Flat color shading in SOLIDWORKS (2022)

When drafting parts in Solidworks, it is sometimes necessary to show a part’s color, as it can be a distinguishing feature of the design. However, showing only color information without displaying the part’s shading can be tricky.

Shaded With Edges

Shaded With Edges “Flat Shading”

In essence, I want to display the part showing the outlines only and flat colors, whenever present

The first step is to have the parts with the correct face color in the model. Anything that doesn’t have a color, should be colored white if needed to show like a regular outline drawing so that it blends with the page background

When inserting the view into the drawing, chose the display style to be “Shaded With Edges”

This will display the part in the drawing in the same way it is displayed in the 3D view of the part, including all the shading that results from the scene active in the part file. We don’t want these shadows, as they can be distracting, or be inconsistent from part to part, as they depend on the orientation of the view as shown below.

Display Style: Shaded With Edges. The Shading shows the 3D shape of the part, but the shadows can be distracting and inconsistent between views

The way to get around this, is to turn off all the directional lights in the part file, and increase the ambient light intensity to 1. This is done by navigating to the Display Manager tab, Selecting the Scene, Lights, and Cameras sub-tab. Then right click on the Directional lights and select “Off in Solidworks”. Do this for both Directional Lights.

Double click the Ambien Light, and set the intensity to 1

Set this value to 1

That’s it. Return to the drawing, and confirm that the view now has the desired flat shading applied, with no visible shadows.

Display Style “Shaded With Edges” without part shadows