Every so often with SOLIDWORKS we run into some great functionality who’s limitations leave us feeling a little flat… (Pun Intended)
The use of Decals in our SOLIDWORKS models makes for a fantastic bit of functionality, however it requires a shaded viewing in order for the contents of the decal to show up on a drawing.
What do we do if we need the artwork contained on the decal in a SOLIDWORKS HLR Drawing View?
HLR and Shaded drawing view comparison
One of the many possible techniques would be to make use of a surface body, and split that body into portions using the Split or Wrap features so that the newly formed faces could have their colours changed to represent the desired decal.
Let’s begin the process by offsetting the cylindrical face of our tank, just enough to ensure we are not dealing with any surface-bleeding that can take place when two surfaces are superimposed onto one another. Roughly a distance of 0.05in (this entirely depends on your image quality settings for the part document).
Offset Surface Feature
Once the new surface is created, we will place and prepare the sketch that represents the decal artwork or text. Several sub sketches will be needed in this case to copy one closed loop of geometry at a time, starting from the inside out. This will allow for each separate loop to be applied as a wrap feature to our original surface (start with the exclamation point in this example!).
Decal substitute sketch
Once the “Sub-Sketches” have been created, use the wrap feature 
to “Scribe” the artwork of the decal onto the surface.
Wrap Feature PropertyManager
Once we have used the scribe option multiple times for all of the “Sub-Sketches” we created, we should have the desired result of a surface that has been split up into the appropriate geometry.
Once the smaller surfaces are created (Lettering) the appearance properties can be modified to make each portion the desired colour. The remaining “unused” surface is also deleted via the Delete / Keep Bodies tool.
Wrap geometry applied
The final result is a set of surfaces that will show up in a SOLIDWORKS HLR Drawing View when the “Model Items” tool is used to “pull” them into the drawing view.
Decal displayed in HLR drawing view
The surfaces are more resource intensive on the system overall, however they are a far better option than attempting to create embossed or debossed text which generates many more edges of model geometry.
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