How to transfer materials properties to another project?

[Anonymous]

I've tweaked materials in one solo project, and now I've got them looking right, I want to transfer them to another. Now if it was an object, I would just cut and paste it. How do I go about updating my other projects with the material settings from the "tweaked" one?

Thanks:)

[David Maudlin]

Peter:

You can use the Attribute Manager to transfer and/or overwrite materials (as well as other attributes) between files. You should also create a template file that you update as you tweak these attributes, so they are available when you start your next project.

David

[Rick Thompson]

A quick way it to apply the new materials to a fill, and cut/paste onto the new file. However, as David said, with a good template pln you can open it up via Attribute Manager to transfer everything, and is the best practice in the long run. I tend to reuse the same plns over and over (stock plans). I keep a #2 AC running all the time to copy/paste from. Anything new I come up with I add to the template file, and every time I open a older pln, I open Attribute Manager and update the older file.

[Brett Brown]

When adding to my template I have been saving it as a tpl. Any advantage in doing this, or save as a pln as Rick says?

[Dwight]

The saving method of a project is irrelevant.

Every file has an accessible .aat [attribute] file in which to spelunk and either add to or overwrite attributes of your current open file.

It is another matter how you might reliably build up a comprehensive template that accumulates all of the special things you make as you grow with Archicad. Rick is a master of this since he needs few [one?] templates, unlike me who works in unique ways and makes up oneofakinds.

[Rick Thompson]

Brett wrote:
When adding to my template I have been saving it as a tpl. Any advantage in doing this, or save as a pln as Rick says?

Really depends on how you want to use it. A template file is a "read only" so you open a new file and base it on a template then you are opening a copy to start a new project on. I tend to use "my template" file as a resting place for commonly used "pieces" (like a deck, or chimney), to copy/paste onto something I am working on. It is an aid to standardize my stock plns. At this point with AC I use Favorites extensively instead of a template file. Again, with something like a new fill, I would copy that onto "my template" pln, so it would be there to add via Attribute Manager to another project.