Preserving Materials when relinking drawing

[gregplett]

I ran into a strange problem. When I relink my drawing file (ADT 2006) to my Autodesk Viz 2007 file I lose all my material assignment for all 3D solids. The materials are still in my material editor, but show up as unused. All AEC content preserves its material assignments, but I have to reassign all material for 3D solids after a relink.

Is there a variable for this? I know I am experiencing a glitch because my last model didn't react this way.

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Greg

[Ferroequine]

I had a similar problem:

http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=42601

[gregplett]

The thread link listed above is very important.

"When you go to reload the link, there is a check box for advanced feature options on the link manager pallete. Pick this then when you hit reload check all the tabs until you find one that says keep assigned materials. That should do the trick. The thing I noticed about this though is the actual geometry that you changed in the linked drawing always changes back and you have to reassign the material, but the unchanged retains its assigned material."

However that didn't solve my problem.

I discovered that if the file like option is set to the default of Layer, blocks as node hierachy, all linked 3d solids on a specific layer are combined into one object in Viz. This means that you can only apply a material to the entire group. Also, when ever I relinked, all 3D solids lost their material definitions and assignments.

I fixed the problem by linking the file with the File Link Options set to Entity, one to one , no combining objects.

I am glad I found a solution, but I am puzzled why the Viz2007 default for linking is the Layer option which has cause me nothing but trouble!

[gregplett]

One more thing...the file link option can only be selected when you do the original file link. When relinking you can not change the file like option...unless I am missing something. Choose wisely when you do your original link...it will save you reapplying all the materials if you have to detach and completely relink the drawing.