Project Menu

The Project menu provides the following options.

Models

New Model Creates the standard geometric shape (for example, sphere, cube, or cylinder) that you choose.
New Cutting Plane Creates a plane that cuts through a model to create a sectional view showing the internal details that are not visible.
New Pattern Bases a pattern on a single model that you instance multiple times or on several different models.
Import Model Lets you locate and open a 3D model to import into the project. For details, see Importing Models.
Show Everything Displays all models and parts that are hidden.

Appearances

New Appearance Creates a new appearance in the project, and opens the Appearance tab in the Palette so you can customize the appearance.
New Decal Lets you browse to a folder containing decals, select an image, and apply it to the model.
Unify All Identical Eliminates duplicate appearances.

Scenes

New HDR Environment Lets you locate and open a high dynamic range image to provide environmental lighting in a scene.
New HDR Light Studio If you installed HDR Light Studio, this button starts the HDR Light Studio software. Live linking between SOLIDWORKS Visualize and HDR Light Studio lets you work with the applications to create custom HDR environments or tweak existing HDR environments.
New Sunlight Environment Creates a new sunlight environment, which simulates sunlight at a specific place and time. Available only in Visualize Professional.
New Backplate Lets you locate and open a standard 2D image for the backplate behind a scene.
New Light Creates a new light in the scene in which you can customize. Available only in Visualize Professional.
Decrease Brightness Decreases the brightness of the loaded HDR environment image.
Increase Brightness Increases the brightness of the loaded HDR environment image.

Cameras

New Camera Creates a new camera at the default position and switches the 3D Viewport to show the view from the new camera.
Load Camera Loads existing camera file (.svcm).
Save To File Saves the camera to a file so you can share the camera with other projects and users.
Next Switches the view in the 3D Viewport to the next camera in the list of existing cameras.
Previous Switches the view in the 3D Viewport to the previous camera in the list of existing cameras.
Reset Repositions the camera to the default position.
Lock Prevents you from changing any parameters for the current camera.

Model Sets

New Model Set Creates a new model set, which can contain multiple models in the same scene.
Next Displays the next model set in the list.
Previous Displays the previous model set in the list.

Delete All Unused Objects

Opens the Project Cleaner dialog box to remove unused objects. This tool helps to free up unneeded data and reduce the project file size.

To use this tool, select a resource, such as appearances, textures or parts, or all resources, and click Analyze to search for unused instances in the project. Then click Clean to remove these objects and select Save After Cleaning to save the cleaned project.

Convert All Legacy Assets

Opens the Convert All Legacy Assets dialog box, which lets you convert legacy appearances in your project to DSPBR appearances. While some appearances may look slightly different after conversion, this process offers many advantages, such as more appearance options and textures, and compatibility with a wider range of materials.

To use this tool, click Convert to apply the DSPBR appearances to your model and click Save After Conversion to save the changes to your project. You can also apply new appearances by expanding Appearances from the list.

For details on the DSPBR appearance parameters, see Appearance Parameters.

Available only in SOLIDWORKS Visualize Professional

Configurations New Configuration Creates a new configuration using the current scene.
  Next Changes the scene to the next configuration in the configuration list.
  Previous Changes the scene to the previous configuration in the configuration list.
  Reset Clears the current configuration and returns to the base configuration or the default state of the scene (before any configurations were created.)