Why aren't Custom Physical Materials synchronized across Fusion team hub and devices?

[tookemtoni]

I am starting to focus on my physical materials because the Arrange feature allows you to select your whole design and arrange by material. (Awesome) In the past, I  just had a generic default physical material for everything and applied an appearance to differentiate it and I am sure many users do it this way. 

Custom physical materials are great. I like that I can rename them and apply a default appearance. That saves me the step of applying the appearance in the design workspace. And they are beautifully organized in the Material Browser > Favorites tab. (Awesome) But...

I was shocked to find out when I went to work on Fusion on my laptop while traveling the custom physical materials are not synchronized!  Anybody know why?

Here is the work around but this seems like it will create identical copies of your custom phy mats.  That's sound like a hot mess:

https://www.autodesk.com/support/technical/article/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/How-to-share-a-cus...

Warning There was a problem downloading your default material. 

fcDbAfZPpD.png

[TimelesslyTiredYouth]

Hello, hello, hello there @tookemtoni 

Fusion 360 doesn’t sync custom materials automatically across devices unless they are stored in a cloud library. If you create custom materials in a local library, they won’t sync to other devices unless manually shared via cloud storage. The workaround you found, involving exporting and importing materials, is a common method, but it can result in duplicates. Using cloud libraries for your custom materials should solve the issue without causing duplicates.

Sleepy Regards

Ricky🤣

[tookemtoni]

Can you show me an example of using "cloud libraries" for custom physical materials?

[TimelesslyTiredYouth]

Hi Toni

To use cloud libraries for custom physical materials in Fusion 360, enable cloud libraries in Preferences under General. Open the Material Browser, go to Manage Materials, and create a new library, ensuring it's saved in the cloud. Add custom materials by dragging them into the cloud library or using Copy To. Customize as needed, and when you log in to Fusion 360 on another device, your materials will sync automatically, accessible through the Cloud Library in the Material Browser. This avoids duplicates and ensures seamless access across devices.

Sleepy  Regards

Ricky🤣😴

[tookemtoni]

Hey @TimelesslyTiredYouth 

Please show me enable cloud libraries in Preferences under General.

[TimelesslyTiredYouth]

Right that's my mistake, I say general by habit, I don't know the names off by heart, so just say general hoping person will find what I'm saying

TimelesslyTiredYouth_0-1735819854516.png

TimelesslyTiredYouth_1-1735819918578.png

create new library

TimelesslyTiredYouth_2-1735819970852.pngTimelesslyTiredYouth_3-1735820005022.png

once the file is made, you can put your custom materials in here, and save it to your computer.

Once saved, either upload it to the cloud or me personally I put it in USB (I only do it for appearances) as it's easier to find compared to cloud

TimelesslyTiredYouth_4-1735820212298.png

Happy 2025

Ricky

P.S - I saw the original message on my emails, and I take great offence to that, I am neither of the two.