About Composer Files

When exporting content to Composer files, you can choose from a number of file types. This topic provides information about each file type.

This page discusses:

See Also
About Export Options
About Advanced Options
About Right Manager

Composer File Types

This section lists the different file formats used to handle and share Composer documents.

The table below describes each file type.

Composer File Type Description
SMG (*.smg) The default file type. A single file that includes all property, geometry, view, and animation information.
Note: .smg files are archive files containing .smgXml, .smgGeom, .smgOutlines, and other files required to render the scene.
Product (*.smgXml) A multi-file format consisting of all the .smg components:
  • .smgXml - An XML file containing the assembly structure. It denotes the position of the actors, the properties of the viewport, and so on.

    Open the .smgXml file to load the entire model.

  • .smgGeom - A binary file containing the assembly geometry.
  • .smgView - An XML file containing view definitions.
  • .smgSce - An XML file containing scenario (animation) definitions.
  • View thumbnails - JPG images that appear in the Views pane.
The .smgGeom, .smgView, and .smgSce files must have the same name as the .smgXml file.
Tip: For greater flexibility, use Composer projects instead of Composer products alone.
Fully Shattered A Composer product with multiple .smgXml and .smgGeom files.

All other Composer formats contain geometry and structure information in one (.smg) or two (.smgXml, .smgGeom) files. In the fully-shattered format:

  • The main assembly and each subassembly has a .smgXml file that includes the neutral properties, assembly hierarchy, and position of its parts. It also includes references to all the parts.
  • Each part has a .smgXml and .smgGeom file.

Note: Selecting this option activates the Project (*.smgProj) option.
Project (*.smgProj) A multi-file format consisting of one or more Composer product files and a project (.smgProj) file. The .smgProj file is an XML file that references the top-level .smgXml, .smgView, and .smgSce files that comprise the project.
  • The .smgXml, .smgView, and .smgSce files can be any name and reside in any folder.
  • The .smgXml and .smgGeom files must be the same name and reside in the same folder.

Projects organize your Composer files into folders and let you share references. For example, two projects can share the same .smgXml, .smgGeom, and .smgView files but have different .smgSce files. Projects also let you import multiple subassemblies even when you do not have the main assembly file.

Note: Selecting this option automatically selects the Fully Shattered option.

Benefits of Each File Type

This section lists describes the benefits provided by each Composer file type.

The table below describes the benefits of each file type.

Benefit SMG (*.smg) Product (*.smgXml) Project (*.smgProj)
Minimal number of files
Can edit XML
Separate product, scenario, and view files
Product, scenario, and view files can reside in different folders

Considerations for Fully Shattered Assemblies

When exporting to the fully shattered format, you need to keep a number of things in mind.

Fully-shattered assemblies present the following advantages in Composer:

  • The assembly loads all its parts by reference. An assembly does not have geometry files. This keeps the file size of the main assembly small and lets you reuse parts in multiple assemblies.
  • You can load assembly parts as you need them instead of loading the entire assembly when you open it. For details, see the Project > Geometry options in the Open dialog box and the Load on Visibility command. To load a part, right-click the part in the Assembly tree and select Product > Load Products.
  • You can load parts with different levels of details. If you create your fully shattered assembly with more than one level of detail, you can choose the level of detail in the Open dialog box.
  • You can perform incremental updates. Because parts are loaded by reference, you can update only parts that have changed.

When using fully shattered assemblies in Composer, you must remember the following information:

  • Create projects with File > New Project , not Save As. Because Composer measurement actors, animation keys, and other authoring content is stored in the top-level project assembly, that content is lost if you create the project using Save As and then retranslate the top-level CAD assembly in Sync.
  • Fully shattered assemblies reference the last saved configuration of its parts. If your assembly uses multiple configurations of a part, then it displays the last saved configuration for all instances of the part. Therefore, you get improper results when converting (from Sync) in fully shattered mode an assembly that contains multiple instances of the same part with different configurations.
  • You cannot change the neutral properties of a part in a fully shattered assembly because the part is loaded by reference into the assembly. To change the neutral properties of a part, open the part in its own window.
  • When you modify a sub-assembly such as adding or removing an assembly group, or merging or exploding actors, you break the fully shattered structure. All the associated structure branches are saved in the top assembly file. A warning message is always displayed before performing such an operation, and you can choose to perform it or no.
  • Undoing an operation that breaks a fully shattered structure does not restore the fully shattered structure.