SOLIDWORKS Composer Image Distortion – Strange Artifacts and Triangles

Have you experienced an issue with SOLIDWORKS Composer image distortion where some components have strange artifacts upon opening an assembly? This could happen if you open the assembly directly in SOLIDWORKS Composer or export the assembly to an SMG file starting from SOLIDWORKS. Instead of a clean image, you see broken graphics triangles on some or all the subcomponents.

If you see similar symptoms to those listed above, it may result from a common issue seen in recent releases of SOLIDWORKS Composer. While the direct cause remains unclear, the team at SOLIDWORKS continues to explore the errant behavior and there are several workarounds that you can use in attempts to correct it.

How to fix SOLIDWORKS Composer Image Distortion

If you are frequently experiencing this when importing files directly in SOLIDWORKS Composer, use the following steps:

1. 1. Go to File>Properties>Default Document Properties
   2. Navigate to Advanced Properties
   3. Scroll down to INPUT – IMPORT
   4. Uncheck both IOImportTextures and IOSWImportAppearance
   5. Apply these changes and close the Document Properties
      

      SOLIDWORKS Composer Default Document Properties

If only certain files are imported into SOLIDWORKS Composer with distorted graphics:

1. 1. Go to File>Open and navigate to your SOLIDWORKS Part/Assembly
   2. Under Import uncheck Import Textures
   3. Under SOLIDWORKS uncheck Import SOLIDWORKS appearance
   4. Open the file
      

      SOLIDWORKS Composer Import setting dialog

If you are exporting to an SMG file from SOLIDWORKS:

1. 1. Within SOLIDWORKS, navigate to Tools>Options>System Options>Export
   2. Chose SMG from the File Format option
   3. Uncheck Export SOLIDWORKS appearance and hit OK
   4. You can now save your SOLIDWORKS Part/Assembly as an SMG and the graphics should return to normal
      

      SOLIDWORKS Export settings for the SMG file type

Should you choose one of these import or export options to resolve the graphics issue, you can bring appearances back for any components that did not initially have distorted graphics. To do this,  suppress all parts that display the issue, and update the geometry by going to Geometry>Update in the Composer file.

Alternative Workarounds to Fix SOLIDWORKS Composer Image Distortion

If unchecking appearances does not resolve the issue, you can also uncheck the remaining SOLIDWORKS Composer import options. These include:

• Import SOLIDWORKS appearance
• Import SOLIDWORKS decals
• Import SOLIDWORKS BOM
• Import SOLIDWORKS Explode Views and Saved Views
• Import SOLIDWORKS assembly envelope

Additionally, you can try changing the geometry compression in your SOLIDWORKS Composer Default Document Properties. To do this:

1. Go to File>Properties>Default Document Properties
2. Navigate to Output
3. Set the Geometry compression to “High (low quality)”. You could also choose “Low” compression, but this would increase the system resources needed and is less likely to produce the results we want.

Running through the suggested methods above should solve the SOLIDWORKS Composer image distortion issues and help work around the strange artifacts that appear in the model. The team at SOLIDWORKS continues to explore the errant behavior and the workarounds discussed can be used in an attempt to correct it.