Colours and materials — gull system handbook

Tutorial: Library lists of colours, textures and materials, capturing an appearance and a material in SOLIDWORKS, the Colour, Texture and Material rules, an optional finish and silent material mistakes.

Colours and materials

A part's colour, texture or material, set by the customer's choice.

Introduction

A material changes the mass, the bill of materials and the drawing's title block. An appearance, a colour or a texture, changes only the picture. If any number should change with the customer's choice, capture a material. If both should change, capture both parameters; each has its own rule.

You need a configurator with a model, and the assembly open in SOLIDWORKS with the gull system panel.

Steps

1. Prepare the lists in the Library. In Library → Colours, Textures or Materials, create a list and add items with Add a colour, Add a texture or Add a material. The customer sees the item's name and the order carries it.
2. Pick a material from the list. After Add a material, pick the material from the SOLIDWORKS databases and type a name for the customer, for example Stainless. The CAD material and its database are stored with the item.
3. Choose the capture mode. In the gull system panel in SOLIDWORKS, choose the Capture mode: Appearance for a colour or a texture, Material for a material. Choose the mode before you click in the model.
4. Click a component or a body. An appearance captured on a component applies to every instance of the part; one captured on a body applies to that body only. A material is captured only by clicking a component in an assembly.
5. Name the parameter and save it. Check that Selected parameter filled in, type a Custom name and click Save. The parameter appears in the Captured parameters list.
6. Write the rules. In the Rules step, an appearance has the rows Colour, Texture and Texture rotation (°), a material one row, Rule. Usually the input's name is enough: Colour = `[Colour]`, Rule = `[Material]`.
7. Drive the material and the colour with one choice (optional). Fill in a colour on the material item too, for example "Stainless red". The material rule and the appearance's Colour then both point at the same input, `[Finish]`.

Common problems

• Selected parameter stayed empty. The selected thing does not have what the mode asks for; a sub-assembly has no material, for example. In a part opened on its own you capture only a body's appearance; capture a material in the assembly.
• The parameter did not appear in the app. A click in the model only prepares the item. Only the Save button sends it to the app.
• A face or feature appearance cannot be captured. At those levels CAD appearances override each other by rebuild order. Only the part and the body can be captured.
• The order finished, but the material did not change. The CAD silently refuses a material name it does not know. That is why a material is picked from the list. Custom material databases must exist on every computer where orders run. Check the change by the part's mass.
• An empty form field still sets a colour. While the input has a default value, an empty field uses it. For an optional finish, delete the default value in the Define inputs step. An empty rule result then means "change nothing".
• A texture stayed on the part after an order with a colour. On a part with a material, the texture is written on the body, which wins over the part's colour. If you need to switch between texture and colour, capture the appearance on the body directly.

What next

• Writing a rule. The rule editor and what a rule must return.
• Lists in the Library. Colours, textures, materials and options with a photo.
• A form for orders. The List field the customer picks from.
• Defining inputs. The default value and an optional finish.