material library linked to file only

[andy.engelkemier]

I'd like to have libraries of material linked to a file. If you copy and paste a material on the wrong part, then realize it later, your material is completely gone. This happens quite often.

So lets say I have white on half my parts, and aluminum on the other half with a few small black part details. One of those black parts now needs to be blue. As I assign the new blue material I am close up so don't see the other black parts and don't realize that it had become linked to the other black parts. Now all of the parts are blue, and I didn't notice. oops. I move on to doing other things.
Shoot, I need to fix the blue/black problem. But black is no longer in use in the scene, so it's been completely removed. Now I have to make it again.

This is a really simple example, but happens more than you'd think when most of my models have 20-50 layers, and usually around 10-20 unique materials.  I just end up losing a material because it's hard to know what's actually linked. That might be easier if there was some sort of highlight method while you're in the materials tab. But applying materials in the scene tab takes too many steps.