Multiple materials in part?

[Ralph2]

Self taught and learning... I have modeled a play structure for my grandkids.. made the "material" wood.. But I want to add some structural steel.. Surprisingly (to me) my square tubing and angle iron is made of wood as well...

Can one have more than one type of material in one part?.. or, is the proper technique to make an assembly at this point?

Thanks for your time / advice
SW2009 SP0

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Multi-bodies in a part cannot have different material properties.

The play structure is an assy of parts. Your model should reflect this; especially if you want to create a BOM later.

 

[Ralph2]

Thanks...

 

[SincoTC]

What CBL said is absolutely correct, it should really be an assembly so each part can then have its correct material and properties.

However, if it is a multi-body part, the differents bodies can have their own colours defined under the "Appearances" settings and if you have PhotoWorks installed, you can select from the full range of material's appearance and finishes, so that a simple part can be used for a "quick and dirty" idea of how things will fit or look before going to the trouble of making the additional parts and building the assembly.

To create a multi-body part, make sure that the "Merge results" box is un-checked when adding the features for the parts requires to have a different appearance.


Trevor Clarke. (R & D) Scientific Instruments.Somerset. UK

SW2009x64 SP3.0 Intel Core i7 2.94Ghz, 12Gb Ram, NVIDIA Quadro FX3700 Driver: 6.14.11.8246
SW2009x64 SP3.0 Intel Core 2 Duo 3.17Ghz, 8Gb Ram NVIDIA Quadro FX3700 Driver: 6.14.11.8246

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

If you have created the part as a multi-body (parts not merged) you can use the Save Bodies function to save each multi-body as a separate part, and create an assy from those.

 

[Ralph2]

Thanks.. this is a pretty small project... I decided to make it as an assembly..