Lightweight Components

You can load an assembly with its active components fully resolved or lightweight. Both parts and subassemblies can be lightweight.

  • When a component is fully resolved, all its model data is loaded in memory.
  • When a component is lightweight, only a subset of its model data is loaded in memory. The remaining model data is loaded on an as-needed basis.

You can improve performance of large assemblies significantly by using lightweight components. Loading an assembly with lightweight components is faster than loading the same assembly with fully resolved components. Assemblies with lightweight components rebuild faster because less data is evaluated.

Routing subassemblies cannot be opened in lightweight mode.
Lightweight components are efficient because the full model data for the components is loaded only as required. Only components that are affected by the changes that you make in the current editing session become fully resolved. You can perform the following assembly operations on lightweight components without resolving them:
  • Add/remove mates
  • Edge/face/component selection
  • Assembly features
  • Measure
  • Section properties
  • Mass properties
  • Exploded views
  • Physical simulation
  • Interference detection
  • Collision detection
  • Annotations
  • Dimensions
  • Assembly reference geometry
  • Section views
  • Advanced component selection
When a component is lightweight, a feather appears on the component icon in the FeatureManager design tree.

When a component is lightweight and out-of-date inside a folder, the folder appears as in the FeatureManager design tree.

Lightweight options are available when Manually manage resolved and lightweight modes is selected in system options. To select this option, click Tools > Options > System Options > Performance.

Manually Opening Assemblies in Lightweight Mode

If assemblies open fully resolved by default, you can manually select lightweight mode when opening an assembly.

To manually open an assembly with lightweight components:

  1. Click Open (Standard toolbar) or File > Open.
  2. In the dialog box, select the assembly you want to open, and then in Mode, select Lightweight.
  3. Click Open.
    All components of the assembly are loaded lightweight.

Automatically Opening Assemblies in Lightweight Mode

You can set a system option to open assemblies in lightweight mode by default.

To enable automatic lightweight loading of components:

  1. Click Options (Standard toolbar) or Tools > Options.
  2. On the System Options tab, select Performance.
  3. Under Assembly loading, select Manually manage resolved and lightweight modes and Load component lightweight.

Setting Resolved Components to Lightweight

In an open assembly, you can set resolved components to lightweight.

To set one or more resolved components to lightweight:

  • For a single component, right-click the component and select Set to Lightweight.
  • For an entire assembly, right-click the top-level assembly icon and select Set Resolved to Lightweight.
  • For a subassembly and its components, right-click the subassembly icon and select Set Resolved to Lightweight.

Loading Additional Model Data

When an operation requires model data that is not loaded for a lightweight component, the software fully resolves the part for you, to gain access to the additional data.

This happens automatically when you do any of the following things:
  • Right-click a part or feature, and select Edit Part, Edit Sketch, or Edit Feature. The part becomes fully resolved, and you are in Editing Part mode.
  • You can choose to automatically resolve any lightweight components that are out-of-date. Click Tools > Options > System Options > Performance. Select Manually manage resolved and lightweight modes. For Check out-of-date lightweight parts, select Always resolve. If you select Indicate from the list then components that are out-of-date have a red feather on their icon in the FeatureManager design tree.
When a component is lightweight and out-of-date inside a folder, the folder appears as in the FeatureManager design tree.
Certain global operations require that many parts be fully resolved at once:
  • Editing equations that involve lightweight parts.
  • Physical Dynamics.
  • Exporting to other file types (IGES, SAT, and so on). You do not have to resolve parts before exporting to TIFF or JPEG.
To specify what you want to happen when you request one of these operations, click Tools > Options > System Options > Performance. Select Manually manage resolved and lightweight modes. Choose one of these options under Resolve lightweight components:
  • Prompt (default). A dialog box appears, asking if you want the software to resolve the lightweight parts for you. Click Yes to fully resolve the parts and continue, or click Cancel. If you also click Always resolve (before you click Yes or Cancel), the option is set to Always.
  • Always. All lightweight parts are fully resolved for you, and they are included in the operation.
When a lightweight part becomes fully resolved, all instances of the part, in any configuration, in any open assembly documents, become fully resolved.

Rebuilding Component Patterns in Lightweight Mode

When you edit a feature, you can change the pattern parameters. For a component pattern that is driven by an unavailable entity, **Lightweight** shows as a prefix to the entity name. The SOLIDWORKS software rebuilds the pattern in lightweight mode by using the last-used definition.

To use this functionality, save the assembly and the component that contains the driving feature in resolved mode before you open the assembly in lightweight mode.
This rebuild works for the following assembly patterns:
Chain patterns Circular Curve Driven
Linear Pattern Driven Sketch Driven

This rebuild works for the following derived component patterns:

Advanced Hole Wizard Advanced Pattern Circular
Curve Hole Series Hole Wizard
Linear pattern Sketch Pattern Table Pattern

Resolve Lightweight Components Dialog Box

The Resolve Lightweight Components dialog box appears when a lightweight component must be resolved to continue an operation.

For example, you open an assembly that contains a chain pattern in lightweight mode. When you edit the chain pattern, the Resolve Lightweight Components dialog box prompts you to resolve the listed components.

To always resolve lightweight components, perform one of the following actions:
  • Click Always resolve components in the dialog box.
  • Click Tools > Options > System Options > Performance. Under Assembly loading, select Manually manage resolved and lightweight modes. For Resolve lightweight components, select Always.