zebra stripes, curvature analysis, draft analysis are all functions that make use of colors to help visualize analysis results.

One of my favorite tools for dealing with colors is the Display Pane. Display Pane works for both parts and assemblies, and it enables you to go to specifically the FeatureManager entry that you want to color, and see if it has any overrides or is using default colors. Access the Display Pane with F8. When you start using colors, this will be your best friend. Truly one of the best interface functions added to the SolidWorks software in a long time.



My technique for selecting colors is fairly random, but because I’m using colors to identify items, I tend to go for contrast. I know it offends a lot of people to look at models with wild contrasting colors, but I’m obviously not doing it for the aesthetics.



Color can also be used in wireframe and on drawings. Wireframe can be a better option than transparency sometimes if performance is a consideration. There is a setting (shown in the second image from the top) that forces SolidWorks to use the same color for wireframe display as it uses for color. This makes it easy when you use the Display Pane to switch from shaded to wireframe, because the parts all remain the same color. In wireframe, colored parts are much easier to select than strictly black edges.

My point here is that color is not just for making things look pretty, it’s for making things stand out, organizing things together, conveying information at a glance that you’d otherwise have to look at a table to get. Yes, you’re going to run the risk of offending your interior decorator types, but haven’t you been looking for a way to do that anyway? Color is functional. Use it and benefit.

I'm curious as to how you're applying color. Is it an appearance or some other method? I've found that I take a significant performance hit the more appearances I use. In a large assembly it's actually quite a significant difference. One of the first things I do to imported parts is to nuke all the colors and appearances.

Now I do use colors for various things, just very sparingly. For instance all our weldments have color where ever machining is to take place. Lots of advantages to this for both the designer, detailer and down the line.

I will occasional color items for clarity, but again sparingly.

[matt]

Because of the nature of what I do, I have mostly small assemblies of complex parts. I use a mixture of part, face, body and feature colors, depending on what I'm watching. I typically use the display pane (F8) to control color.

[MJuric]

Because of the nature of what I do, I have mostly small assemblies of complex parts. I use a mixture of part, face, body and feature colors, depending on what I'm watching. I typically use the display pane (F8) to control color.

We just had a customer run off on this yesterday. ~60" circular carbide inserted blade. Will cut up to 23" of steel material. So lots of parts

[MJuric]

I helped with trouble-shooting a couple os Assemblies for a student on the old forum recently whose Parts were black. Not just one or two, but almost all of them. Like you mentioned with the gray ones, it drove me nuts, but even more than gray does. I couldn't see anything because it all blended together. I changed the color of some of the Parts just so I could see what was going on.

All of Bimba's cylinder downloads come with the parts to real life color...so all the blocks, nuts, etc are black. Unbearable to work with. First thing I do is remove all the appearances.

[jcapriotti]

Some designs are all steel and thus "grey" as set by the material. I'm surprised there is no mention of Display States.

[josh]

I've always had a random color macro mapped to the "c" key.

[matt]

Some designs are all steel and thus "grey" as set by the material. I'm surprised there is no mention of Display States.

image.png
image.png

You can change the color or appearance on any material. You don't have to be literal about the colors for materials. Color is just a visualization tool, quick classification. I never use display states. I don't have a reason for that, I just haven't found a need.

[mike miller]

I've always had a random color macro mapped to the "c" key.

Ewww......random?? I would hate to work with a sick-green color like this text.

[HerrTick]

I like to use "dusty pastels" for the largest pieces. A quick adjustment in HSV mode to mute hue and add chalkiness. Makes things easier on the eyes.

Bold colors for small parts that are harder to find.

[jcapriotti]

You can change the color or appearance on any material. You don't have to be literal about the colors for materials. Color is just a visualization tool, quick classification. I never use display states. I don't have a reason for that, I just haven't found a need.

Generally we do but we change it to the actual color of the material, paint, etc. At some point in the early development they will want quick renders of the progress and they want it to look like the real parts.

Mostly we use Display States on large assemblies for hiding/transparent large groups of components rather than for color. There were some enhancement a few version back where you could load a display state and it wouldn't load the hidden models. Speeds up opening times if you are only working in that area of the assembly. They are also used for drawings views to build assembly instructions.

[zwei]

One thing that i had learn is it is really important on WHAT color you choose... Try to not choose color that will contradict with your sketch color...

Some bad example of using color
SOLIDWORKS, try not to use blue as part color if you have not change your sketch color (if you want to use blue, use it on OTS part where you are less likely need to modify the sketch or have a separate display state)

CREO, color (or in more general, the whole UI design) in CREO is something i cant really understand (also what's wrong with their construction line thickness?)
I had a customer part that is in orange, and I literally cant see the line when trying to edit the sketch (can you see the sketch line and the construction line?)

One trick that I had learnt from CREO and start using in SOLIDWORKS is managing 2 display state, 1 with part color, 1 without.
I am even considering to create a macro (once i had time) to automatically create a display state with all appearance remove

[josh]

I've always had a random color macro mapped to the "c" key.

Ewww......random?? I would hate to work with a sick-green color like this text.

I usually work with large-ish assemblies with lots of simple parts, created as quickly and efficiently as possible, so I don't typically work with any one part/color for more than a few minutes at a time. Plus, because it's a hotkey, I just mash it a few times until I see something I like. It's not random over the entire gamut either, it's weighted toward lighter colors that are still easy to work with.

[HerrTick]

I change sketch default colors so that constrained entities are dark green instead of black. Helps sort out active sketch vs the rest of the black line clutter.

[AlexLachance]

We use colors for different materials, to be able to identify at the look what the material is, without having to go to the part. We also use colors for our hardware, for the same reason.
When we receive step files with colors, I remove most of these to keep the files lighter.