Arch MultiMaterial

    From FreeCAD Documentation

    Arch MultiMaterial.svg Arch MultiMaterial

    Menu location
    Arch → Material tools → Multi-Material
    Workbenches
    Arch, BIM
    Default shortcut
    None
    Introduced in version
    0.17
    See also
    Arch SetMaterial, Arch CompSetMaterial

    Description

    The Multi-Material tool defines a list of materials with, for each material, a name and a thickness value. This multi-materials list can then be added to an Arch object instead of a single Arch Material .

    Arch multimaterial example.png

    Not all Arch objects can currently make use of multi-materials, and the use they do of it differs. Currently:

    • Arch Wall.svg Walls with a MultiMaterial will use the material definitions and thicknesses to create a multi-layer wall
    • Arch Window.svg Windows with a MultiMaterial will attribute materials with a given name defined inside the MultiMaterial to window components with a same name or type (see below). Material thickness is not considered.
    • Arch Panel.svg Panels with a MultiMaterial will use the material definitions and thicknesses to create a multi-layer panel

    Usage

    1. Create first a series of Arch SetMaterial.svg Arch Materials that you will need in your Multi-Material.
    2. Optionally, select an Arch object you wish to attribute the new Multi-Material to.
    3. Press the Arch MultiMaterial.svg Multi-Material button.
    4. Set the desired material layers.

    Options

    Arch multimaterial panel.png

    Upon creating or editing a multi-material by double-clicking it in the tree, the following options are available:

    • Duplicate another existing Multi-Material from the same document. This only copies the values over, and doesn't link the two multi-materials in any way.
    • The Name field will also set the material object's Label
    • The Composition list is the list of the different material layers that compose this multi-material. Each layer has a name, a material and a thickness value.
    • Click Add to add a new layer, Up to move a selected layer up, Down to move a selected layer down, or Del to delete a selected layer.
    • Double-click the name of a layer to edit it, the material will offer you a drop-down list of available Arch Materials in the same document, and thickness can be set to any value in any unit
    • Name and Material fields are mandatory. Thickness can be left blank (it will then adopt a value of 0).
    • When a multi-material contains layers with a thickness of zero, that thickness is considered variable. Arch objects that use the multi-material, such as Walls and Panels, will treat that accordingly, and give that layer the remaining space available given their own width or thickness.
    • If you name the different components of a multi-material "Frame", "Solid panel", "Glass panel" or "Louvre", and apply that material to a window, the given materials will be applied to the corresponding window components.

    Relation to IFC

    This roughly corresponds to a combination of IfcMaterialLayerSet and IfcMaterialLayer.

    Limitations

    Scripting