Material Appearances

[SteveFrey]

I've been screwing around with Inventor appearances forever and can never seem to understand how they work (and why they were designed to work this way).  The same person probably designed Inventor Styles😂! 

Simple Questions: 

1)  Can someone explain just how Appearances are supposed to work? 

2)  How do I "reset" an appearance of a part so it returns to it's original color?

Also I notice that appearances are affected differently whether they are in a part file and assembly file.

Thank you!

[BDCollett]

---

@SteveFrey wrote:

I've been screwing around with Inventor appearances forever and can never seem to understand how they work (and why they were designed to work this way).  The same person probably designed Inventor Styles😂! 

Simple Questions: 

1)  Can someone explain just how Appearances are supposed to work? 

2)  How do I "reset" an appearance of a part so it returns to it's original color?

Also I notice that appearances are affected differently whether they are in a part file and assembly file.

Thank you!

---

1. You might need to expand on this. They work by changing the appearance. This can be confusing because you can change the appearance of not only a body, but also a face or feature. Which can lead to a part having a different color on the face than it might have applied to the body.

2. Clearing override will return it to default. You can select to just clear faces or features etc.

3. You can have appearances that are only relevant to an assembly. 

If you select a part and change its appearance at part level with "Design View" you will see there is an "Associative" check box.

If you then go to override that appearance in an Assembly, you will get a warning to "Remove Associativity" or "Modify Design View Representation"

It's asking if you want to unlink the appearance with the part or update the design view in the part to the new appearance. 

Maybe provide an example of where you are getting confused.

Appearances are certainly far better than the Styles..:)

[Gabriel_Watson]

Hi Steve,

Appearances are color overrides or simply colors associated to particular materials. The Material library takes care of the intrinsic properties (physical, etc.) while the appearance defines how the surfaces will react under the lighting.

To clear an override applied on top of any part, use this after selecting the object:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2023/ENU/Inve...

Sometimes the appearance is overridden from the source part during a derive operation, and you can switch that off as noted below:

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-forum/derived-part-material-appearance-not-updating-with-bas...

[Frederick_Law]

First, make sure your templates are sync and use same Material and Appearance library.

Delete all local edited material.

If you custom material, move them to custom library.

The most important part is: NEVER COPY ANY MATERIAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Add the material you want to "copy" or change to document.

Edit the name.  Change physical and appearance.

Save it to custom library.

So first time you apply material to a part, it'll use the Library.

If you change appearance, it will be an appearance override in part file.

If you use it often, create a material with that appearance with the instruction above.

Appearance can be override in assembly also.  Hence the same part could have 3 appearance.

4 if you override appearance on face.

[SteveFrey]

Okay, it's starting to make some sense.  I rarely change colors but when I need to illustrate something in color I start to get in trouble mainly because the colors aren't exactly what I'm looking for so I try an lighten them.

[BDCollett]

---

@SteveFrey wrote:

Okay, it's starting to make some sense.  I rarely change colors but when I need to illustrate something in color I start to get in trouble mainly because the colors aren't exactly what I'm looking for so I try an lighten them.

---

Create your own library and save new versions with the colors that look right. Then you can just apply them instead of overriding all the time.

[SteveFrey]

So the attached is clear tempered glass (Material) and clear light (Appearance).  It looks fine when in an .IDW on my screen but when I export it to a PDF it looks crappy.  Is there a way to lighten the color so it doesn't appear so dark?   I'd love to be able to make it look like actual clear glass with a blueish green hue.  This is actually where I ran into trouble.  I realize Inventor isn't Photoshop but I figure I'd ask while we're on the subject.

[BDCollett]

---

@SteveFrey wrote:

So the attached is clear tempered glass (Material) and clear light (Appearance).  It looks fine when in an .IDW on my screen but when I export it to a PDF it looks crappy.  Is there a way to lighten the color so it doesn't appear so dark?   I'd love to be able to make it look like actual clear glass with a blueish green hue.  This is actually where I ran into trouble.  I realize Inventor isn't Photoshop but I figure I'd ask while we're on the subject.

---

The default "Clear" Appearance is actually grey so that's why it looks like that.

Duplicate the current "Clear" appearance and rename it something like "Clear, Blue Hue", tweak the colors etc to suit.

Right click and choose "add to" and select your custom library.

Next,

Under material duplicate "Glass" and call it something else, like "Glass, Blue Hue"

Edit this new material.

Under the "Appearance" tab at the top, select the arrows to replace the asset.

Find the Appearance you created above. "Clear, Blue Hue"

Then save this material back to your custom library.

You can then use this new material. 

You may have to then go back to the appearance and tweak the color until it looks right.

If you do modify the document version, remember to save it back to your library and overwrite.

I have noticed that these appearance changes do not directly update in the drawing until you refresh the views or close and open the IDW.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! For this particular shaded drawing view export issue, it may have been resolved in 2023. The shaded drawing view leverages the active lighting style in the model. So, shaded view should appear identical to the actual model in 3D.

The appearance related workflows in Inventor have quite a few variations. It could be confusing to discuss them in entirety. If you see a confusing behavior, please share the exact workflow. Forum experts can help articulate how it should work.

Many thanks!

[BDCollett]

---

@johnsonshiue wrote:

Hi! For this particular shaded drawing view export issue, it may have been resolved in 2023. The shaded drawing view leverages the active lighting style in the model. So, shaded view should appear identical to the actual model in 3D.

The appearance related workflows in Inventor have quite a few variations. It could be confusing to discuss them in entirety. If you see a confusing behavior, please share the exact workflow. Forum experts can help articulate how it should work.

Many thanks!

---

It looks better in 2023, but glass is still grey looking by default 🙂

Enabling an environment does make it look more glass like. It would be nice if you could do this without having it active in the model. Even being able to link environment to view reps would be great!

[SteveFrey]

Thanks!  This is great.  I think the main disconnect here is what Johnson said.  The way it looks in an .idw is different than what it looks like when exported into a .pdf file. 

[SteveFrey]

Thanks Johnson.  Is there a way to temporarily change the .idw sheet color to white?  It would make it easier to tweak the color.

[CGBenner]

@SteveFrey 

To change the drawing sheet color, go to  Document Settings\Sheet Tab.

I also noticed some differences in the color by changing the Reflection Environment setting under Application Options\Colors.  I typically use "chrome," which doesn't reflect anything in particular.  Or you could use the Parking Lot and see the dude on the bike... 😉

[SteveFrey]

Good to know.  Thanks.  I've played around with the reflections for chrome as I use this 98% of the time and it's terrible.  I even put my own ,dds images in and it did nothing.  

[SteveFrey]

How do I change the sheet color back to the original?  I don't see what color represents the original off-white.

[Frederick_Law · Accepted solution]

Document Setting, Sheet

Oh wait, you want the yellow color code.

[SteveFrey]

Perfect!  Thank you.

[SteveFrey]

So I duplicated it, renamed it but I can't add it to my "Custom Library", only Inventor Material Library.  Is this what you meant?