Palette Tree
Contains
controls for managing material palettes and the materials contained in them,
environment maps, and material assignments/attachments. The name of the current
material table is displayed at the top of the list, followed by material palette
files. A “+” to the left of an icon indicates that the item may
be expanded (and a “-” indicates that you can collapse the item).
Palettes shown in bold contain used materials, while those shown
in blue have been modified in some way.
You can use the pointer (mouse) or the keyboard to navigate through
the tree. Many of the standard Windows keystrokes can be used, such as “*”
to expand an entire branch of the tree, right and left arrow keys to expand/collapse
one level of the tree, and <Delete> to delete an item.
You can display/hide the Palette Tree by clicking the Show/Hide Palette
Tree arrow icon to the left of the Palette item in the Material
Editor dialog box. Menus, and the icons in the Material Editor dialog box let you control the display of
the material tree. As well, right-click menus give you a selection of tools
for many of these manipulations. Right clicking on a material, automatically
sets its palette file as the selected Palette in the Material
Editor dialog, and the Apply Material
tool settings.
You can use the Filter materials icon in the Material
Editor dialog box to filter the display of items in the
material tree.
Right-click menu for Material Table file
Located at the top of the tree is the current material
table. When you right-click on this entry the following items are available:
- Open
— Opens the Open Table File
dialog box, which lets you open a new material assignment table (.mat) file.
- Save
— (Enabled only if a change has been made to the material
assignment table file) Lets you save the current material table file.
- Save As
— Lets you save the current material table file to a different
file name.
- Environment Maps
— Opens the Environment Maps
dialog box, which lets you assign images to the faces of the environment cube.
Right-click menu for Palette files | Listed under the material table are all the material palettes
that are currently loaded.
When you right-click on a palette file entry, the following items are
available:
- New
— Creates a new, empty, material palette, with focus on the
default name so that you can give it a name of your choice.
- Open
— Performs the same function as the Open Palette icon in
the Material Editor dialog box. Opens the Open Palette dialog box, which lets you open a material
palette file.
- Save
— (Disabled if no changes have been made to the palette)
Performs the same function as the Save Palette icon in the Material Editor dialog box. Lets you save the selected material
palette file after any changes have been made to it.
- Save As
— Lets you save the selected material palette file to a new
file name.
- Unload
— Unloads the selected material palette file. If any materials from the selected material palette file have been used
in the current DGN file then an Alert box appears to warn you of this fact.
If you still accept the unloading of the material palette file, then those
materials are either resolved from other material palettes (having materials
of the same name) or moved to the Missing Materials palette.
- Refresh
— Sorts the materials in the current palette and re-applies
the active material filter.
- Paste
— (Disabled if clipboard empty) Inserts the current material
from the Windows clipboard into the palette.
- New Material
— Creates a new material, using default material attributes,
with focus on the material name so that you can give it a name of your choice.
Right-click menu for Materials | Listed under each material palette are the materials defined
in that palette.
When you right-click on a material, the following items are available:
- New
— Creates a new material, using default material attributes,
with focus on the material name so that you can give it a name of your choice.
- Delete
— Deletes the selected material. An Alert box gives you a
second chance prior to deleting the material. If the material has been assigned
to an element in the DGN file, then another Alert box warns you of this. If
you delete a material that has assignment, its assignments will be moved to
another material with an identical name if one exists, or else the material
is moved to the Missing Materials palette at the bottom of the material tree.
- Rename
— Lets you rename a material.
- Import
— Opens the Select Palette File, which lets you select a
material palette file, from which to import one or more materials via the Import Materials
dialog box.
- Cut
— Copies the selected material(s) to the Windows clipboard,
and deletes them from their respective material palette file(s).
- Copy
— Copies the selected material(s) to the Windows clipboard.
- Paste
— (Disabled if clipboard empty) Inserts material(s) from
the Windows clipboard into the current palette.
- Assign
— Starts the Apply Material tool with
method set to Assign by Level/Color.
- New Assignment
— Creates a new assignment of the current material, to be
edited in place.
- Remove Assignment
— (Disabled if no assignments associated with the material)
Starts the Apply Material tool with method set to Remove Assignment.
- Edit Assignments
— Opens the Material Assignments
dialog box, which lets you manually edit assignments of the material by level
and color.
- Attach
— Starts the Apply Material tool with
method set to Attach.
- Remove Attachment
— (Disabled if no attachments associated with the material)
Starts the Apply Material tool with method set to Remove Material Attachment.
- Preview Element
— Starts the Apply Material tool with
method set to Preview Material.
- Revert
— (Disabled if no changes have been made to the settings
of a material) Reverts a material's settings to its previously saved state.
Right-click menu for material assignments | When a material is assigned by level and color, or attached
to an element, the list of assignments and attachments is shown below the
material. If the material is unused, no plus sign appears next to it in the
tree. When the list of assignments/attachments is expanded, assignments can
be identified by the icons, as follows:
Assignment icon, followed by the level/color assignment.
Attachment icon, followed by the type and level of the attached element.
Selecting an attachment in the tree causes the attached element to be highlighted
in the views.
(Bentley Building products only) Part assignment icon, followed by the
part and family to which the material is assigned.
When you right-click on a material assignment or attachment, the following
items are available:
- New
— (Not available for attachments) Creates a new assignment
for the selected material, to be edited in place.
- Edit
— (Not availabel for attachments) Lets you edit the selected
assignment in place.
- Delete
— Removes the selected attachment(s) and/or assignment(s).
- Cut
— Copies the selected attachment(s) and/or assignment(s)
to the Windows clipboard and removes them from the material.
- Copy
— Copies the selected attachment(s) and/or assignment(s)
to the Windows clipboard.
- Paste
— (Disabled if clipboard empty) Inserts the attachment(s)
and/or assignment(s) from the Windows clipboard. If any of the attachment(s)/assignment(s)
previously were associated with another material, then those attachment(s)/assignment(s)
are removed.
- Assign
— Starts the Apply Material tool with
method set to Assign Material.
- Edit Assignments
— Opens the Material Assignments
dialog box.
- Attach
— Starts the Apply Material tool with
method set to Attach Material.
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