I work on preliminary projects with assemblies saved as a part. We design special machines and it is easier for me to register a multi-body part than to copy a complete assembly of several thousand parts.
For commercial views, I use SW visualize but it seems that it handles multi-body parts very poorly. He merges bodies with each other, sometimes without any logic. So I can't apply a particular appearance to a body.
Do you have a solution for Visualize to dissociate each body well?
Thank you for your answer, it guided me to find the solution.
Until now I used the built-in solidworks add-in to send my project to visualize. This method does not allow you to choose how the project is imported. As you point out, it's the color/appearance that seems to predominate and it merges pieces as well.
To get around the problem, you have to open the 3D solidworks directly from visualize. An import window opens: in the Geometry tab under the Part Grouping section, choose Keep structure. So, visualize creates a per-body appearance group. You must remember to check Monitor the file to keep the link with the 3D.
It's a shame that you can't set up the import from the solidworks add-on module.