Sharing Materials with AutoCAD Architecture

Set up the lesson:

In order to complete this lesson, you will have to overwrite the original drawing file so that your changes can be reloaded into Autodesk VIZ. This will mean that others will not be able to complete the tutorial as you have. This is why you begin the tutorial by making copies of the supplied files, and renaming them. Make sure you keep them in the same directory so that required bitmaps are available during the lesson.

• Using Windows Explorer or My Computer, locate the \tutorials\small_office\ folder. Make copies of the files original small office material.dwg and original small office material.drf in the same folder, and rename the copied files small office material.dwg and small office material.drf, respectively.

Assign materials to objects in Autodesk VIZ:

This time, you will start in Autodesk VIZ with a more developed version of the small office you worked with before.

1. Start Autodesk VIZ.

2. Choose File menu > Open and browse to the \tutorials\small_office\ folder. Change the Files Of Type to VIZ Render (.drf) and open small office material.drf.

   If you see the File Load: Units Mismatch dialog, choose to Adopt The File Unit Scale and click OK.

   

   A shaded perspective view of the small office.

3. From the main menu, choose Rendering > Material/Map Browser.

   

4. In the Browse From group, turn on Mtl Library and in the File group, click Open.

   The Open Material Library dialog opens. Browse to the \tutorials\small_office\ folder and open small office material.mat.

   

5. In the Material/Map Browser, click the View Large Icons button and turn on Root Only in the Show group, if it's not already active.

   

   The materials from the library appear as large samples. If you want, you can resize the Materials/Map Browser dialog so more samples appear and you won't have to scroll as much when choosing the materials to apply in your scene.

6. Scroll through the material samples until you find Rug pattern. Left-click and drag the material to the orange rectangle on the floor.

   As you drag the material to the scene, watch for the object tag, Layer:_tut1-Rug.01 next to your cursor. This means that if you release the mouse button, the material will be assigned to that object in the scene. “Drop” the material onto the object by releasing the mouse button. Repeat the process by dragging Hardwood floor over the blue object, Slab<Standard>Slab, and then release the mouse.

   

   The objects in the viewport change color to reflect the new material assignments.

7. On the main toolbar, click the Quick Render button.

   

   The rendered image reflects the new materials assigned to the rug and the slab.

   The image looks promising, though the glass and the interior partition still show the materials assigned to them in AutoCAD Architecture, and are not the color we would like to see. You could continue assigning materials to the glass and the partition in Autodesk VIZ, but that raises a workflow issue. It is logical to assign a fanciful pattern to a rug in Autodesk VIZ strictly for visualization purposes. Likewise, it is convenient to assign a wood material to the Slab object in Autodesk VIZ, though you would not specify that material for a slab in AutoCAD Architecture. But if you assign new materials to the glass and interior partition only in Autodesk VIZ, you are losing an opportunity for others to use the same material you are using, or to automatically be aware of our choice when they access the AutoCAD Architecture drawing.

8. Close the Rendered Frame Window containing the rendered image.

9. Minimize Autodesk VIZ to get it out of the way.

Edit an AutoCAD Architecture material definition:

1. Start AutoCAD Architecture and choose File menu > Open.

   Browse to the \tutorials\small_office\ folder and open small office material.dwg.

2. In AutoCAD Architecture, choose Main menu > Format > Style Manager to display the Style Manager dialog. In the explorer view on the left of the dialog, expand Multi-Purpose Objects and then expand Material Definitions to view the materials that have already been defined for this drawing.

   

3. Right-click Material Definitions, and choose New from the menu. Overwrite “New Style” with New Glass for Curtain Wall, and press Enter to give the new material a recognizable name.

   

4. Double-click New Glass for Curtain Wall in the right pane to display the Material Definition Properties dialog. Open the Display Properties panel. On the General Medium Detail line, click the Style Override box to display a Display Properties dialog, and go to the Other panel.

   

5. Under Surface Rendering > Render Material, the current selection is *NONE*. Click the down arrow to see a list of render materials that have been defined in this drawing. You will see New Glass in the list. Choose New Glass to make it a component of the New Glass for Curtain Wall material definition in AutoCAD Architecture. Click OK to confirm the choice, and OK again to dismiss the Material Definition Properties dialog.

