Hello and welcome to our Composer Masterclass, where we are going to go through some of the strategies and processes whenever we undertake a composer project. Here at TriMech So before we even open our models in composer, the first thing that we would do is to open them in SOLIDWORKS Now this is assuming that you do have access to SOLIDWORKS If you don't, then you can skip this stage and go straight to composer. But if you do have access then this can be very, very beneficial. You might not have SOLIDWORKS, but if your design team does, then going into their office and getting them to do these checks first could save you and them a lot of time later on. So why do we start in SOLIDWORKS? Well, we are doing a pre-check on the data that we have been given. So we're going to want to open this file fully resolved. Nothing in lightweight. This is what a composer will do when it converts the SOLIDWORKS to files into the composer format. So we are going to make sure that there is no underlying issues with the model, and that all the files actually exist and are available and not locked in some network location that we can't access. We are not worried about any issues within the assembly itself, mate issues, for instance, but we do need to make sure that all the model is there for us to use. Next, I'm going to see if there are any configurations now, configurations or variations of an assembly, such as different specifications of a machine, different sizes, or maybe alternate positions of a device composer support SOLIDWORKS configurations by effectively copying the original assembly and giving you another complete assembly within the composer. With those differences applied. If I don't need these extra versions, then I won't import them. But I do need to know which is the main one that I'm going to use. Now the next check is optional, but if you are planning to use the file attributes from SOLIDWORKS data in composer, then we need to make sure they already exist in the file. This is the metadata that can be added to any CAD files such as material weight supplier, but probably most useful information like part number. If it doesn't already exist in the CAD data, then do you need it there? And or where are you going to get this data from? Now you can add this level of detail within the composer files. But remember that this could be overridden accidentally should you're import the CAD files again. So to prevent this from happening, the best practice is to add it to the original data or to make sure that you create an attribute in composer that does not correspond to any existing CAD attributes. What you do not want is a mix of both. So some parts in composer have an attribute of PN for part number and some parts within composer with the SOLIDWORKS attribute of part number. Now, if you've been using SOLIDWORKS, then it makes sense to export the CAD data directly and save it as a composer dot SMG file. You'll need to make sure that a composer add in is activated in SOLIDWORKS, and then you'll find the options in the Save As dropdown list. Now, the composer file is a lot smaller in size when compared to the SOLIDWORKS data, and it packs the whole assembly into one file. So this could make life really easy for the CAD team, as they can send you an SMG rather than having to kind of pack and get all of a SOLIDWORKS project together for you. Now, it doesn't matter if you exporting directly from SOLIDWORKS or opening the CAD data directly inside composer. The next steps are equally important and available in both. Now the first thing is choosing the correct import profile set by default in SOLIDWORKS, but not in composer. You will need to choose the SOLIDWORKS default in the dropdown menu, unless your CAD data includes surface geometry, in which case you can also choose the appropriate option below. The next tip we always recommend is selecting the merge into a new document option. Now this gives a cleaner and easier project tree with Inside Composer. It groups everything from that CAD data into its own sub project. And then if we insert additional files into this project such as tooling, jigs, special fixtures, special tools, they can go into their own sub project folder. Now it's only a small thing, but when you start using it, then you will understand that it helps to keep your data organized and helps you work your way through your project. So we are up and running and we have a great data set inside composer, but we are going to hit our first hurdle. Do you actually really know what you're trying to create? This might sound obvious, but what is it you're trying to do? Is it just some views for printed manual or will this be for online content? Or maybe it's going to be a bit of both. If it will be printed, then will it be in black and white or is it going to be in color? What DTP desktop publishing software are you going to use? Is it just Microsoft Word, or are you going to use something fancy like Adobe InDesign? Do you know how it wants to look and feel, or are you just trying to refresh an existing manual? If this is the first time you're creating one for your company, then do you know your company's color scheme? Do you have existing marketing brochures or websites that are going to influence you? Or maybe a marketing department with a very strict company policy on what external documentation should look like? Have you seen some other documentation that you'd like to replicate or maybe borrow some ideas from? These are all answers that you need to get before you get into evolve to your project. I don't want to go and create 50 different steps in my manual, only to be told I need to change the basic color scheme or the whole overall look and feel. Now, composer does have tools and ways to do this, but it's all extra work that could be avoided in the first place. So let's break this down into some logical steps. I will begin a reminder on what we're trying to avoid in the first place, and give you some examples of what you might want to try and achieve. So this is a classic instruction set, which is way too much text. And it's got lots of images in there, way too small, and in comparison to the page size. And you could replace a lot of this text just with a technical illustration. Again, another classic instruction sheet that we've all seen. The use of the photos helps, but they're not very, very clear. And again, there's a lot of text in this example. We've got CAD generated images and they're very little text. However, someone has saved the final document at two lower resolution to print or to be viewed online. And hence we have no real clarity on what is required in these instructions. Now this one is just to raise a smile but at the same time, it's just to remind you that whatever you're trying to create needs to be clear and concise. Okay, so we've seen the bad. Let's move on to some good examples. So here is a classic composer image where I remove the colors. So this could be easily printed in black and white. And it really helps with the clarity. All the components have simple descriptions of their part numbers. Any tools that are required are shown in the direction of the tool. Movement is indicated. A repeat procedure is shown in a nice detail view and a number piece is also shown. More importantly, apart from the partner names, there is no instructional text making this document been able to use worldwide. So this is a great start and we would expect from beginners after our two day training course. However, this session is about trying to take your documentation up to that next level and trying to get results similar to these examples. Now, we are not trying to be photorealistic, but we are trying to create clear, enticing images that would anyone would understand. So how do we get there? When it comes to technical illustrations, it's all about line weight. So to explain this, let's start with the most basic of settings one single light weight for all edges. The result is clear enough, but it looks like a regular CAD drawing. A simple improvement is to increase the line weights on the outside of the model, something technical illustrators have been doing for years, and this immediately adds some depth to our illustration and makes it kind of come forward off the page. We can take this a step further by adding thick lines for all undercuts. These options are found in the silhouette entities area, and now they're used separate out the individual components. In this next example, we've added a basic shadow. But the more obvious thing is we've added line color to some components. This is one way of highlighting certain areas or components of interest. Now if we go back to just black and white, but we will keep that shadow for that extra depth. But then we can take this a step further by increasing the contrast of that shadow. To really lift that model from the page. And then finally we're going to add a solid color. So this is a combination of thick and thin lines shadows and solid flat color. Great for online content, but maybe not so good if this going to be printed, especially in black and white. So remember to always keep in mind where is this data? Where is your content going to be used? Now with all of the views that we have created, we can have additional control on the amount of lines that we see. More importantly, how do we want to see those extra lines that are generated around tangent edges without trying to sound like Goldilocks and the three bears? The default setting of showing the tangent edges can have too many a too much geometry to our model, and it gets it cluttered and makes unclear what we're seeing. If we just say, remove all the tangent edges and we can have the opposite effect and leave the model quite undefined without any form being obvious. But if you turn on smart edges, then composer can adjust the amount of detail until it's just right. Well, I say composer. What I mean is you can adjust the amount of detail to suit your personal preferences and get your porridge just perfect. So this is the end of the Composer Basics one. But please keep an eye out for our next couple of videos, especially Composer Part two. And that's where we're going to start to build our first manual. In that we're going to explain our deconstruction approach to building a set of instructions, as well as some other useful tips and advice. Okay, goodbye. For now.