Change color of face of part in assembly

[dominiek_vanwest]

Hi,

I have an assembly which consists of a couple of parts. I'd like to change the color of 1 face from a part. It's possible to do it in the part itself, but it doessn't seem possible to do it in the assembly (I can only change the color of the whole part).

I use the 'Select Faces and Edges', then select a face on that part (I'm in assembly level), but I can't change the color of that face.

The reason I want to do this is because I have a number of assemblies that have to be painted in a different color (and only 1 face). I can't do it in part level as I would need 2 different parts, but all the parts are the same. It's only after assembling everything that it needs to be painted.

Is there any way to change the color of a face of a part in an assembly?

Thanks in advance,

Dominiek

[ampster401]

I thought this could be done, not happening though.

Looks like you will need an individual part file for each item you need different colors for.

[ampster401]

there might be a way depending on if you can get by with surface models rather than solids.

Can you post a picture or your assy and part files and let us have a look?

The example below started out as a buckyball challenge for myself which then became a challenge to see if I could produce a realistic soccer ball.

It's made up of two separate part files which are just surfaces models with no thickness.  I am able to right click on any individual part and go into iProperties where I can adjust the Appearance on the Occurrence tab.

This may not be a viable solution for you however.

[admaiora]

You can't do it on face componentsat assembly level.

You have to descend to part level, change face color then go back up to top level.

[ampster401]

correct, the only way I am able to do this is because a single surface makes up each part.

If the OP has a part within an assy that has multiple faces exposed as it sounds like they do, this will not work.

[dominiek_vanwest]

Thanks for the answers.

I'll have a workaround. I'll copy the part, leave everything like partnumber, ... the same, only another file number. In the BOM nothing will have changed. I'll have 2 parts though.

[coreyparks]

Depending on the complexity of the face, could you make a seperate part for the paint?  Have it a few thousandths of an inch thick?  It may not display properly due to the thin cross section, not sure.

[SBix26]

How many different colors do you need?  If it's a manageably small number (ten, for instance, not 100), then you could create design view representations in the part files for each color and choose which representations are used in each assembly.

Sam B
Inventor 2012 Certified Professional

Inventor Professional 2015 Update 1
Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit, SP1
HP EliteBook 8770w; 8 GB RAM; Core™ i7-3720QM 2.60 GHz; Quadro K4000M

[dominiek_vanwest]

Well, that depends on the client. He can basically choose any color he wants. Also, the parts (I have a few hundreds, thousands of them) are in the Vault. It speaks for itself it would be a lot of work to make design views for all of them with any color.

The need for different colors is actually only just with this client. Normally it's only 1 color for the whole project. So my workaround to copy the part, leave the partnumber, .... the same (only a different filename) does work. In the partslist these 2 parts are merged together (because they have the same partnumber).

Thanks anyway for the help! There were some interesting thoughts how to solve this, and they may be helpfull in other situations.

[mcgyvr]

My question is "how do you manage this in the real world" ?

Does each different color not have its own part number? (I'd think it should..it sure as heck would where I work for inventory purposes and more)

How its done in the real world will/could dictate how its handled in Inventor. 

[dominiek_vanwest]

All the parts are the same, it's only after assembling it with other parts that a face of that part has to be painted.

See attachment for more clarification.

3 parts (2 tubes, 1 panel) have to be welded together. After it's welded the front is painted in the color the client wants.

So, all the parts stay the same, whichever color the client wants. If we order the material, the color is unimportant at that time.

For example: if the client orders one in yellow and one in red, we want to order material for 4 tubes and 2 panels, and not 2 tubes for the yellow, 2 tubes for the red and likewise for the panel.

[C.A.B.]

Hi,

I did this to fix it for me:

1. Remove any color override you might have on the part
2. LMC the part to be changed in the browser tree so it is highlighted
3. Change to “Modeling” view at the top of the browser tree
4. RMC the feature you want to change and select “Properties” in the dialog box
5. You can select a new “Feature Appearance” at the bottom of the [Feature Properties] box that opens
6. Continue for each feature you want to change

[SER4]

This is close, but we want to modify ("paint") selective faces, not complete features.

There's also this link, which does not seem to work as-described.

[SBix26]

The link you posted is for changing the appearance of a face in a part file, and should work exactly as written, but it doesn't address the issue in this forum topic.  The post you are responding to also doesn't do what is asked, since it is just another means to change appearance in the part file, not in the assembly instance only.

There should be an Inventor Ideas post requesting the ability to change face appearance per assembly instance, but I have not spent the time to search for it or create one.

---

Sam B

Inventor Pro 2023.1.1 | Windows 10 Home 21H2

[SER4]

This idea is similar: 

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ideas/part-view-reps-that-control-face-apearances/idi-p/6300... 

which I feel like has already been implemented.

Archived, but here they suggest iAssemblies:

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ideas/assembly-sticky-color-override/idi-p/5206433

Here is for Envelopes: 

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ideas/quot-envelopes-quot-improvement-add-appearance-color-c...

And hopefully the upcoming Finish feature will do it better: 

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ideas/part-view-reps-that-control-face-apearances/idi-p/6300...

(https://feedback.autodesk.com/project/forum/thread.html?cap=fb14413735ee42c99624e3793b19a0b2&forid={...)

[C.A.B.]

You are correct. I can only change features and it updates the part file.  I have a new suggestion as a work around. Since you are going to paint the face at the assembly level you could create a new part called "Paint". It would be easy to create using project geometry and extruding it the thickness of the coat of paint you want, perhaps 0,002mm. Then you could change the color of the "Paint" part to the color you want to show, without affecting the original part. I know this is not what you ask for but in Inventor I see no real solution at this time. I now work in a different CAD program and there this is very easy to do.