Color and Appearance of Parts

You can apply color and optical properties to the entire part, or selected faces, features (including surfaces or curves), or bodies. You can also modify the color by manipulating the shaded appearance of the model.

The Appearances command displays the colors of faces, features, bodies, and the part and is a shortcut to editing appearances. You can see the hierarchy of colors by expanding the command. Color selections made in the Appearances PropertyManager supersede colors set on the Document Properties tab.

Changing the Shading of Parts

To change the shaded appearance of a part:

  1. Click Options (Standard toolbar) or Tools > Options.
  2. On the Document Properties tab, click Model Display.
  3. Under Model / feature colors, select Shading.
  4. Click Edit and select a color from the Color palette or click Define Custom Colors and define a color of a new shade or hue.
  5. Click OK to close the Color palette, and click OK to close the Document Properties – Model Display dialog box.

Changing the Color and Appearance of Selected Faces, Features, or Bodies

To change the color and appearance of selected faces, features, or bodies:

  1. Do one of the following:
    1. Select a face in the graphics area, or select a feature or body in the FeatureManager design tree. To select multiple entities, hold Ctrl as you select.
    2. Click Edit Appearance (Standard toolbar) or Edit > Appearance > Appearances.
    - or -
    1. Right-click a face, feature, or body and select Appearances .
    2. Select the item whose appearance you want to change.
  2. Make selections in the Appearances PropertyManager.
  3. Click .
    All features selected on the model Color applied to all features Color applied to selected features