I'm fiddling a bit with the rendering in Presenter under Simulate. Most of our models (piping facilities) are in "false color" using the AutoCAD ACI index colors so that different objects are readily distinguishable. They render reasonably well, but there is one problem I'm trying to get around: the default materials assigned to the AutoCAD ACI colors are slightly reflective. For example, a tank next to a rack will have a slight reflection of the rack across the tank when rendered. I would prefer that not to be there or at least greatly diminished.
What material property should I adjust to reduce the refections? Is there a way to globally adjust the materials assigned to the AutoCAD ACI colors, or do I have to create these materials myself and then use the materials assignment rules?
Hi dgorsman
Are there Navisworks Materials listed in the palette and that are attached to the objects in your model? Are these coming through automatically when opening the AutoCAD model?
To remove the reflection on Navisworks materials, please try the following:
1. Click the Application Button > Options
2. Expand Tools > Presenter
3. Change the profile dropdown to Advanced, which will provide you more editing options for your materials.
4. In Presenter, double click one of the materials in the palette.
5. Try changing the Shader to something such as Matte,
Please let me know if this helps.
Best regards,
John Lipp
Product Support Specialist
Autodesk Product Support
Initially, the objects don't have a material assigned to them and no materials are in the Presenter palette. Presenter still treats the objects as having a "material" with color properties coresponding to the true-color equivalent of the assigned AutoCAD color index (ACI) value. There is a certain amount of reflectivity in these default materials which I would like to tone down, but since there isn't a material in the Presenter palette there is nothing that can be modified.
I can create user materials as needed, and using the Matte shader looks to do a good job (if a bit dark...) but it is a little laborious to manually create materials for ~200 ACI values, then use rules to mass-apply the materials.
If there isn't an option to adjust the properties of the default materials already, there probably should be one.
I''ve attached a simple model with two 3D solids - a cylinder and a triangular prism. Both are color BYLAYER, with the layer colors set to one of the AutoCAD ACI "numbered" colors (132 and 83, respectively). When the file is opened in Navisworks, the objects are normally set to the Presenter material "ByLayer" which must be removed otherwise they will render black. Even without an assigned Presenter material the objects will render using material properties based on the AutoCAD colors as shown in the screen shot (triangular prism in this case). I find these default material properties to give a little more reflection than I desire, so I would like to "tone down" that aspect without spending too much time doing so.
What I would like, is to be able to adjust the default settings Navisworks uses for AutoCAD objects without Presenter materials assigned. Otherwise that will require creating a material for every single ACI color being used and using rules to automate application of those materials to objects.
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