topic Re: Trouble assigning material to multi-body part in Inventor Forum

Trouble assigning material to multi-body part

nbonnett-murphy — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 13:46:27 GMT

Hi, I'm having trouble assigning the material on a multi-body part.

It was imported from a step file, then I saved that as an .iam, then simplified that into a single multibody .ipt. Then I did a couple operations and produced some surfaces as well.

I'm sure that I'm missing something simple here, but I can't figure it out for the life of me.

The material box in the quick access bar only shows the libraries, not the materials. The material dropdown in the iprops is empty. I can assign an override material in an upper level assembly.

Can anyone see what I'm missing?

Re: Trouble assigning material to multi-body part

kacper.suchomski — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 14:03:29 GMT

You must first select a solid in the browser.

Re: Trouble assigning material to multi-body part

SBix26 — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 14:58:17 GMT

@kacper.suchomski wrote:

Hi

You must first select a solid in the browser.

Not for materials-- material is assigned only to the part as a whole.

Sam B

Inventor Pro 2025.0.1 | Windows 11 Home 23H2

Re: Trouble assigning material to multi-body part

SBix26 — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 15:05:05 GMT

The Material Browser button is grayed out, so it seems that something is selected to which material doesn't apply. If you close the part and re-open it, does it become available? Or perhaps if you just select the top line of the model browser (3014923.ipt), does that work?

BTW, you could avoid the derived assembly workflow by starting a new part file, then using the Import tool to bring the STEP file directly in as multi-bodies. Might save you a few dozen files.

Sam B

Inventor Pro 2025.0.1 | Windows 11 Home 23H2

Re: Trouble assigning material to multi-body part

kacper.suchomski — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 15:04:57 GMT

You're right. The material is assigned to the entire part, and the appearance to individual bodies (or surfaces through finishing).

Re: Trouble assigning material to multi-body part

blandb — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 15:54:08 GMT

Once you "Make Components" you can then assign the materials at the parts level.

Re: Trouble assigning material to multi-body part

nbonnett-murphy — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 16:11:08 GMT

I tried closing and reopening inventor, and/or selecting the top line as you suggested, but no luck. No materials available. I also tried deleting out my surfaces, and using combine on the bodies to make them a single body. It's not a major problem since I can manually assign the weight, but I haven't run into this issue before so I thought I'd ask.

Thanks for the tip on importing, I never thought to pull it into a part file, I always open the step directly and then go from there.

Re: Trouble assigning material to multi-body part

johnsonshiue — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 19:52:08 GMT

Hi! This means the active Material Library is empty. Try starting a new part and assign it to a different material style. Does it work? Restart Inventor and check the Project setting. Make sure the active Material Library be healthy indeed.

Many thanks!

Re: Trouble assigning material to multi-body part

nbonnett-murphy — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 21:08:32 GMT

Hi Johnson,

Here's what I see when starting a new file, and the project settings. Everything seems to be correct there, as far as I can tell.

Re: Trouble assigning material to multi-body part

johnsonshiue — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 02:14:07 GMT

Hi! Then the Material style might be corrupted in the part. Please share the ipt file that shows the empty Material style dropdown menu.

Many thanks!