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Import STYXML files to Inventor 2013 materials library

14 REPLIES 14
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Message 1 of 15
marshallw
9542 Views, 14 Replies

Import STYXML files to Inventor 2013 materials library

Does anyone have a process for importing INDIVIDUAL materials (saved as some_material.styxml) that had been exported from Inventor 2011 or 2012 into the 2013 Inventor Material Library?

 

I am not asking about converting the old libraries -- I know how to do that -- these are materials that were created for one-time (supposedly) use and exported from the 2012 Inventor file, but never saved to the older Inventor styles libraries. Operation was EASY in 2012 -- click the "Import" button on the styles manager dialog box.

 

No such button on the new materilas library manager, or am I missing something?

 

Only way I have been able to do this is create a 2102 part, import the STYXML file, apply the material to the 2012 part, then save the part & open it in 2013 & let 2013 import the style. Once the material style has been imported this way, it can be added to the Inventor Material Library, but this is a really nutty workaround that requires Inventor 2102 to be available...

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

Autodesk Inventor Certified Professional
Autodesk Inventor Certified Instructor
14 REPLIES 14
Message 2 of 15
ChrisMitchell01
in reply to: marshallw

You can still import material styxml files from the Styles Editor; you just won't see the resulting material appear in that dialog.

 

Following the import you can use the Material Editor dialog to add the imported material to whichever library you wish.

 

Thanks,
Chris



Chris Mitchell
PDMS Customer Engagment Team
Autodesk, Inc.

Message 3 of 15
marshallw
in reply to: ChrisMitchell01

What?!?!?!

 

So Autodesk chose to leave the Materials/Colors Import button on the Styles Editor, that now shows only Lighting styles??? And not document that little oversight???

 

Typical 😞

 

Thanks for the answer Chris -- I know you're not @ fault here, but the guys who are making the new "Features" at the development labs need to think of small things like this. This should have been a no brainer -- our customer should have never had to call me on this & I should not have had to spend 4 hours looking for an answer...

 

Marshall

Autodesk Inventor Certified Professional
Autodesk Inventor Certified Instructor
Message 4 of 15
marshallw
in reply to: ChrisMitchell01

Chris,

 

As an additional question to your answer, if I import a material using the "Import" button, I am assuming now that the imported material will be added to the currently ACTIVE style library (providing it is not read-only).

 

Is this correct?

 

Marshall

Autodesk Inventor Certified Professional
Autodesk Inventor Certified Instructor
Message 5 of 15
ChrisMitchell01
in reply to: marshallw

Hi Marshall,

 

The style will be imported only to the active document - following import you will see a message as attached.

 

You'll need to use the Material Editor to add it to your active library after that.

 

Thanks,
Chris



Chris Mitchell
PDMS Customer Engagment Team
Autodesk, Inc.

Message 6 of 15
warren.ramsdale
in reply to: marshallw

Hi there, 

 

Is that the same for legacy colour syles? We have a RAL.styxml which we want to import which as it suggests is a library of RAL Colours. how do we import that to the "apprarance" library or favorites etc?

 

Many thanks

 

Message 7 of 15
ChrisMitchell01
in reply to: marshallw

Warren,

 

Any styxml file can only be imported to 2013 from the Styles Editor. The resulting imported appearances will only appear in your current document. If you want to move them to a library or Favorites folder then you will have to drag them across from within the Appearance browser.

 

If have a colors.xml file from 2012 or prior then you can directly migrate that to the new adsklib format, (Migrate button is down at the bottom left of the Materials or Appearance browser).

 

Note that we are aware of an issue in some early RAL color definition styxml files, where the Diffuse values were incorrectly set as “0 0 0 100” . To get these to import properly you will need to edit the styxml file & change this to “0 0 0 1” An example of a "fixed" RAL styxml file is attached.

 

Hope this helps,
Chris



Chris Mitchell
PDMS Customer Engagment Team
Autodesk, Inc.

Message 8 of 15
TechW
in reply to: ChrisMitchell01

Excue my ignorance... but is an styxml and an .XMLfile the same thing?

I am trying to get some materials (.XML) files from Inventor Publisher 2012 into Inventor 2013... there is not an .atdsklib file in that folder to be able to migrate it.

What is/may be the best method to get an existing .XML and supporting .PNG materials file into Inventor 2013?

 

Thanks in advance,

TechW

"Livin' on Tulsa time"

TechW
Using 3ds Max Design 2015
Message 9 of 15
MechEng_1
in reply to: marshallw

Hi,

 

Trying to get to grips with this ridiculous 'improvement' and i tried to import your Ral file. It imports fine as the new ral colours appear in the small drop down box at the top of the browser, howeve if i click on the appearance browser button from the ribbon they are no where to be seen? Where are they? This has happened with materials i have imported as well, listed in the drop dwon box at the top but i cannot find them in the material browser anywhere.

 

Any help would be great.

 

Message 10 of 15
ChrisMitchell01
in reply to: MechEng_1

Hi,

 

When you import data from a styxml file, it will only reside in the document which you imported it to. Depending on whihc file you are working in when you open the material/appearance browser you may or may not see the imported data.

 

Also note that there are filters on these new browsers which allow you to see only what is currently in use - please ensure you do not have one of those filters in place. (Icon over on the right hand side of the material/appearance browser).

 

Do you have any screenshots of what happens on the import dialog & also then what you see on the material/appearance browsers when working in the same document ?

 

Thanks,
Chris



Chris Mitchell
PDMS Customer Engagment Team
Autodesk, Inc.

Message 11 of 15
MechEng_1
in reply to: ChrisMitchell01

Hi Chris,

 

Thanks for the reply, I have attached a few screenshots showing my workflow. I opened the one part file and carried all steps out within that one file.

 

The other thing i have noticed that if i pick the colour from the drop down box at the top, the colour is very bright with no shadows etc. I saw above that you need to change the diffuse values to 0,0,1 but they are already set at that.

 

Thanks again,


Mike

Message 12 of 15
ChrisMitchell01
in reply to: MechEng_1

Hi Mike,

 

You're doing the right things there; I don't know what's going wrong though - I just imported the same styxml file attached here to a new part file - see attached.

 

If you open this file do you see the RAL appearances on both the drop down & in the appearance browser ?

 

I'm using 2013 SP1.1 update1.

 

Thanks,

Chris



Chris Mitchell
PDMS Customer Engagment Team
Autodesk, Inc.

Message 13 of 15
MechEng_1
in reply to: ChrisMitchell01

Hi Chris,

 

I tried saving your file and opening it and i had exactly the same problem, it shows in the dropdown but not in the appearance browser. This is driving me crazy!!

 

Thanks for the help.

 

Mike

Message 14 of 15
MechEng_1
in reply to: MechEng_1

Chris,

 

Thanks again, i think i may have solved it. I noticed that i had the design data folder referencing a folder within my project instead of the default location. Once i had changed that back to the default it seems to have fixed itself. the ral colours now appear in the top section of the appearance browser.

 

Mike

Message 15 of 15
ChrisMitchell01
in reply to: MechEng_1

Ok Thanks for confirming, Mike.

 

I suspect that the Design Data folder you were previously pointing to didn't have a complete set of files in it if it was from a prior release.

 

-Chris



Chris Mitchell
PDMS Customer Engagment Team
Autodesk, Inc.

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