With the Material Editor, you can create a material catalogue/library for Stockpile items. The material types can be set to have a density and value per unit, which automatically converts the volume of the pile to weight (tonnage) and gives you its monetary value.
The Material Editor can be found in the VIEW Tab, the TOOLS for Stockpile tab (when a stockpile is selected), or as a quick button in the Status Bar.
View Tab - Material Editor
TOOLS for Stockpile Material
Status Bar - Material Editor
Overview
- Material Editor Panel
- Material Editor - Sections & Definitions
- Add, Remove, and Edit Materials
- Search For and Assign Materials
- Using the Show Fill Feature
- Tips and Tricks
- Related Video
Material Editor Panel
The Material Editor Panel is where you edit your stockpile materials and their associated information. The Settings section of the panel controls properties for all stockpile items and allows you to set an Undefined Material Color, change the Currency Symbol, and enable/disable Show Fill.
The Materials section of the panel defines specific materials and allows you to add or delete materials in your catalogue as well as identify the materials by Name, Density, Value, and Color.
- Select the Material Editor button from the View tab or the Status Bar to display the Materials Editor panel to the right of the Viewport.
Material Editor - Sections & Definitions
![]() | Settings
Materials
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Add, Remove, and Edit Materials
You can add, remove, and edit types of materials at any time.
- Select the Material Editor button.
- Go to the Materials Panel.
- Click Add Material to create a new type of material; or alternatively:
- Click the Wrench icon to edit a material.
- Click the Trashcan icon to remove/delete a material.
- Fill in the desired information fields for that material:
- Name
- Density
- Value
- Color
- Click Add (or Update) to create the new material.
Add Multiple Materials to the Material Editor
You can add multiple materials to your project using a template file you've saved or received from another Virtual Surveyor project. Simply drag and drop the template file anywhere in the Virtual Surveyor app to have the materials added to the project that you can assign to your stockpiles.
Search For and Assign Materials
Search for materials in the Material Editor. If you have created a lot of materials, you can quickly search for them and make edits directly in the Material Editor.
Using search to assign materials. You can search for and assign materials using the search feature found in the Tools tab on a selected stockpile, in the Materials Editor, and by using right-click when assigning materials to a specific stockpile. Assign the materials from the Tools tab after searching for them, or even better, you can simply right-click on the stockpile in the Viewport and quickly search for and assign the material from the mini menu.
Using the Show Fill Feature
Use the Show Fill function to quickly identify where materials are on the project site.
- Tick the box to enable Show Fill - Leave Show Fill enabled to help you easily identify groups of stockpiles and where they are on the project site.
- Untick the box to disable Show Fill - Keeping Show Fill disabled will make it easier to see the actual image of the pile and can help you identify the type of material in detail.
Tips and Tricks
- Materials can be exported or saved as a Template to be reused in other projects. These templates can either be reused by yourself or by other users.
- Use Save as a Template to store your materials template to your Virtual Surveyor ID, which can be reused with any of your projects at any time as it follows you on whatever machine you log into.
- Export your materials as a template (.vsmt file) that is easy to share within your own team or outside your organization. These templates can be loaded into any Virtual Surveyor project at any time.
- If you are trying to obtain cut/fill information over a site, make sure you are using the Cut/Fill Tools, instead of the Material Editor and Stockpile tools.
- Disable fill to be able to identify the material in a Stockpile PDF report.
- Because Virtual Surveyor works as a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) concept, whatever your terrain looks like in the Viewport will export with the same visuals.