Multi-Material Parts / Different Material per Feature

[petestrycharske]

All,

I have heard that it is possible to assign individual materials to each feature in an Inventor part, but I haven't been able to replicate on my end.  For years I didn't think it was possible to assign separate materials to a part, however I would be ecstatic to discover a method for doing so.  Haven't found anything else on any forums, so I am curious if anyone has discovered a way to do this.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.  Hope all is well and have a most blessed night!

Peace,

Pete

[blair]

About the only way that I know is in Multi-Body parts. It's not a different material per feature but different materials in a single part until you "push" the multi-solids from the single IPT out. Perhaps someone is not really giving you the complete story.

[pcrawley]

I agree with Blair.  Unless you mean "Appearance" rather than "Material"? 

You can right-click face(s) & feature(s) and apply a different appearance - like "Gold" or "Blue" - but that's not the same as changing the material. 

If someone does know how to apply multiple materials at a feature level I would also love to know!

[csaba.stupak]

Part can have only one material. You can set it from the QuickAccessToolbar or by RMB / iProperties / Physical / Material.

It is possible apply (override) different Appearances (render style) to part. So even you set the material to Steel it is possible to change the appearance to Gold. It is also possible to change the appearance of a body, feature and face. The priority order of appearances are face (highest), feature, body, part. You can control the appearance of the object (body, feature, etc.) by selecting it in the browser/scene and change the second combo box in teh QuickAccessToolbar or by RMB / Properties.

So as the previous posts mentioned it is possible the change the feature's appearance, not its material. If it is enough to control the visual appearance of the part then you can change the feature appearance. If you need to change the physical properties (material) of some pieces of your model then you have to break the model into several parts, assign the proper material for each part and place them to an assembly.

Thanks,

Csaba

[petestrycharske]

blair,

How do you apply a different material to a solid body? 

The user stated materials, but I haven't seen how they accomplished the task yet.  There always could be a miscommunication, but that chance is minimized in this case.  We had just spoken last week on how to apply different materials to an assembly and replicate those into a drawing file (using iLogic) which could then be brought into AutoCAD.  However, they had already completed 50 - 60 complex Factory Design Suite assets as part files, so were eager to get multiple materials into those parts, as the iLogic code converted the materials to layers.  I told them I didn't think it was possible, but would look into it.  He e-mailed yesterday and told me he had done it, so I doubt there is any miscommunication...

Peace,

Pete

[Daniel248]

Hi Blair,

"About the only way that I know is in Multi-Body parts. It's not a different material per feature but different materials in a single part until you "push" the multi-solids from the single IPT out. Perhaps someone is not really giving you the complete story."

Did you mean "after" you push the multi-solids out as parts?

I know that after we push out parts from multi-solids these can have different materials assigned, but if that can be done in the muly-body solid I would like to know how.

Thanks,

Danny  

[blair]

Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5abPC8wAqw

[Daniel248]

Hi Blair,

I've watched that video.

Nothing about different materials within a multi-body part (before pushing out to parts).

Cheers,

Danny

[blair]

We have different "Templates" for each of our materials, so at the "Make Component" we are able to select which template/material we want for each item being pushed out.

[wimann]

I guess the point is that you can't apply different materials while the multi-bodies are still in a single .ipt. Once you "make components", different materials can be applied to the individual .ipt's that are generated.

It would seem that that is about as close as you're going to get for the time being.

[timdown73]

Just a thought and I could be wrong but...If the developers could make it so that you could assign different materials in a [multi-solid-body .ipt] the next step would be to assign separate iproperties to each solid.  This would eliminate the need for assembly files.  You could just do everything in one .ipt. 

[petestrycharske]

blair, thanks for the information.  That is a good idea to use the individual templates to drive the part materials.  Would have been great to be able to assign material placeholders in the multi-body part, but can't get everything one wants

timdown73, I think we would still be safe to add this type of information into each solid body, although the more data the larger these files will become.  If the data were added in, then that would save time from having to go into each individual file and entering in the data.  The assembly file would still be needed for fasteners and all those other stock parts.

Thanks for all the input, but I owe you all a huge MEA CULPA.  Turns out my guy did get confused between Appearances and Materials.  But hey, it's always okay to end up with a little egg on my face.    So, thanks again, but please don't spend any more time on this.  Sorry for the rabbit trail and have a most blessed day!