   

6. Repeat steps 3–5 above to create a new material definition named Textured Blue Interior Painted Wall, and assign the Light blue textured paint rendering material to that material definition. When complete, click OK on the Style Manager dialog to dismiss it.

   Now small office material.dwg contains two new material definitions that are available for use, but these new materials have not been assigned to any AutoCAD Architecture components. You will do that in the next procedure.

Assign the material definitions to AutoCAD Architecture object components:

1. In AutoCAD Architecture, click the Interior Partition - Painted wall object.

   

2. Right-click the wall and choose Edit Wall Style from the menu to display the Wall Style Properties dialog. Confirm that the Materials panel is active.

   

   Click the Paint.Flat.Lavender material definition that is currently assigned to the Unnamed component. Choose Textured Blue Interior Painted Wall from the drop-down list to replace the old material definition with the new one. Click OK to confirm the change of material definition assignment.

   

   The partition changes to a blue color, reflecting the change in material.

3. Click the curtain wall, and then right-click it and choose Edit Curtain Wall Style from the menu to display the Curtain Wall Style Properties dialog. On the Materials panel, change the material definition assignment for the Default Infill component to New Glass for Curtain Wall.

   

   Click OK to confirm the change in material assignment.

   

   The glass panels in the curtain wall object change to a noticeably more transparent material, while the other components remain the same color.

4. You have finished with small office material.dwg. Save the drawing and exit.

View the newly assigned materials in Autodesk VIZ:

1. Press Alt+Tab and choose Autodesk VIZ to switch between applications.

   We want to reload the link between AutoCAD Architecture and Autodesk VIZ as in previous lessons.

   This will update the linked geometry and materials with our recent changes to the drawing.

2. From the File menu, choose File Link Manager to display the File Link Manager dialog. Make sure Show Reload Options is turned off and click Reload. Close the File Link Manager dialog.

   

   The partition turns blue and the glass in the curtain wall turns more transparent as the material definitions and assignments from the linked AutoCAD Architecture drawing override the previous materials and assignments. The materials for the slab and the rug do not change, because these objects in AutoCAD Architecture have no rendering material assigned to them.

   Note: If you see a question mark (?) displayed next to the linked file's name in the File Link Manager, it means that the linked file is “lost.” In this case, you should click the file name and then click the folder icon to browse for the “lost” file. This can occur if you changed the disk location where Autodesk VIZ is installed. The sample files assume an installation using default drive paths.

3. On the main toolbar, click Quick Render.

   

   The rendered image reflects both the materials that were originally assigned in Autodesk VIZ and those that are saved with the AutoCAD Architecture drawing.

Common File Link Troubleshooting:

If your final rendering looks like the previous image, you didn't run into any of the possible problems you could have encountered while working on this tutorial. Here are a few of the problems you may have run into at the end during the File Link Reload stage as well as their solutions.

• Common File Link problems include:

  • If nothing happens when you click the Reload button in the File Link Manager dialog, it probably means you forgot to save your drawing file in AutoCAD Architecture. When a linked file is updated and saved, the File Link Manager will show a red flag in the icon to the left of the linked files name.

    

    This linked file has been saved and will Reload successfully.

  • Another reason a Reload could fail is because the File Link Manager can't locate the file in the location specified in the File Link Manager, perhaps because the file was renamed or moved. If the linked file is has been renamed or moved, a question mark (?) is displayed next to the linked file's name in the dialog. In this case, you should click the file name and then click the folder icon to browse for the file.

    

    This linked file is lost.

  • After clicking the Reload button on the File Link Manager dialog, the model appears to get compressed and becomes indecipherable.

    

    This is caused by incorrect System Unit Settings. If, when you first opened the small office materials.drf file in Autodesk VIZ, you were shown the File Load: Units Mismatch dialog, you chose Rescale The File Objects To The System Unit Scale. You should have chosen the Adopt The File's Unit Scale setting.