Better MaterialColorAssigment handling ?

[usai-sylvain]

My goal is to write a SetMaterial method that assign a colorId to an element based on a desired material. The challenge is that Cadwork's API requires different material color assignment methods depending on element type, and I need to search through all 255 possible color_ids to find the right match.

I have a working solution but it seems highly convoluted and I hope someone here would have a better way...

Step 1 : retrieve the material color assignment based on element type.

Since I want my SetMaterial method to be generic, I need to retrieve my element type to find the relevant MaterialColorAssignment :

    def GetMaterialColorAssignementMethod(element_id):
        """Get the material color assignment method based on the element type"""

        # get the element type
        element_type = ac.get_element_type(element_id)

        method = None

        # Beam
        if (element_type.is_rectangular_beam() or
                element_type.is_circular_beam() or
                element_type.is_steel_shape()):
            method = mc.get_material_color_assignment_for_beams       

        # Panel
        elif element_type.is_panel():
            method = mc.get_material_color_assignment_for_panels

        # Surface element
        elif element_type.is_surface():
            method = mc.get_material_color_assignment_for_surfaces

        # Node
        elif element_type.is_normal_node() or element_type.is_connector_node():
            method = mc.get_material_color_assignment_for_nodes
            
        # Axis
        elif element_type.is_wire_axis():
            method = mc.get_material_color_assignment_for_standard_axes

        # Drilling/Connector
        elif element_type.is_drilling_axis() or element_type.is_connector_axis():
            method = mc.get_material_color_assignment_for_drillings  

        # Auxiliary element
        elif element_type.is_auxiliary():
            method = mc.get_material_color_assignment_for_auxiliary_elements

        # MEP axis
        elif (element_type.is_rectangular_axis() or
                element_type.is_circular_axis() or
                "MEP" in ec.get_element_type_description(element_id)):
            method = mc.get_material_color_assignment_for_mep_axes

        return method

Step 2 : Compute the relevant MaterialColorAssignment for all 255 color_ids until I find a match for my material_id

def GetColorIdFromMaterialName(element_id, material_name):
    """Get the color id for the element based on the material name"""

    materialColorAssignmentMethod = GetMaterialColorAssignementMethod(element_id)

    if materialColorAssignmentMethod is None:

        print("No method found for element type %s"%(ec.get_element_type_description(element_id)))

        return None

    desired_material_id = mc.get_material_id(material_name)

    if desired_material_id is None or desired_material_id == 0:

        print("No material found for material name %s"%(material_name))

        return None

  

    for color_id in range(1, 255):

        material_id = materialColorAssignmentMethod(color_id)

        if material_id == desired_material_id:

            return color_id

Step 3 : Assign color_id to my elements

vc.set_color([element_id], color_id)

All together

import cadwork as cw
import math as m
import element_controller as ec
import attribute_controller as ac
import utility_controller as uc
import visualization_controller as vc
import geometry_controller as gc
import material_controller as mc 
  
def main():

    desired_material_name = "OSB-3"
    element_ids = ec.get_active_identifiable_element_ids()
    if not element_ids:
        print("No active identifiable elements found")
        return

    for element_id in element_ids:
        color_id = GetColorIdFromMaterialName(element_id, desired_material_name)
        if color_id is not None:
            print("Element %s, found color id %s"%(element_id, color_id))
        else:
            print("Element %s, found no color id for material %s"%(element_id, desired_material_name))

        vc.set_color([element_id], color_id)

def GetColorIdFromMaterialName(element_id, material_name):
    """Get the color id for the element based on the material name"""
    materialColorAssignmentMethod = GetMaterialColorAssignementMethod(element_id)
    if materialColorAssignmentMethod is None:
        print("No method found for element type %s"%(ec.get_element_type_description(element_id)))
        return None

    desired_material_id = mc.get_material_id(material_name)
    if desired_material_id is None or desired_material_id == 0:
        print("No material found for material name %s"%(material_name))
        return None


    for color_id in range(1, 255):
        material_id = materialColorAssignmentMethod(color_id)
        if material_id == desired_material_id:
            return color_id


def GetMaterialColorAssignementMethod(element_id):
    """Get the material color assignment based on the element type and material name"""
    # get the element type
    element_type = ac.get_element_type(element_id)
    materialColorAssignmentMethod = None
    
    # Beam
    if (element_type.is_rectangular_beam() or
            element_type.is_circular_beam() or
            element_type.is_steel_shape()):
        materialColorAssignmentMethod = mc.get_material_color_assignment_for_beams        
        
    # Panel
    elif element_type.is_panel():
        materialColorAssignmentMethod = mc.get_material_color_assignment_for_panels

    # Surface element
    elif element_type.is_surface():
        materialColorAssignmentMethod = mc.get_material_color_assignment_for_surfaces

    # Node
    elif element_type.is_normal_node() or element_type.is_connector_node():
        materialColorAssignmentMethod = mc.get_material_color_assignment_for_nodes

    # Axis
    elif element_type.is_wire_axis():
        materialColorAssignmentMethod = mc.get_material_color_assignment_for_standard_axes

    # Drilling/Connector
    elif element_type.is_drilling_axis() or element_type.is_connector_axis():
        materialColorAssignmentMethod = mc.get_material_color_assignment_for_drillings  

    # Auxiliary element
    elif element_type.is_auxiliary():
        materialColorAssignmentMethod = mc.get_material_color_assignment_for_auxiliary_elements

    # MEP axis
    elif (element_type.is_rectangular_axis() or
            element_type.is_circular_axis() or
            "MEP" in ec.get_element_type_description(element_id)):
        materialColorAssignmentMethod = mc.get_material_color_assignment_for_mep_axes

    return materialColorAssignmentMethod

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

My issues :

• that's a lot of code !
• getting material_color_assignement_for* on every element for every 254 color indices is time consuming. I can (and have) cached the calculation but I still need to run it at least once every time my script is initialised.

My question : is there a better, faster, simpler way ? How do you assign material by color ?

[Brunner246]

Hi @usai-sylvain

we ll discuss if we can provide a solution for this need