[Luca_Studioaltieri]

Hi, i'm using SW for a project for my client, but we had some problems in material "transport" from single parts to assemblies.

We assign all material to single parts. If we render the scene of single part, the materials are ok.
These parts are used in many assemblies. If we render assemblies, some materials seem to be exported in wrong way. If i open the generated MXS with studio (from assembly scene), i'll notice that parts with wrong material have a strange material assigned, called "SW Document (mxm#1)" ... or "SW Component (mxm#2)" ... that looks as clusters detached from other MXM).

We try to delete all materials in every file linked from assemblies to parts, and re-assing materials from smallest parts placed at the bottom of the "tree" structure... but no way. When a part is called & rendered from an "upper" level, materials look as image posted below.

Any hints?
Thank you

[JDHill]

Is it possible that you are loading parts 'lightweight' in your assemblies? When that is done, the data which holds material information is not loaded by SolidWorks, and this results in materials being auto-generated by the plugin at export time; that is the source of materials named as you indicate.

[Luca_Studioaltieri]

Is it possible that you are loading parts 'lightweight' in your assemblies? When that is done, the data which holds material information is not loaded by SolidWorks, and this results in materials being auto-generated by the plugin at export time; that is the source of materials named as you indicate.

Hi JDHill,
all parts were "solved from lightweight" in assembly, just when we open assembly file.
May be it's not enough to "solve lightweight" in upper level once?
Well, now we try to do it for each level in hierarchy.

Thank you JDHill

[JDHill]

That may not work -- the plugin already forces all parts to be resolved, so that it can do the export. So you may want to try turning the option off in SolidWorks Options.

[Luca_Studioaltieri]

Hi JDHill,
we tried to turn off that option, then worked on many "clean" files from material overriding, forced complete reload of parts in all levels of hierarchy.. but no way.

We tried also with simple-simple-simple scenes: but some materials didn't pass to upper level.

Now i call my clients if they send me a "light" scene: can i forward it to you?
thank you

[JDHill]

Yes, that would be best. My email is jeremy at nextlimit dot com, or I can send you an ftp address if the file is too large for email.

[Luca_Studioaltieri]

Ciao JDHill,
i just send you an e-mail with link to SW and MXS files and more info about material transp. behavior

thank you
Luca

[JDHill]

Thanks Luca, I got the email. I will check it out and let you know what I find.

[JDHill]

What is happening is that SolidWorks materials applied at the Component level in the assembly are overriding Maxwell material assignments at the Body level in the referenced parts. There are also some Face-level SolidWorks materials which are overriding. The solution, therefore, is to remove the SolidWorks materials, so that they no longer supersede the Maxwell ones.

Although technically correct, I think this behavior is confusing, so I may try changing it, such that Maxwell materials always take precedence, when they are present. The problem with doing that is that you will still be able to 'hide' a Body-level Maxwell material with a Component-level SolidWorks material (in the viewport), but it may still be better, since it is both difficult to tell where a SolidWorks material is actually assigned, and tedious to remove it.

[Luca_Studioaltieri]

What is happening is that SolidWorks materials applied at the Component level in the assembly are overriding Maxwell material assignments at the Body level in the referenced parts. There are also some Face-level SolidWorks materials which are overriding. The solution, therefore, is to remove the SolidWorks materials, so that they no longer supersede the Maxwell ones.

Thank you very much. Now i have a question (stupid question, i know .. but remember i'm a 3ds max user since MsDos version ).
The question is: "how to remove existing SW materials from scene"? Disabling photoworks? Removing something? Is there a script?
... so i can tell it to my client. Thank you.

Although technically correct, I think this behavior is confusing, so I may try changing it, such that Maxwell materials always take precedence, when they are present. The problem with doing that is that you will still be able to 'hide' a Body-level Maxwell material with a Component-level SolidWorks material (in the viewport), but it may still be better, since it is both difficult to tell where a SolidWorks material is actually assigned, and tedious to remove it.

... "I may try changing it" means "plugin upgrade" ?

Thank you again.
Ciao
Luca

[JDHill]

how to remove existing SW materials from scene? Disabling photoworks? Removing something? Is there a script?

The function is in the SolidWorks material interface, the same place where you set the material up. It exists pretty much the same for every entity in a model:

- left-click the entity, a popup menu is shown
- click the 'Appearances' drop-down in the popup menu
- select the desired entity in the entity's hierarchy
- the selected 'Appearance' property page is shown in the Feature Manager
- click the 'Remove Appearance' button
- click the 'Remove All Appearances' button, if it is available

I don't know of any script for doing this, and it is not related to PhotoWorks. The main point is that the SolidWorks material-precedence hierarchy dictates that materials assigned to Components in an assembly override any materials which may be assigned to the parts contained in the Component. So mainly, he needs to remove the SolidWorks materials from his Components, which in this case, are nested multiple levels deep.

"I may try changing it" means "plugin upgrade" ?

Yes, work never ends on the plugin - there is always another upgrade coming.

[Luca_Studioaltieri]

Very good!
Thank you very much!

[Stoker]

I may try changing it, such that Maxwell materials always take precedence, when they are present. The problem with doing that is that you will still be able to 'hide' a Body-level Maxwell material with a Component-level SolidWorks material (in the viewport), but it may still be better, since it is both difficult to tell where a SolidWorks material is actually assigned, and tedious to remove it.

This is my preference. Maxwell materials should take precedence over SolidWorks materials when exporting the scene. This workflow makes sense in an environment where you have multiple users sharing the same files and some of the users are applying materials for use in Realview/PhotoView360 while others will also use Maxwell. Obviously this does mean that the materials will be different in the viewport/PhotoView versus Maxwell, but the Maxwell Fire preview should do the job of showing the user what the Maxwell render will look like prior to export.