The Select Material option allows you to select a material as well as easily integrate variables used in Impact's material database into your parametric design. These materials use common variables between them, however they are assigned different values (e.g. CA = Caliper or material thickness will change based on the material selected). The benefit here is by integrating these common variables into your design you can simply select a new material to have these preset values applied automatically. For example, if a panel value integrates an allowance based on the thickness of material, the common variable can be applied so the allowance will change based on the material selected.
To use this tool simply click on it and the Select Material window will open. This window shows a list of materials currently stored in your database. Click on the material you wish to use and click OK to apply. You will notice the common material variables added to the Variables Window. These variables can now be applied to dimensions using Assign or added to any expression.
To change the material used just right click and reselect the Select Material tool to open the window and choose a new material. The values of the new material will overwrite the current values automatically so you don’t have to update all of the values individually every time. A huge time saver when using a parametric design with multiple materials.