View Menu

The View menu provides the following options.

Toggle Easy Mode Switches between Easy Mode and Normal Mode.
Toggle Render Modes Switches between the three render modes: Preview, Fast, and Accurate.
Toggle Denoiser Turns the Denoiser on and off.
Pause Rendering Stops or resumes raytracing in the Viewport.
Show HUD Shows or hides the Heads-up display, which shows the following data depending on the current mode:

Passes

(Fast and Accurate render mode only.) Displays the number of passes that have accumulated.

Progress

(Accurate render mode only.) Estimates in minutes and seconds until a certain quality level is attained.

Passes/Frames per Second

(Passes are shown in Fast and Accurate render mode, Frames are shown in Preview mode.)

Passes per Second displays the number of render passes that are accumulated in 1 second. It is a measurement of the render performance. It tells you the average frame rate (passes), which are iterations on the final image that progressively get more refined and less noisy.

Frames per Second is a measurement of interactivity. Frames are still 2D images. In computer animation, the term “frames per second” (fps) is a measurement of the number of still frames displayed in 1 second to give the impression of an interactive image.

Resolution

Displays the resolution (in pixels, width x height) of the 3D Viewport and output snapshots. Resolution is the size of the final image in pixels when rendering a scene. Higher resolution renders contain more detail but take longer to complete.

Polygon Count

Displays the number of actively used polygons in the project. A polygon is a geometric element formed by connecting three or more points. A triangle, or three-point polygon, is the simplest form of polygonal geometry and is an optimized format for visualization of 3D models.

Focal Length

Displays the focal length (in millimeters) of the virtual lens for the camera used for the rendering. 3D software simulates optical distortions created by imperfections in real-world lenses, adding realism to the rendered output.

GPU Only, CPU Only, or Hybrid

Indicates the current rendering hardware. Hardware rendering gives a preview of a 3D scene within the viewport of 3D software. It provides real-time on-screen feedback about the effects of changes made to that scene.

Status Icons

Buttons in the upper right of the Heads-up display.

  • Automatic Supersampling (Preview). (Available only in SOLIDWORKS Visualize Professional). Indicates that the automatic supersampling process (spatial anti-aliasing) is on. See Supersampling Accumulation Options in Options Dialog Box - Preview Tab.
  • Active Camera Locked
  • Denoiser . Indicates that the Denoiser is on.
Show Palette Shows or hides the Palette.
Show Camera Panel Shows or hides the Camera panel.
Enter Full Screen (F11) Maximizes the software window and hides the menu bar, borders, and tabs. Press F11 to return to the windowed mode.

Available only in SOLIDWORKS Visualize Professional

Multi Viewport Lets you show one, two, or four Viewports simultaneously. Each Viewport references a potentially separate camera, model set, and environment. This feature is useful for presentations and setting up animations.
Show Timeline Shows the animation timeline and controls.
Show Viewport Settings Shows the Viewport Settings dialog box, which provides quick access directly in the viewport to some frequently used settings. The dialog box remains available in the viewport until you close it. It provides access to these commands:

Take Snapshot

Captures an image from the current viewport and saves it using the file type specified in Tools > Render > Snapshot > Image Format and the resolution specified below. The image file is saved in the Images library folder, typically \Documents\SOLIDWORKS Visualize Content\Images.

Maximum Resolution

Specifies the resolution (in pixels, width x height) of the 3D Viewport and output snapshots. This option is also available in Tools > Options > 3D Viewport.

Interactivity Acceleration Mode

Steady

No accelerating technique is used.

Blended

Causes the scene to automatically switch to Preview mode whenever you interact with the scene, for example by moving the camera or model, playing an animation, dragging a material, or clicking the mouse in the viewport.

When you stop clicking or moving the mouse, the scene blends into the raytrace mode you have selected (Fast or Accurate).

Downscaled

Reduces the viewport size during interaction. This option improves interactivity but with lower interactive image quality.
These options are also available in Tools > Options > 3D Viewport.

Render Layer

(Available only for Fast and Accurate render modes.) Displays the selected render layer in the viewport. This lets you preview the available render layers to help you decide which ones to include in your final render.
Show Queue Displays the Queue panel, where you can configure and initiate the off-line queued rendering of images and animations.
Enter Presentation Mode Switches the screen to Presentation mode.

Presentation mode is optimized for the real-time presentation of existing scenes, not for editing scenes. In presentation mode, the Viewport fills the screen. A floating Presentation toolbar lets you control the presentation of the loaded scene.

To exit Presentation mode, press Ctrl + M or press Esc.