Rule Action - Material Override Parameters

Overview

Material Override Parameters is a powerful feature within Mimeeq's 3D configurator that allows you to dynamically modify material properties without creating multiple materials. This feature enables you to create more flexible and responsive configurators while significantly reducing setup time and resource requirements.

With Material Override Parameters, you can:

• Change material colors dynamically
• Swap textures based on user selections
• Modify material properties like glossiness, roughness, and metallicness
• Connect material changes to color pickers and other UI elements

When to Use Material Override Parameters

This feature is particularly valuable when:

• You need to offer many color or texture variations for the same component
• You want to dynamically change material properties based on user selections
• You need to connect custom color pickers to your materials
• You want to avoid creating numerous nearly-identical materials that only differ in one property

Setting Up Material Override Parameters

Step 1: Create and Configure the Action

1. Navigate to the Actions/Rules section in your configurator
2. Create a new action and select "Override Material Parameters"
3. Configure when the action should run:

• Always: The override applies at all times
• Conditional: The override only applies when specific conditions are met

Step 2: Define Trigger Conditions

Like all actions in Mimeeq, you need to set up a trigger that determines when the material override occurs:

• Always Active: The override is applied continuously
• Option-Based: The override is triggered when a specific option is selected

Step 3: Select Target Meshes

Choose which meshes will have their materials overridden.

Step 4: Configure Material Parameters

After selecting your target meshes, click "Set Material" to open the material override modal. This interface displays all available material properties that can be modified:

• Albedo color
• Albedo texture
• Metallic texture
• Metallic factor
• Roughness
• Normal map
• And many other material properties

Modified parameters are marked with a green tag for easy identification.

Common Use Cases

1. Dynamic Color Changes

One of the most common uses is to override the albedo (base) color of a material:

1. Select the target meshes
2. Open the material parameter modal
3. Modify the albedo color
4. Save your changes

2. Connection with Color Pickers

You can connect a material override to a color picker widget:

1. Check the "Set color from a color picker" option
2. Select your color picker source
3. Create a trigger that activates when the color picker is used

This allows for custom color selection beyond predefined options.

3. Dynamic Texture Switching

One of the most powerful applications is dynamically switching textures:

Static Texture Override

1. Select "Override Albedo Texture"
2. Choose "Static" mode
3. Select a specific texture to use as replacement

Dynamic Texture Override

1. Select "Override Albedo Texture"
2. Choose "Dynamic" mode
3. Define a pattern using curly brackets to reference option codes: {optionCode}.jpg

Bulk Material Management

The dynamic texture override feature can dramatically reduce setup time for large material libraries:

1. Upload your textures to the media library (ensure filenames have no spaces)
2. Create an option set for your textures
3. Bulk add textures to the option set
4. Create one material override rule referencing the option codes
5. When options change, the system dynamically loads the corresponding texture

This approach allows you to manage 100+ materials through a single rule rather than creating each material individually.

Best Practices

• Filename Format: Ensure texture filenames don't contain spaces
• Texture Organization: Keep textures for dynamic overrides in a dedicated folder

Getting Started

Try creating a simple material override rule to get familiar with the functionality. Once you understand the basics, you can create more complex dynamic material systems.

If you need assistance, our support team is available to help you implement this powerful feature in your configurator.

Updated on: 14/05/2025