User-Defined Material Libraries

You can define your own materials and specify its properties by modifying the properties of an existing material in the list. This user defined material will be available in the material list for a project if it is saved. If you click Save to local library under the material options, your new materials will be saved to the local material library and available anytime you start Discovery. A unique material name must be used to avoid overwriting any existing material.

When you first save a newly defined material to the local library, Discovery creates a file named MyLocalMaterialLibrary.json. This is usually a hidden file, but you can find it by typing %localappdata%\Ansys_Inc\Discovery\LocalMaterialLibrary in your Windows File Explorer. The LocalMaterialLibrary folder does not exist until you save your first material.

Anytime you create a new material, Discovery saves it to MyLocalMaterialLibrary.json. If you rename the file in the LocalMaterialLibrary folder, new attempts to save the material to the local library saves the new file with the original default name: MyLocalMaterialLibrary.json.

When starting Discovery, it will attempt to read all files in the LocalMaterialLibrary folder. After it successfully parses the materials, they are added to Discovery’s local material library. Note that only files using the default file name MyLocalMaterialLibrary.json provide the option to Remove from local library those user defined materials. If a material is loaded from a file other than MyLocalMaterialLibrary.json in the LocalMaterialLibrary folder, this option will not be available.

If you load a project that contains a material in the local library, but this material does not exist in your local library, Discovery will convert the material to a user defined material when you start Discovery.