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Material File identification


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#1 Brad Graber

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Posted 04 August 2017 - 07:31 AM

I can't figure out how to tell what the name of the material file i have attached to my model.  Let's say I open a project file from two years ago and adjust some of the rendering material types and now i want to save that material file again.  How do I know what material file I have applied to this model.  If I click the material file button I can change material files, load new ones, save existing etc... but I do not see any way to tell what material file is being applied to the model

 

Attached File  Material File.JPG   118.01KB   0 downloads

 

Which brings up another question.  Does the material file only apply itself one time and then done.  let's say I drew a play in 2015 and continued to evolve that material file into my projects in 2017.  Now when I open my 2015 project up and save the material file does it overwrite all those years of an evolving material file with whatever settings were used in 2015?  

 

I would hope that we could apply a material file and whenever we open up a project it goes back and references that file and it's settings.  Only saving and updating those settings when we ask it to.  But otherwise always looking back into that file.  I would think this would be a good way to have a set of 10-12 pre-defined color schemes that continue to evolve and look nice.  As it currently stands I keep saving over different files and i'm always chasing my tail and end up just creating new schemes almost every time.  


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#2 Tom Rogers

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Posted 04 August 2017 - 07:39 AM

I agree Brad.  I look at some of my older renderings and they look weak compared to what I can do now.  However I do know that when open them again the color scheme is set to what it was when I created it.  While there can be an argument to save it as is; it would be nice to, at the least, update the material settings.  


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#3 Brad Graber

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Posted 04 August 2017 - 07:44 AM

That's what i'm thinking.  A material setting that if you so choose the model will look at that and display itself accordingly.  

Always when I open an older project I don't know what material file that I used to create it.  Otherwise I could upload that material file onto the model, make any changes and then re-save the material file (if I chose to).  

 

In my mind an ideal situation would be the model would be set to reference the material file everytime it's opened.  So if I made changes down the road and then opened an old project that was setup to use that material file it would display all of the new settings I have used. I think this would eliminate any cross -saving and overwriting material files.


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#4 Yvon Gonthier

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Posted 04 August 2017 - 08:29 AM

Automatically overwriting can be a bit of a problem if you don't have any control. Some materials change thru the years and thru versions so they might not link properly or be available. Even presently, when updating material files, there are always items that I have to reset in the 3D view even if they were there in the previous version. I guess it could ask us if we want to update or not when opening a 3D.

 

Agree that it would be nice if the name of the active material file would display.



#5 Keith Almond

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Posted 04 August 2017 - 09:10 AM

I've noticed that some of my models show BLUE cubes where I originally had materials defined on 3D shapes.


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#6 Brad Graber

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Posted 05 August 2017 - 12:34 PM

I'm not sure why it does that, it only happens with solids.






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