Binding Materials To Solids

ok guys, im looking for a bit of help. When adding a material to an object, i realise it is file pathed to my materials folder. However when i save this to my external hard drive (even saving as, then saving to the same hard drive the materials came from) i lose the material when i open it up in another computer/laptop. Is there a way of binding a material so you dont have to keep adding the material every time you want to use a different computer?

Please help.

cheers

The best way for this case is " etransmit"!...you can see this command

from file menu...More detail first must read help.If you will still not clear,you

can ask again!

:DHey man, thanks for that, ill browse the help menu and hopefully achieve what i want. But thanks for taking the time to reply.

Tried the etransmit command, and saved the folder to my memory stick. When i opened the folder i noticed that there was a folder called 'textures' with all the jpegs i used to apply materials library. however, when i opened the dwg file the model was bare with none of the materials applied. Even although i transmitted all of the files through 'etransmit'

You have to create a new folder and extract the files from the zip into that folder. Then, when you open the dwg, the materials should show up. If you try to open the dwg, from inside the zip folder, the materials will not show up.

Cheer Cad64 absence for my reply!

When eTransmitting I have the same problem that Texture images don't show up. (even after unzipping all files while maintaining folder structure)

AutoCAD is simply not searching the subfolder for the files.

When the textures files are placed in the same folder as the .DWG all is fine!

• Do you have the same behaviour?
  
• Is there a way to make AutoCAD look in the .\Textures\ folder?
  (relative path to the *.DWG file)
  

This doesn't work:

(but it is the kind of thing I'm looking for.)

version info:

Running AutoCAD 2010

During Etransmit, I beleive the DWG file is being altered to read the new texture locations. The new copy made of the drawing at that point, is the only one that "sees" the new texture locations. So the question is.. are you reloading the original version of the drawing, or the Etransmit version?

When you use material maps, AutoCAD stops looking for it each time, because it has a direct path to it. During Etransmit, it changes all those paths in THAT copy of the drawing file. So if you make any changes to the original file, you would need to etransmit all over again.

The "Texture Maps Search Path" is only for finding them to build a library of textures, not for "re-finding" one it already has the direct path for.

What I do is put my materials on the server, and apply them from there. Any computer in our office that can see the server, and has autocad, will find the materials without making changes to the file.

Of course, that doesn't help outside of the network.

Another trick, which I don't use but have considered, would be to set-up a materials folder on the C-drive, and then when a person uses the file, it'll look for materials in the same position on their C-drive... So you copy the folder and the DWG, and it'll do it's thing.

Hi MikeScott,

Thank you for your prompt reply.

The purpose of our eTransmit is to exchange DWG files between

different offices that do not share a network (or VPN).

Also clients should be able to open the file without any technical operations.

I will attach a simple eTransmit Zip Package

When opening the DWG it should look like this:

I hope you can reproduce the issue.

Thank you

Test - Standard.zip

Just to rule out 2004 fileformat issue:

Same file saved in 2010 format!

Test - Standard (2010).zip

Interesting.. I checked the "rendering materials" dialogue as though I were going to modify the material, and it claimed that THIS is where it was looking for the image:

C:\Documents and Settings\martijn\Desktop\Test\AXO-SFR-BPX01.png

But in the Text file that came in the zip, it states:

Notes for distribution:

 

Material texture files:

Please copy these files to the AutoCAD Texture Maps Search Path directory.

I don't think it would've worked, even if I'd put the image into my search path. So.. I'm not sure what to make of it, other than to say that it looks like my final suggestion would work better:

Another trick, which I don't use but have considered, would be to set-up a materials folder on the C-drive, and then when a person uses the file, it'll look for materials in the same position on their C-drive... So you copy the folder and the DWG, and it'll do it's thing.

I should also mention that it's a good thing you used default fonts, because your text file also said:

The AutoCAD variable FONTALT was set to:

C:\Documents and Settings\martijn\application data\autodesk\autocad electrical 2010\r18.0\enu\support\simplex.shx

Please make sure that the FONTALT variable is set to this file or an equivalent before opening any drawings. All text styles with missing fonts are automatically set to this font.

All-in-all.. I'm not impressed by etransmit so far.

It seems like my workaround would be superior, and give you what you're looking for, assuming you know how to set-up a zip-file that saves directories, and recreates them on the target system, AND the end-user knows to unzip the whole thing in their C-Drive, so that the paths are maintained.

**UPDATE**

I had time, so I just put a copy of that texture in my Texture Maps Search Path directory, like the textfile asked me to, and it still didn't find it. At that point I was able to go browse for it, but it started me off in the last directory I'd been in, rather than the Texture maps search path.

Maybe that's a 2004 issue though?

For a moment I thought I found the problem.

One thing for sure: The Texture path is corrected when OPENING the file.

Not when e-transmitting.

Although I'm getting inconsistent results, I did have some successful attempts of opening the file (and remapping the texture path!!).

The AutoCAD parameter 3DCONVERSIONMODE has something to do with it. Set it to 1

Also it you should add the searchpath: .\Textures\

(The searchpath I stated before not to be working !!!)

Please try if you get some results with this!

For a moment I thought I found the problem.

One thing for sure: The Texture path is corrected when OPENING the file.

Not when e-transmitting.

 

Although I'm getting inconsistent results, I did have some successful attempts of opening the file (and remapping the texture path!!).

 

The AutoCAD parameter 3DCONVERSIONMODE has something to do with it. Set it to 1

Also it you should add the searchpath: .\Textures\

(The searchpath I stated before not to be working !!!)

 

Please try if you get some results with this!

Someone else will have to try. 3DCONVERSIONMODE wasn't introduced to AutoCAD until 2008, it doesn't exist for me, sorry.