Derived part material/appearance not updating with base part

[SEC_CAD]

My derived parts are not inheriting changes made to the material and appearance of base parts.

STEPS

1) Create a base part and assign material PMMA. Appearance Gloss Black.

2) Create a new part. In Manage select the derived part and select the original file.

3) Cut a hole through the part.

ISSUE 1: The cut edges of the hole are 'generic' and not the same material as the base part.

4) Change the apperance of the base part to gold.

ISSUE 2: The derived part does not update automatically (even if closed and reopened). The Local Update button in the quick access toolbar is greyed out. I cannot get the derived part to update with changes made to the base part.

If I inspect the properties (not iProperties) of the derived part solid1, the Body Appearance shows "As Part"

How do I get Inventor to carry through any changes from the base part to the derived part? (online help appears to be out of date)

[freesbee · Accepted solution]

...I suspect here we are dealing with 2 issues at the same time.

Let's try the first one, as it is the one that I have probably understood better.

Probably here the confusion comes from this setting:

The derived part is taking over the color from the original referenced part, but this does not mean that the part has the same material of the original part. If you change the material and the appearance of the derived part to the same material and appearance of the referenced part, then you will have the cutout faces in the correct color.

Personally I would derive disabling the "Use color override from source component" and assign material and color in the derived part, but this is a matter of personal approach and strategy.

Does this address your 1st issue?

[SEC_CAD]

Thanks @freesbee . I have never altered any of the default options on this dialog so I guess that my derived part has "Use color override from source component" checked by default.

So, from what you are saying, because I played with the material and appearance in my derived part it broke that link with the base part?

This checkbox is only available at the time of creation of the derived part. How do I check/uncheck it after the fact?

I just want my derived part to have the same material and appearance as the base part without having to recreate it from scratch.

[SEC_CAD]

As I had not unchecked this box at the time of part creation I had thought that I would need to recreate my derived parts from scratch but have found that I can recall this dialog by  right-clicking the base part in the feature tree and selecting Edit Derived Part. I can then manually set the material and appearance, independent from the base part, as you have said. Thanks @freesbee This method has saved my current job.

 

I would still like to be able to inherit materials and appearances automatically so if anyone knows how to do that then please post.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Folks,

The color change does not kick in immediately. You will need to edit the Derive feature -> Ok. Then the gold color will propagate. The reason is that the source part has Master Design View active, which means the appearance is as is without any override. In the derive feature, the source part Master Design View is not linked. As a result, the color change in the source does not propagate. The behavior is indeed confusing.

To see it working correctly, you need to open the source part and create non-Master Design View Reps with color override. Then edit the derive feature and select the desirable Design View Rep and check the Link box.

This workflow is always tricky. The issue lies in the process of mapping colors from various levels to derive feature level. An Inventor part can carry appearance overrides at different levels (Part, Body, Feature, and Face). Each successor can override its predecessor. Derive forces Part and Body color override to map to Feature color. This process can lead to confusing behaviors from time to time.

Many thanks!

[freesbee]

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@SEC_CAD wrote:

I would still like to be able to inherit materials and appearances automatically so if anyone knows how to do that then please post.

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Ok, we also have the academic explanation by Johnson on color overrides, which is always very valuable. Nevertheless I am not aware of a technique for inheriting the material from the parent component. @johnsonshiue  yesterday I've helped with a trick on the TitleBlock, maybe you have a trick for this?

[johnsonshiue · Accepted solution]

Hi Folks,

There isn't a backdoor access to "derive" material style. The only thing I can think of is to use iLogic rule. It is not much different than you manually assign the material style based on the source part. iLogic rule automates the process.

There are a few reasons why that material style cannot be derived. 1) Derive was designed to inherit geometry, not cloning the entire part. 2) Derive relationship can be 1-to-1, N-to-1, and N-to-N. This means a derived part can have more than one source (assemblies or parts). The material style only makes sense when the derive relationship is 1-to-1.

Many thanks!

[freesbee]

@SEC_CAD: I think this is very clear.

After all Johnson is our "Inventor Bible" 😋

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Massimo,

You are so funny! No, I am nobody seriously. I just don't mind airing dirty laundry from time to time. I aspire to transparency. But, I never did, never do, and never will disclose any customer data or proprietary info.

Many thanks!