Multi-material ArchiCAD Object from Rhino

[eidam655]

Hi 🙂

In order to familiarize myself with ArchiCAD I am trying to expand my Object Library.

I have chosen this shelving element with simple geometry and multiple material options. Because of the chamfered edges, small feet and a little bit of detail on the verticals I have decided to model the thing in Rhino and wanted to import this Rhino model into ArchiCAD. (One other reason is that a lot of 3D models from the internet come in 3DM format, or are at least convertible to this format, so the Rhino->ArchiCAD workflow is a well invested time for me.)

The two options that exist in ArchiCAD currently are either Merging or direct import As GDL Object.

1) Importing as GDL works quite nicely - the model is inserted at the correct scale, isn't flipped, the 2D views are also correct. One (big) drawback that I see is that all its geometry is redefined as one single material. So I do not see a way to set the verticals to be wooden whilst the shelves and doors would be glossy white.
Can I do something differently to remedy this drawback?

2) The other option, Merging, also imports well. However, every closed polysurface from Rhino gets imported as a separate Object into ArchiCAD. This means that when I save this selection as an Object (through the Interoperability menu), the new Object works well in that project where it was created, but I cannot transfer it into a different project without also copying the original Rhino objects. I have tried converting this geometry into Morphs, which then solves the transferability issue and also the multimaterial issue (which is reallly cool), but leaves one final thing to solve - the Morphs are displayed as though in wireframe mode all the time. I can edit the 2D symbol to add in the fill, but I really miss being able to change the fill's color simply through the Properties dialog. 

Sorry for not posting concrete questions, but I hope it's apparent what issues I'm fighting.

Any other tips I could try would be greatly appreciated.

Operating system used: Windows

[David Maudlin]

eidam655:

I don't know if this will work, but try deselecting the Override Surface option . When selected, this overrides the all the Surfaces of the Object.

David

[eidam655]

with the override off, i do not see any other way to change the materials assigned in the objects

[eidam655]

So, lol.

Turns out Merging is the way. The only thing I have to do is to turn on Cover Fills in the Morphs' Properties (and play around with the Draw Order if the objects are out of place) and then Save Selection as Object... and voila, I have multiple materials and easily editable Fill Cover in the floor plans (and elevations too). I guess this forces ArchiCAD to actually generate a 2D script, instead of just a 2D symbol?