10 Replies Latest reply on Nov 7, 2017 4:48 AM by Lee Henderson

    Decal advice

    Lee Henderson
    Lee Henderson Nov 3, 2017 4:24 PM

      Hello all, a few small queries I would like help with.

       

      I'm new to decals (in both Solidworks and Visualize) however I'm concentrating on Visualize 2018 at the moment. I'm trying to fit a decal I've created into a recess in a panel. I've allowed a couple of mm tolerance between the recess and the decal size (decal is 2mm smaller all round). I realise I can manipulate the decal with the part selection tool but is there a way of accurately positioning it other than zooming in as close as I possibly can and just "eyeballing it" until it looks right? (which is what I've done in the attached screen grab).

       

      Also I have established from reading on the forum that PNG files are the format of choice for decals. You can see on my attached image that the decal appears to be almost opaque, however the background should be bright white. I have used Adobe Illustrator to create my PNG and have tried various incarnations of PNG, transparent background, white background, anti aliased etc etc however I still get the same outcome? Could anyone suggest a possible solution to this? Or both ideally

        • Re: Decal advice
          John Stoltzfus
          John Stoltzfus Nov 3, 2017 4:35 PM (in response to Lee Henderson)

          I have almost always created a part the same size as my decal and added a jpeg file to the surface and then I edit the appearance of the picture to adjust the mapping till it fits the part.  Then I would add the part (decal) into an assembly and mate it exactly where it needs to be, that way I can use part custom properties to automatically list the decal in the BOM.

            • Re: Decal advice
              Lee Henderson
              Lee Henderson Nov 6, 2017 5:02 AM (in response to John Stoltzfus)

              Thanks for the reply John, sounds like I should do a bit extra in Solidworks before opening in Visualize to make my life a little easier then (at least when it comes to placing the decal accurately). Still wondering about the settings for the actual PNG to give me a bright white background..

                • Re: Decal advice
                  Brian Hillner
                  Brian Hillner Employee Nov 6, 2017 9:34 AM (in response to Lee Henderson)

                  Hi Lee,

                   

                  PNG or TIF with transparent background work best for decals. I'm not sure why your transparent PNGs aren't working for you as expected.

                   

                  Depending on how I want my decals in Visualize to look, I'll add an appearance to them. Did you know this is possible? You can drag/drop any appearances onto any decal. Sometimes to punch up my decals, i'll add a Flat 100% white appearance to it. This will help make your white decal actually white. To make them glow, i'll add an emissive appearance. And to make my decal have clearcoat (reflection), add a 100% white Paint - then adjust the Clearcoat and Roughness to the desired effect.

              • Re: Decal advice
                Rich Fagioli
                Rich Fagioli Nov 6, 2017 9:38 AM (in response to Lee Henderson)

                Like John, we also apply decals to correctly sized decal substrate (or part) that was created in SW. Beware of fickle import settings!

                • Re: Decal advice
                  Shad Thomas
                  Shad Thomas Nov 6, 2017 1:30 PM (in response to Lee Henderson)

                  I usually place the decals in solidworks rather than Visualize. I seem to have better luck with placement there. I too have had issues with colors coming in muted. As Brian said, try adding materials to your label after importing into Visualize, as this may help. I typically don't add any sort of label substrate due to my typical application being glass bottles.

                  • Re: Decal advice
                    Lee Henderson
                    Lee Henderson Nov 6, 2017 3:02 PM (in response to Lee Henderson)

                    Thanks! Actually I've tried placing my decals onto my part (as John said) and have found it so much easier to position them accurately!

                    But thanks for all the helpful replies. Although I'm still trying to figure out why the decal background is grey rather than white

                     

                    Thanks all