Rendered material in linked block not updated

Rendering
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1

Is it normal that when a material is updated in a linked block, that change is not reflected in the host model?
i.e. you insert a block (linked) in you model. Go to the block and change the material. Update the block in the host model. and the material does not update. it’s necessary to remove and reinsert the block.
Any one can replicate?
Thanks N

2

Same issue here. Extremely cumbersome.

3

Can you provide details?
Generally, when the intention is to use a specific file as a linked block in a different file, and you need to be able to change properties of objects in the host file, you’ll need to make sure that those properties in the original file are set to “By Parent”.
-wim

1 Like
4

It’s not about changing something from the host file scene.3dm. That file has a block linked to a file asset.3dm. The asset has a material M. Now, after changing that material M inside asset.3dm, in scene.3dm, the change is not visible, even after updating the block in the block manager.

Workaround:

  1. Delete M in scene.3dm. The asset now appears naked, i.e. without material.

  2. Update the block in scene.3dm.

I assume there was a naming conflict. Possibly the material A in scene.3dm was somehow stored internally instead of being stored as a reference to the material with the same name in the block.

5

Hi Felix -

Thanks.
→ RH-84444 Materials: Linked Block Materials Are Discarded
-wim

6

Interesting. That could very well be related.

7

Hello Feklee
I came to appreciate (or at least use this to my advantage).
Back in 2022, I was still using mostly Linked blocks, with layer style referenced. This way the layer for each block are separated, but also it is not possible to edit the layer characteristics, including the material. Therefore, it was incredibly annoying that when the material changed in the child block, it was not updated in the host. From your workaround, I assume that while the layer is referenced, the material is imported and therefore looses its link to the child file. Another possible workaround would be to import the material from a saved file.

However, some time after that I increasingly started working with ‘Embedded and Linked’ Blocks.
This way, in a very large scene, common layers will merge which makes the layer management easier. But also you can edit the layers characteristics, including the material.
Therefore, i if you have a project with 5 buildings with the same cladding material, you can change the material once even if they are separated in several layers. You can also test different versions of the material, by selecting the material and importing (and replacing) it on the material menu. This will update the material in all layers. With the linked block, you would have to open and save every linked block and replace the material, and then update the references.

Maybe this is stating the obvious, but that’s where my workfloow is at the moment.
Thansk, N

8

Thanks for sharing your workflow, very interesting!