Editing Materials in V6

Hi,

I just recently started using V6 and I am trying to edit some materials I imported in from V5. Basically I am trying to change a steel material to give it a slightly red tint. I can see the box I need to change when I am in the material editor workbench, but it's greyed out and I can't edit it. I can make new materials but they seem to be created with random properties which I cant edit. Does anyone know how I can edit material properties in V6? Is there a specific role I need to be using to edit materials?

Thanks for the help

Did you every figure this out?  I have (I think) the same issue.

I imported a V5 model and got a seperate window and specification tree with the root node called "Materials in session".   I can't edit these as their properties are all greyed out in the pop-up editor.   Worse I can't propogate them either.  When I try I get an error:

"Security information : You do not have the access right to proceeed with this operation...."

I've tried a couple different security contexts.  Anyone have any ideas?!

Hi
As you've probably noticed Materials are handled differently in the Platform?  A Material is now a database object in its own right which is referenced when added to a model from the database, rather than simply a set of attributes applied to a model as it is in V5. 

By importing a legacy V5 Part, it also created the Material 'object', but when you attempted to 'Share' the data it is likely that you do not have the rights to add e.g. Material objects, to the database, hence the message you reported.

However, if you were able to save your data, and everyone else who imported V5 legacy data did too, your company  would end up with multiple material objects in the database which essentially would be identical apart from the 'unique' name given to it when imported & saved.. 

Does your company have an internal support team to migrate the your legacy data over for you and your colleagues to ensure it is done in a managed, consistent manner, and who can take care of the material issue for you all?

While we are still in V6R2013x, we have seen the same thing.  

We have chosen, for the most part, to ignore the CATIA Materials, and instead focus on the ENOVIA Materials.  I'm not sure if DS has unified these objects yet, but at R2013x they have not.   

We have found that, in the CATIA World, Material has a different meaning that it does in the ENOVIA/EBOM world.  In CATIA, it is primarily physical properties such as Mass and the Analysis Domain properties. It can also represent the manufacturing domain properties such as feeds and speeds, etc.   

In the ENOVIA/EBOM World, it actually represents the purchased raw material. This is an entirely different thing.  For example, in the CATIA World, there are only 3 or 4 Aluminum materials that you need to worry about due to the Mass, FEA, and Manufacturing Properties. If you are using Sheetmetal, then you also need to understand Thickness and Temper.   In the EBOM, Raw Materials also include purchasing information such as Flat stock vs. Rolled Stock, Arbor size on the rolled stock.  Heat Treat.  Quality Spec.  cladding, etc.  So, in the CATIA world, there are a few hundred Aluminum materials.  In the EBOM world, there are thousands of materials (and the MBOM world multiplies this even higher, by adding information such as Vendor and purchase amount).   

Jim Strawn
Solutions Architect – Digital Design/Build Integration
Textron Aviation Company