Material udpate and Smart Folders

P

Pierre

0
Material udpate and Smart Folders

Hi,

I read from the C3D Help : "You can even change material properties of the external file within Cheetah3D. As long as you don't change the material names in the external 3D file these material properties will be maintained."

Well, when I import an external file, the material are imported as well.
Now, if I update a material in the external file :
If I clear the material that was imported and reload the file, the updated material is imported again (fine). :)
If I simply save the modified external file, nothing get updated where it is instantiated. :(

:eek: It may be important to precise that I keep both files open when doing the changes.

Is this behavior normal ? I was expecting the imported material to be updated when the external file was saved :confused: How can we force a "refresh" ? What am I doing wrong ?

Thanks

p*
 
Hi,
the material properties of your scene are saved in the .jas file which contains the smart folders. So you have to make the material changes in that file.

If you want to reload the materials from the external files you can the delete the material in the referenceing file. Then new materials with the properties of the external file will be created.

The reason behind this behaviour is that Cheetah3D offers much more material properties than most other 3D file formats like FBX or 3DS. It also offers material animation. So the settings you've done will be saved in the referencing .jas file.

You also have to make sure that material names under the various .jas files are unique since Cheetah3D doesn't create a material if there is already a material with the same name. So you can create various external instances and still have just one material to change in the refernencing .jas file.

Bye,
Martin
 
Martin said:
[...] If you want to reload the materials from the external files you can the delete the material in the referenceing file. Then new materials with the properties of the external file will be created.
Click to expand...

That's what I figured out.

Martin said:
The reason behind this behaviour is that Cheetah3D offers much more material properties than most other 3D file formats like FBX or 3DS. It also offers material animation. So the settings you've done will be saved in the referencing .jas file.
Click to expand...

It makes sense

Martin said:
[...]So you can create various external instances and still have just one material to change in the refernencing .jas file.
Click to expand...

Yep, that is a good point. Unfortunately, in my case, I share (external) objects in several .jas files, which means I need to update material in each of the .jas files. Maybe a simple "force refresh material" command, force the currently selected object(s), would be a good compromise ?

Cheers,

p*
 
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