....I've got an external Table of materials ( I know this is an old fashioned concept but it works better for how I model and work).......is there a way of stopping the materials from the external tabel being copied in Local??.....see the image below - this is made up of 4 model files(one for each floor level) referenced into a seperate file
....now I want try options for the brick type/colour - in the old days (prior to the advent of 'Local' materials) this was easy, one would change the brick type and it would automatically update this in all files that referenced that material table (in this case, the 4 floor models) and voila my brick changes. I've tried creating an external table but when i import it into my 'collective' file (with all models referenced) it seems to copy materials locally - is there a way to stop materials being copied locally and 'force' it to use the external table (ie so I have only one place to change a material - rather than in 4 seperate model files)
- before anyone says that I apply materials in a collective file, I also like to see materials previewing in all the individual files)
hope this makes some sense?
thanks
Steve
.......I think I've answered my own question - I 'Thought' i was using an external table but I wasn't - on import external table it was copying the materials locally. I think I am now working in the old fashioned way with each model using the same single external table.
Hi Steve,
You should add environment variable MS_DEFAULT_TO_EXTERNAL_MATERIALS and set it to 1.
I think that you really want to have all your external materials pointing to the same palette and just change the definition of the material.
Cheers,
JF
Hello there,
In my Standards.cfg, I currently have:
MS_LOCAL_MATERIALS=0
Questions:
- should I have both there, eg. MS_LOCAL_MATERIALS=0 and MS_DEFAULT_TO_EXTERNAL_MATERIALS=1?
- our should I delete MS_LOCAL_MATERIALS=0 and have only MS_DEFAULT_TO_EXTERNAL_MATERIALS=1?
- in other words: should I prefer one over the other, or it doesn't matter?
- why are there those 2 variables (to me they seem to do a similar thing) - legacy?
Thanks for clarifying!
Jan
Setting MS_DEFAULT_TO_EXTERNAL_MATERIALS should be sufficient. This should override all instances of using internal materials where possible (some portions of MicroStation are designed to only work with internal materials).
MS_LOCAL_MATERIALS is the older setting... it has the effect of determining whether or not internal materials are used if MicroStation would otherwise use external materials. MS_DEFAULT_TO_EXTERNAL_MATERIALS was added so as to not change the behavior of the existing variable.
Thanks,
Matt
Hi Matt,
This is very useful clarification. Can you tell us what "portions of MicroStation are designed to only work with internal materials" just in case we might break something with networked configs?
Thanks
Marc
Marc,
Nothing will break if you have MS_DEFAULT_TO_EXTERNAL_MATERIALS set and work in an area that requires internal materials... areas that require internal materials will all create them on the fly, giving you a mixed palette.
Here's the features I'm aware of that will create internal materials:
1) Material overrides specified in the Level Manager.
2) Materials from OBJ/SKP/3DS files that are imported into a model.
3) Captured GE terrain.
Thanks Matt, it's ggod to know this kind of thing.
Regards