Adding/creating material library in NX8

[dabiz7]

In NX8, is there a default location for the NX material library and can I add materials to the NX Library of materials?
My installation does not seem to allow me to create my own site library, if I want to add a material not found in the default NX library, my only option is add to a local library which is a pain to do on every part that you need to add the material too.
Why doesn't NX have glass in its material library?

Do I need administrator rights to create a site library?

 

[JohnRBaker]

OK, the name of the master default material file is 'physicalmateriallibrary.xml' and it can be found at...

...\UGII\materials

And the variable which points NX to this folder/directory is:

UGII_PHYS_MATERIAL_LIB_DATA_DIR=

So you can either edit this file, which is not really all that straight forward, or you could do the following:

Go to the folder/directory referenced above and make a copy of the 'physicalmateriallibrary.xml' file and place it somewhere handy.

Now if all you wish to do is to add additional materials (just be careful that you are not going to attempt to create a new material where one by that name already exists) there nothing else that you have to do with this file. But if you want to remove some of the existing materials or replace ones already there, this can be done by going to...

Tools -> Materials -> Manage Library Materials...

...and setting the 'Type' option at the top of the dialog to 'Delete Material from Library' and then in the next section of the dialog toggle ON the 'Site MatML Library' option and then in the entry file place the complete path, including the filename, of that new copy of the material .xml file created earlier, as described above (when the message comes up asking is you wish to replace this file, say 'Yes'). Now select the materials which you wish to delete from the list of 'Materials' (you can use the normal Windows gestures such as Select/Select-Shift and Select-Ctrl) and when the all of the items are highlighted hit the 'Apply' button and these will be deleted. When you're done just fit 'Cancel' (the edited file has already been saved).

Now open an empty part file and go to...

Tools -> Materials -> Manage Materials (Create)...

...and set the dialog to 'Local Materials' and then using the 'Create' button at the bottom of the dialog and by selecting the type of material which you're creating, and then fill-in all of the relevant entries found under the various tabs (the name of new 'material' is entered in the first field replacing what is only a 'placeholder' indicating the type of material being created). Once you've created a full set of new 'Local Materials' in this empty part file leave this dialog and go back to...

Tools -> Materials -> Manage Library Materials...

...and this time set the 'Type' option at the top of the dialog to 'Export Material to Library' and toggle ON the 'Update Library References on Exported Materials' option, set the next option to 'Single MatML file' and then again enter the full path to your copy of the material .xml file. Now go down to the section of the dialog labeled 'Source Material List' and set this to 'local Materials' and you should new see a list of new materials that you created in the previous step above. Select all the materials that you want to upload to you material file and then hit the 'Apply' button (again, there is no need to do anything else because the file has automatically been saved). You can now leave this dialog.

You now have a new material library file.

If you wish to make this file available now to all of your users simply go to...

Customer Defaults -> Gateway -> Materials/Mass -> Locations

...and set the first option to 'Single MatML File' and then in the just below it toggle ON the 'Enable' option and then in the 'Windows' field, enter that full path, including the file name, of that new copy of the material file and will now be available when you restart NX.

To access this new library now, when you go to Assign Materials simply toggle ON the 'Site MatML Library' option and toggle OFF the 'NX Material Library'.

Anyway, this was a long replay but I think it will cover what you're looking for.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.