Review: Find Material

Find Material ( Modeling )

Tool summary :

Isolates members with a particular material (selected by submaterial piecemark ) from other members that do not contain that material.
If members are displayed in a solid member style , submaterials whose piecemark you selected are displayed in cyan. Other materials that make up the members those submaterials are a part of are displayed in their normal colors.
Only those members that are in your current view are displayed. If no members are shown in your current view, Open ( Ctrl + o ) a different view. If the members appear distant, Revert redraws your computer screen so that the members fill up your current view.
To exit Find Material , activate the tool again ( step 1 ), then press the " Cancel " button on the list of submaterial piecemarks.
If you can't see the members in a view after first using Find Material , Open a different view. If members are displayed too small, use Revert .

Here's an example:

Find Material isolates those members in your current view that incorporate the submaterial you specify and highlights (in cyan) all instances of that submaterial.

See (on this page):
- Step-by-step instructions
- To exit Find Material

Also see :

Modeling (where Find Material is a tool)
Material Options (may be used in Find Material )
Open (if you can't see any members in your view)
Revert (if members in your view are too small)
Isolate Member (alternative for isolating)
Status Display (select ' Masked ' and ' none ' for isolating)
Display Options (alternative for isolating)

Step-by-step instructions :

The following instructions assume that you are in any Modeling view. You may find that this tool works best in an isometric view of your entire 3D model.

1 . Invoke Find Material using any one (1) of the following methods:

Method 1 : Click the Find Material icon. The icon can be taken from the group named ' Model -- Material ' and placed on a toolbar (classic) or the ribbon (lightning).

Method 2 : If " Modeling layout style " is ' Classic ', you can use the menu system to choose Model > Material > Find Material .

Method 3, 4 or 5 : Find Material can also be configured to be invoked using a keyboard shortcut , the context menu , or a mode . For the lightning interface, this configuration is done using Customize Interface .

Method 6 : With Material Mode mouse bindings active, middle-click ( Find ).

2 . A selection dialog opens. On it is a list by submaterial piecemark of all materials in your current Job .

a14

a25

c13

hss5

hss7

Select (1) one material to isolate all members in your current view that contain at least one instance of that one material.

Alternative 1 : Double-click the submaterial mark that you want. Go to step 3.

Alternative 2 : Press the " Cancel " button to end Find Material . Do this, for example, when you are done using Find Material and want to go back to a normal Modeling view. Do not continue.

3 . Find Material displays members in your current view that incorporate the selected submaterial and hides all other members. If the members are displayed in one of the three solid forms , the selected submaterial is displayed in cyan, while other materials that make up that member are displayed in their normal colors.

Tip 1: If the members appear distant, Revert redraws your computer screen so that the members fill up your current view.

Tip 2: If no members are shown in your current view, this is because no members that incorporate the selected submaterial exist in your current view. Open ( Ctrl + o ) a different view.

To exit Find Material :

1 . While in Find Mode , invoke Find Material using any of the methods described in step 1 ( above ).

2 . The submaterial mark selection dialog opens.

2a : Press the " Cancel " button.

3 . All members that were previously hidden are now shown. Submaterials that were previously displayed in the color cyan are now displayed in their normal colors.

Tip: Use Revert or Zoom to Fit if you are zoomed in too closely. Use Open ( Ctrl + o ) to start out with a different view.