Hello.
When you replace Material references with Material Instances it doesn’t actually replace the references, but deletes the original reference (the Material).
It happens everytime, not sure if this is intended.
Hey Wrekk -
I am not sure that I completely understand what you are referring to when you say Material References. Can you post a screenshot highlighting the exact area in which you are having this issue?
Thank You
Eric Ketchum
I have for example a ton of meshes that use a single material, and I’d like to replace it with a material instance.
Here is a screenshot of how I think you’re supposed to do it: Screenshot - 1eee69b0014cb3cdf2811f48ab427124 - Gyazo
But when I do that, it doesn’t replace those references, it just deletes the original material. I’m guessing it’s because I’m trying to replace a material reference with a material instance (which I think you should be able to).
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Hey Wrekk -
Thank you for the additional information it cleared up my confusion right away. What you are wanting to do is not possible when using a Material and a Material Instance, if the Material Instance is parented from the Material that you are trying to change the reference from. This is one of the known limitations to the Replace References Tool which you can read here
Thank You
Eric Ketchum
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Not sure if this is what you’re looking for, but if you just want to swap materials on multiple things, you can do this:
SHIFT + S to select all surfaces (or Right Click > Select > Select all Surfaces), and then apply the material you want.
You could also select the brushes you want, then press SHIFT + B to select all surfaces on those brushes, and then apply the material.
Did you figure this out?
Reviving this as it’s still an issue with UE 5.3.2 version in 2024…
@Lovecraft_K , I saw that you provided a solution here: Delete old material, replace with material instance doesn't work - #2 by Lovecraft_K
However it’s currently not possible. UE gives an error/warning “The object to consolidate are not the same class”. Did they just drop this feature and not provided a better solution?
Nevertheless I found out a workaround with Property Matrix, I shared details here: Easy way to replace all references of a material? - #9 by filibis
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The red message is just a warning. It doesn’t prevent you from replacing references. However, after doing this in 5.3, the references were not properly replaced in many assets (specifically Niagara systems), leaving them blank.