Problem with Appearances

[--Mike]

I have a part that refuses to accept an appearance override. The part attached is to be made from brass but will have a green coating applied to the threaded area. When I select the surfaces of the threads only certain sections will accept color.

I'm running Inventor 2013 with all the latest updates and service packs. I've also used this same technique without issue on other parts.

[-niels-]

Welcome to the forum!

I assume you're having problems with the top faces of the coil?
I couldn't get them to take the olive color either, at least not without changing the order of color overrides.
Try moving the EoP to below the coil and then override the color for the entire coil, in my case the color changed like expected.
Then pull the EoP down again and see that the 2 extrusions mess with how the colors are applied.
You can then select the faces that changed back and apply the olive color again.

Must admit that i find it pretty weird behavior, but you can get around it.

[-niels-]

Hmm, after posting this i noticed that there was still one section that didn't take the color...

I managed to get it to work by changing extrusion1 into a split that trims the coil in the same way.

I'm on 2014, so i can't post the model for you to see.
I can make a screenshot if you want.

[JDMather]

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@--Mike wrote:

 When I select the surfaces of the threads only certain sections will accept color.

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Why are you selecting the properties of all of those faces rather than simply change the Properties of the Coil Feature.

If I follow the design intent - I would right click on the OD before the Coil (drag the OP above Coil) and change the Properties and then drag the EOP down and right click on the Coil and change the Properties.

[--Mike]

a screenshot would be great.

I had noticed you could make it work by changeing the appearance prior to the cut but unfortunately that doesn't fit with my work flow.

The part will be colored and have a few other operations done to it after it is derived into another part file. I just left that out of the initial question to minimize confusion.

Edit: In response to JD: As mentioned the part will be derived into a new file before the color is applied. Hence why I'm selecting faces individually. Also selecting the coil and changing its appearance does not resolve the issue. There is still uncolored areas

Edit 2: Tried using a split-trim solid. Not working for me. Would love to see that screen shot.

[-niels-]

Here you go:

It still requires you to move the End of Part to below the coil and then set the faces of that coil to olive green, then move the EoP back and adjust as needed...

[-niels-]

Ok, this is getting weird...
I tried to retrace the steps by removing all the color overrides and now i can't get it to work anymore... :S

--- edit ---

Ok, i got it again... but there's a lot of going back and forth selecting edges, features, moving the EoP...

Guess, you'll just have to fiddle with it untill you manage to get it all colored but it's not easy.

[JDMather]

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@-niels- wrote:

....... but there's a lot of going back and forth selecting edges, features, moving the EoP...

...

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"As mentioned the part will be derived into a new file before the color is applied."

Sounds to me like the problem statement has been changed.

Not sure how the attached file relates to this change, why wasn't a derived component attached here instead?

I am kind of lost about the nature of the true design intent.

[--Mike]

The attached part is the parent file Lets call it "MACHINED PLUG". MACHINED PLUG will be derived into a new part file called "FINISHED PLUG."  FINISHED PLUG will be changed from a brass finish to a green coating and have a few other features changed.

The reason I did not upload FINISHED PLUG was that it did not seem entirely relevant. I initially suspected there was an issue with my derived part not taking the appearance change, but MACHINED PLUG is also refusing to accept the appearance change.

If, with the EOP after all features, MACHINED PLUG will accept my appearance changes, than it follows that it should work when derivied into FINISHED PLUG.

 EDIT: To clarify the work flow I will upload both parts as named above. As you can see the major diameter of some parts of the thread will not accept the appearance change.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! It looks like some of the faces having Face Color Overrides. To remove them, you can try the followings.

1) Go to Manage tab and do Rebuild all.

2) Go to the quick access bar at the top of the Inventor window and find "Clear" command (an icon with a colorful circle and a red cross). Click the button -> click Select All -> OK.

The overrides should be cleared.

Thanks!

[--Mike]

this does not solve the problem on my end. Reapplying color after clearing all overrides still leaves the major diameters uncolored

[johnsonshiue]

Mike,

I am sorry that I must have misunderstood the issue here. I thought you were trying to clear out the color overrides. But, instead, you woild like to add color overrides to the threaded face. Did you try adding appearance to Coil feature (right-click on Coil1 in the browser -> Properties -> select the color or use Appearance Browser to do it). Does it work?

Thanks!

[--Mike]

This does not work.

Also I need to apply the color in a derived part where I only have a dumb solid, no tree. (see post #9 and its attachments)

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! Could you take a look at attached files and see if they are consistent with your expectation? I first move EOP to right below Revolution. Then apply the olive color to the cylindrical face. Next, move EOP to the bottom and apply the same color to Coil.

I do see a problem with Split feature. Somehow Split can strip off the color from one cylindrical face for no apparent reason. I replace the feature with Sculpt instead. Let me know if you have any question.

Thanks!

[-niels-]

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@johnsonshiue wrote:

...

I do see a problem with Split feature. Somehow Split can strip off the color from one cylindrical face for no apparent reason. I replace the feature with Sculpt instead...

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Hi Johnson,

The original extrusion did the same thing when i changed it to a split.

What happens if, after you've made the sculpt, you clear all the overrides and try to apply them again?

When i first made the split i got the colors correct as well, but when i later cleared them and tried to reapply it starting acting weird again.

It took me a lot of going back and forth to get everything colored again.

[johnsonshiue]

The coloring behavior within a part can be confusing sometimes. Feature/face coloring operations are computable. It is because feature/face color depends on the geometry created by the feature (or combination of upstream features). If the features are gone, the faces will be gone and the colors will be gone too.

What can be confusing to the user is that when the color is applied to the face, it seems like the color is static (always there and never changed). That is a false assumption. What actually happens is that the color is applied to the face at the moment the whole part is computed until. Sorry for the wordiness! What I am trying to say is that the face color can change due to upstream or downstream feature modification. Unless the colored face is always intact, the face color will stay put.

The behavior with Split is unique. It does not make sense to me. A similar operation like Sculpt can handle it correctly indicates that something is not working right in this case. I need to follow up with development and see where the exact problem is with Split.

Thanks!

[--Mike]

I'm confused as to why this issue proppagates down into the derived part, which to my understanding should be a "dumb" solid.

Even after being derived into a new part file the appearence can not be changed from within the new file.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! Derive coloring is a separate behavior. The default coloring behavior in Derive is to inherit colors from source body to the derived body and it is managed as the feature color for the Derive feature. To stop this behavior, you just need to edit Derive feature in the derived part -> uncheck "Use color override from source component" option. Then the derived part would not inhert the colors from the source.

Thanks!

[-niels-]

I don't mind the wordiness, your explanation is what I observed by my trial and error method.
I do want to point out that not only the split feature, but also the extrude showed the same behaviour.