Peace,

Pete

[MACKTEK]

Hello. I have 1 part. For example a 1 meter Cube. I would like to apply a different "Material" to each face of the cube. I understand that I can change the "appearance" of each face (which I don't think will work for what I need), instead what I need is for the exported / saved .ipt to actually save so that when it is loaded in 3DS Max or Maya or exported to a CAD file that the model retains the different material assignments and can be UV mapped properly using the different material assignments. If version 2016 had this feature that would be great. (Still working with the 2011 version due to finances, and I might be able to justify an expenditure if this feature was present in 2016). If necessary I can probably provide an example. For those asking "why"? I need to be able to apply different assigned materials for external rendering, and this would bypass recreating the material assignment phase of the artist doing the work, if I can do it in Inventor, and would likely save an hour or 2 in work. Thanks...

[blair]

Not with a single part item, the material applied is contiguous throughout the part. You would need to assemble a cube with six parts and have a different material applied to each part of the cube. Six simple pyramids where the height is 1/2 of the base would work.

[MACKTEK]

Thanks for the reply. 

Unfortunately, that solution is not a work saving method. 

This has been missing from Inventor for a long time now, it would be nice to be able to have multiple materials PER PART.

[blair]

I guess, when you can have multiple materials in a single part is the real world the the programmers @ Autodesk will come up with a way to multi-materials in a single part.

Inventor is an engineering/design software, if a single part cube was to contain different materials, what would the blend of different densities be to acheive a mass (weight) for the cube. All steel or bronze, possibly aluminum.

A cube as you describe in real life would have to be an assembly made up of different materials.

[SBix26]

I don't understand the distinction you're making between material and appearance in your post.  You describe applying a material to a face, but Inventor materials only apply to solids, things with volume, because they have properties such as density, strength, thermal expansion, etc.  Inventor appearances apply to faces, and they should be the same between all Autodesk applications, if I understand correctly.

Sam B

Inventor Professional 2015 SP2
Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit, SP1
HP EliteBook 8770w; 8 GB RAM; Core™ i7-3720QM 2.60 GHz; Quadro K4000M

[MACKTEK]

In the "Art" world, Materials are surface adornements, so there was some confusion there between "Material" and "Appearance"

so for this conversation to have meaning I will need to use the word "Material" in 2 ways:

"Inventor Part Material" shall mean the "Solid" material such as Aluminum... and assoc. data.

"Art" Material shall mean a UV Mapped Material that is applied to the surface of a model.

So...

Technically, what I need is for the surface "Appearance" changes that I make to the surface of a a SINGLE PART to actually export with the part.

But they don't.

To be more detailed:

Let's say I have a solid cube of Aluminum. Therefore the Inventor part material is Aluminum.

Now I want each side to be annodized a different "Color", so I change each face "Appearance".

What I need from Inventor, is that during exportation, it Exports these "Appearances" as separately UV Mapped ("Art") Materials for each face.

Currently, it only exports 1 UV Mapped "art" Material, without the Appearance.

[blair]

In Inventor, your cube would have it's material of Aluminum. Then you would need to change the Appearance of each face to the color or finish you choose.

The the two are completely different within Inventor. The Material will change the Physical Properties of the item such as it's Mass/Weight. Changing the Appearance only changes the Finish of the part.

The problem when exporting items from Inventor to other programs is any overridden finishes (Appearances) can and in most cases are over ridden with the default and show up with the default Material.

It's not so much an Inventor problem, as the problem resides with the software that's importing the Inventor files. They can't pickup the Appearance over rides for each face.

[MACKTEK]

To clarify for future readers.

In Inventor:

"Material" applies to the Entire .ipt and cannot be subdivided (AFAIK).

"Appearance" can be applied to any (Single and Multiple) face selection and Does work to give an Artist the Multiple "Texture Materials" on an imported model IF you use an autodesk program such as 3DS Max.

This is good news.

To Apply the appearance you need to select any faces that you want to apply the "appearance" to, and then right click to show the context menu.

This will reveal the properties menu.  (If you don't see the properties menu, then deselect, and reselect as sometimes a misclick will cause the properties to disappear).

Opening the properties menu will reveal the "Appearance" option. These "appearances" will look just like "Inventor Materials" but they are surface appearance only, and they do get imported as "texture type materials" in Art programs like 3DS Max.

It of course does not fix the problem with exporting to other (non-autodesk) modeling/renderers but that is another issue.