I was reading this article Large Project Organization in Rhinoceros [McNeel Wiki]
on worksessions and linked blocks.
There is this part “Rendering the exerior” where this imaginary staff member is controlling the material of a bunch of linked files from a master file.
“Once the site and the building exteriors are complete, Fabio can set up scenes for rendering and walk-through animations. Fabio wants to have control of the material properties, saved views, and rendering environment even if other people change the information for each building.
Fabio creates a new model file called Master Rendering.3dm and inserts linked blocks for the files Site.3dm, Coffee Shop – Exterior.3dm, Courtyard – Fountain.3dm, Courtyard – Paths.3dm, Administrative - Exterior.3dm, and Garage - Entry.3dm as linked blocks. All of the linked blocks are inserted with Layer Style set to Active.
Inserting the blocks with Layer Style set to Active allows Fabio to control the material properties of each layer without having to modify the original model. This means that other members of the team can continue working on those models while Fabio tweaks materials and develops the final renderings.”
Not sure if it is the same in Rhino 8. But I am not sure how to go about chaning materials of a linked object without changing the materials of the linked file. Or is there?