New (Custom) Material in Inventor - Best Practices

[iamerm]

I know much has been published on this subject, but I'm trying to find some advice so I go about it the right way (& avoid headaches in the future).

I would like to create a new material in Inventor, & I would like it to be available to all of our users.  I would like the new material to be available for migration when we upgrade to newer versions of Inventor.  I would also like all of the existing materials in the Inventor Material Library to continue to be available to all of our users.  Lastly, we have no previous customizations of materials (or appearances) to be concerned about.

What's the best practice to accomplish this?  Do I need to make a custom material library?  Or can I just add a material to the existing Inventor Material Library?  Or is there yet another method?

As always, thanks for any input that can be provided.

[ChrisMitchell01 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I'd suggest creating a new custom library, that you use for both materials & appearances. Don't copy the existing Inventor library & don't modify it. That will be upgraded each release & if you use it to store your custom stuff then they could be upgrade issues further down the road. Also, don't simply copy  the entire "C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\Inventor 2015\Design Data\Materials\InventorMaterialLibrary.adsklib" file as you will eventually see conflicts due to duplicate GUID's, if you try to access both the Inventor library & your own custom one.

So create a new library from the Material/Appearance browser (bottom left). Then either create new materials/appearances by copying existing ones or creating new from scratch though the INventor Ui.

The custom library file can be stored as part of your Design Data folder structure either locally on on the network. Remember to add the location of the custom library to the projects files which need to use it.

Hope this helps,
Chris

[Cadmanto]

I would start by telling what version you are using.  I am using 2013 and addewd some new materials last week relatively easily by coping existing and changing them from there.

http://www.trainingtutorial.com/TAT38_Custom_Autodesk_Inventor_2013_Material_Library.htm

If this solved your issue please mark this posting "Accept as Solution".

Or if you like something that was said and it was helpful, Kudos are appreciated. Thanks!!!! 

     

[iamerm]

Chris & Scott,

Thank you both for your replies.  I'm using Inventor Professional 2014.

So, using the custom material library kind of isolates the customizations from the "out-of-the-box" materials.  That, in turn, should be a safer bet when it comes to upgrading.  Is that right?

Also, if I activate the custom material library in my project file, how will I access the materials in the Inventor Project Library?

[Cadmanto]

In 2013 if you access this button in the toolbar, 

You can see all the materials both custom and out of the box and RC on the material and assign it to your part.

If this solved your issue please mark this posting "Accept as Solution".

Or if you like something that was said and it was helpful, Kudos are appreciated. Thanks!!!! 

     

[ChrisMitchell01]

Yes, using a custom library isolates your data from Autodesk's. It's then easy to carry that file foreward when you do an upgrade.

When you edit your project file, you'll see options to add a new material/appearance library & also the ability to set one to be default. You can access as many libraries as desired; you can also remove access to libraries from the project file.

Some customers remove the Autodesk & Inventor libraries & only provide access to their custom one(s), other leave the Autodesk & Inventor ones & add a custom one & set that to be the default.

-Chris

[iamerm]

Thanks again to you both!