REVERT TO DEFAULT MATERIAL MAPPING

[Eric B]

Is there a way to restore the default material mapping to an object?

 

I have a complex wall configuration that has a panel material mapped over it. After adjusting the mapping a few times (using both 'Quick Mapping' and 'Material Mapping') to see what other alignments looked like the Client has determined that the original default mapping was best.

Unfortunately no matter how much I try I can not manually recreate the default mapping effect.

 

I know that objects by default use the world coordinate system at 0,0,0 with no rotation. My situation is odd because the building is not aligned to X,Y,Z and the wall is not in line with the building.

I would really not like to delete and recreate the complex wall object again as it has multiple penetrations and alignments with other building elements and other walls - however I know that is an unpleasant option.

Any suggestions that don't involve deleting and remaking the object?

(Note: I only have vanilla AutoCAD 2008)

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

I'm not exactly sure what you want here-- the "default" mapping for nXt won't orient the map to the object-- it will always be oriented to the WCS.   Are you trying to orient the material to the object in some way?

 

[Eric B]

I specifically don't want the material to orient to the object. I would like to have the material mapping as if I had never applied any manual adjustments in the first place.

In other words - I hope to have the material map as it would if I just created a new object.

Right now the material is mapping according to my last attempts to map as if it was the "default" but it is still not as it was, in fact it is well off.

 

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

If pressing the reset doesn't work-- you should be able to assign a mapping (use Quick) that has 0,0,0 for an origin and aligns to the XYZ axes.  

If this doesn't work, I may need to take a look at the model.  Something more exotic may have happened to the object-- like the individual faces were assigned a mapping and the current controls aren't overriding those.

[Chas / Aug Posekany]

Eric,

If you hit the mapping button then select the wall object one of the options is to reset the mapping.

This should set it back to the default.

[Wayne Williamson]

Would reloading the material work to throw away the quick map info? Just a thought but it would be quick to relaod a simple material in place of what you have currently then reload the current material deffinition over that. I believe this should reset it but I have not tried it. I will later when I have a few minutes.

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

No.  The mapping is an AutoCAD object.  It's stored in a table and attached to the object.  It has nothing to do with the material.

[Eric B]

 

Yes - that is what I found by looking at the results of each change I made. I was able to determine what AutoCAD was doing. I may not know how each AR5 nXt tool is working but I have built up a much better understanding of the result I get after going through this exercise.

- For anyone else dealing with this issue here are a few things I learned:

1) The "reseT" option that others here have mentioned is currently located off the "Material Mapping" button within the "MATERIALS" pane of the AR5 nXt control panel - not the "Quick Mapping".

2) You only get the "reseT" option after you select an object. It will appear as a selection in the command line.

3) "Quick Mapping" has a slightly more clunky sequence of command selections however it is much easier to understand what you are doing as the prompts are more evident.

4) Mapping is not reset if you reassign or reload the material onto an object. Material mapping and Object mapping work together but are separate when it comes to how they express themselves on an object. A material with a rotated or shifted pattern can be un-rotated or un-shifted by changes to the object's mapping.

5) Getting back to a "default", that is, no manual overrides on an object's mapping is currently very difficult to do without recreating the object all over again. In fact it acts like it never really is unmodified but actually mimicking the original object state.

6) This process is made more complicated if your model or object is not aligned with the WCS or if the object in question has a Z axis component well off the origin. It just makes the process of manual adjustment more cumbersome; AutoCAD and AR5 nXt don’t have a problem just the unaccustomed User.

 

I ended up deleting the problematic wall section and rebuilding it. It worked fine after that and looked just like the wall sections around it.

Attached is a sequence of the adventures in trying to get back to a “default” state.