Layer Material Schemes

NXtRender Ribbon.jpg

Layer Material Schemes is a feature of nXtRender for AutoCAD.

It is used to easily save and reload assignments of nXtRender Materials to models.

With Layer Material Schemes you can save sets of material assignments for your model, and then quickly reload them into the same model or other models.

Loading The Wizard

In versions of AutoCAD with a ribbon, you can load the Layer Material Schemes from the Ribbon.

Or you can just type in nXt_Layer_Materials

For AutoCAD 2010 and 2011, which do not have a Ribbon, you will need to load one of these ARX modules before the functions will work:

nXtRender_load_R18.arx
or
nXtRender_load_R18_x64.arx (for 64 bit machines)

These modules can be loaded from a sub-folder named RPS_BIN wherever you have AccuRender nXt installed, usually:

C:\Program Files\AccuRender nXt\RPS_BIN


Display Panes

Layer Material Schemes.jpg


Saved Schemes

The left hand column is used to select either the Current Drawing, or a Layer Material Scheme saved in the Library to apply to the model.

After selecting a saved scheme, or using Browse to select a scheme with Windows File Explorer, the Layer Assignments saved in the scheme, and thumbnails of the materials in the scheme are displayed in the two right hand columns.

Browse - select a saved Scheme from anywhere on the disk, not just the Layer Material Scheme Library.

Options - change the location of the library of schemes. This is useful if you want to save schemes on a network drive to share with other users.


Layer Material Scheme

The layers and materials in the current scheme are displayed in the center pane. You cannot make any changes here, but you can see which materials will be applied to each layer.

Show All Layers - Normally only the layers contained in the scheme are displayed. Show All Layers will display all layers in your model.


Thumbnails

The right Hand Pane displays thumbnails of the materials saved in the Scheme.

Save - After clicking Apply, or after selecting Current Drawing in the left hand pane, you can save the scheme to the Layer Scheme Library, or anywhere else you like.

Apply - will apply the selected Layer Scheme to the Current Drawing. Materials for layers not contained in the scheme will not be changed,

Close - close the Wizard without making additional changes.

Saving a new Scheme

After you click Save, when the Current Drawing is selected in the left hand Pane), you can eiter save the scheme to a library, or use Save As to save it anywhere on the disk.

Save Layer Material Scheme.jpg


Scheme Libraries

The initial library location is in the Windows AppData scheme, under nXtRender/Material Schemes, you can use the Settings button or the Change Library Location button on thhe Save dialog, to specify a new location for the libraries.

Layer Material Scheme Setup Options.jpg



See also

nXtRender Add-ons

Forum