Start by opening the Material Portal (BETA) from the Rendering Tools Extension Tab. 

By default, all available materials will show in the swatch grid on the right side of the window. 

Use the Filters area to narrow down the materials shown. Drop-down lists for Filters will apply immediately. Use the search fields to enter in exact text criteria and click Apply. 

Left click on a material swatch to select it and see the materials specification details in the Details area. 

Once the desired material is found, click the download icon in the lower right corner of the swatch to download the .gm material file. A green check mark will show when the download is complete. Downloads will be found in the materialDropFolder within the CET Documents folder. Folders will automatically be generated for each manufacturer to keep the files organized. 

Right click on a material swatch to see additional file actions. 

Download Image: Downloads the material data as a .gm file to the materialDropFolder.

Open File Location: Opens the materialDropFolder.

Delete From Material Folder: Removes the .gm file from the materialDropFolder.

Report An Issue With Material: Opens the Send Feedback dialog for issues to be reported. This automatically attaches the GMaterial file and the Image file to the submission.

Once downloaded, the material can then be accessed from the Material Explorer to use as a visual reference in a drawing or from the Custom Materials dialog to apply to products as a COM.

To use the Material from the Material Explorer

Open the Material Explorer from the Rendering Tools Extension Tab. Select the My Materials tab. 

If your downloaded material is not yet showing on this tab, click the Refresh button to refresh the materials shown. All materials downloaded from the Material Portal can be found here along with any user created materials. 

For more information on how to use the Material Explorer, please click here to reference that article.

To Use the Material for a Custom Material

Start by accessing the Custom Material dialog from the Custom Materials tab when making your finish selections. 

You can choose whether or not to Show COM part information in Calculations with the top checkbox. For more information about these options, see the Custom Material article. 

Regardless of this option, the material downloaded from the Material Portal can be accessed and used here by clicking the Browse GMaterial button.

This button will open the File Explorer to the materialDropFolder within the CET Documents folder. 

Select the manufacturer folder and material name from the files saved. Click Open.

This will populate any information provided by the manufacturer, including the Texture image, Description, or Price Per Unit in the Custom Material dialog box. 

Review the material information and make any desired adjustments or additions. Click Ok to apply the Custom Material as usual.