SOLIDWORKS® Composer converts your 3D engineering data into work instructions, exploded views, and interactive content — without recreating anything from scratch.
Overview
Technical publications teams traditionally redraw or photograph assemblies to create documentation. Composer eliminates that step — it works directly from your 3D CAD geometry, so work instructions and animations are always geometrically accurate. When the design changes, the documentation can update with it.
SOLIDWORKS Composer serves engineering teams creating work instructions and manufacturing handoff documents, as well as sales and marketing teams building product animations and launch assets — all from the same CAD data.
Packages
Composer is the full authoring environment. Composer Player ships free — so anyone on the shop floor, in the field, or in the boardroom can view and interact with the content you create.
Create, animate, and publish — the full content creation environment for technical publications teams.
View, rotate, and play back Composer content — no license required. Distribute freely to your entire organization.
Composer (licensed) includes:
Composer Player (free) allows:
Composer publishes to: interactive HTML (no plugin), Microsoft Word, PDF, SVG, BMP/PNG/TIFF, AVI video, animated SVG, and the native .smg format for Composer Player. A single Composer source file generates all of these — author once and publish to whatever format each downstream consumer needs.
Available on Device Term License (machine-locked, 3-month or 1-year) or Single-User Subscription (person-tied, any device). Contact us to discuss which fits your shop.
What You Can Do
Assembly Documentation
Composer creates step-by-step assembly and service instructions directly from the 3D model. Each step shows the correct geometry — not a photograph of an older revision, not a technical illustrator's reinterpretation of the CAD file. The result is documentation that shop floor workers can trust.
Associativity
When a SOLIDWORKS model changes, the Composer file can update to reflect the new geometry automatically. Instead of hunting through hundreds of illustrations to find which ones reference the changed component, Composer flags what has changed and re-renders affected views — dramatically reducing the documentation revision cycle.
Industries
Shop floor assembly instructions that match the actual product — updated automatically when engineering changes the design.
Illustrated Parts Catalogues and maintenance task cards that meet ATA iSpec 2200 and S1000D structured data requirements.
IFUs and service manuals derived directly from the validated CAD model — essential for regulatory submissions and audit trails.
FAQ