Instalation

Installing Simple Material Replacement is simple:
Download the file
Select: File → User Preferences ... → Add-ons from the menu
Click ‘Install from file …’ (at the bottom of the screen) and select the: Simple_Material_Replacement zip file
Click ‘Install from file ...’ (at the top right of the screen)
Check the enable check box to the left of the add-on you just installed
The add-on will now be available in the 3D view.

Installing an updated version of Simple Batch Render

If you want to replace a previous version of Simple Material Replacement (or PRO) you have to remove the old version first. to do this, go to File → User preferences … → Add-ons and either search for IDMapper or go to the ‘3D View’ category where it will be located. Click on the add-on and then o

on.

Setup

• One blen

n the ‘Remove’ button. After removing the old version follow the instructions above to install the new versid file is needed that includes all the material that are used. One material must be called "Not Found"

• Install the Addon Simple Material Replacement
• Make a folder on the computer where the addons material data base file can be saved.

Functions

Add material to file – Whit this button parts and there material is loaded into the material data base.

Path to mtrlfile – Path and name to the material data base file. Choose where to save the file and its name.

Over writes mtrl in MDB – The default is that parts that already are in the material data base is not changed or written over. With this checked the material is deleted if part is present in the material data base and the part gets the new material instead.

Write mtrl to parts – Write material to selected parts from the material data base file. Note you need to have the same material present in the blend file that is in the material data base file. To do that press “Add Material from base file”

Add material from base file – Add material from the selected blend file in the path below.

Material import file – sets the blend file that is used to import material from.

Check for duplicate materials – Will notify if there is material used on obejcts that could have duplictated materials.

Remove Dupl. Mtrl – If there is materials with same name except from the ending (.001, .0002) it removes all materials that ends with .000X. So if material from the base file is added many times, use this to remove duplicates.

PRO Version also include

Split Parameters – Possible to set the parameter as you like. The default is still "."

Select parts Mtrl set – With this button parts that are already set in the material data base is selected. Very useful if you import new part and want to move parts where materials already are set to another layer.

Select special objects – With this button parts that are special will be selected.

Import special object – Select an object that is a special object and with this command this object will be imported from the other blend file and placed at the same position. Rotate the imported object if necessary. In Blender 2.8 the imported objects will be added to the a new "Collection" with the name "Imported_Objects"
(In Blender 2.8 layers is removed and collections is added instead, se Blender documentation for more information)

File special objects: - Sets the blend file that is used to import special objects from.

Select Removable or Hidden objects – Selects objects that are set to Hidden

Mark as Removable or Hidden objects – Set selected parts to hidden in the remove/hidden file.

Unmark as Removable or Hidden objects – Remove objects to be hidden in the remove/hidden file.

File Removable or Hidden objects: – Path and name to the remove/hidden data base file. Choose where to be saved and its name.

List materials – Lists all materials that are selected. Here is i possible to see if there is duplicated materials.

3D import to Blend file -  Bacth import .obj or .fbx or .stl or .3ds and save it to a .blend file from slected folder. Also it makes it into a group with tha same name as the imported file name. For Blender 2.8 the 3ds do not yet work and instead of a group it makes a colletion instead. If there is different type of files to import it only imports one of them, Su make sure that there is only one type in the slected folder.

Import path locations – Define path where the import files is located.

Letter to use from filename: - 0 = Full filename will be used. And for example 4 will give the first 4 letters in the filename.

Exlude X letters in the begining: 0 = None is removed. 2 = 2 letters will be removed from the filenamen from the begining.

Video with text on how to use it: https://youtu.be/ejLnXRTsPwQ
It shows it in Blender 2.79 but it is the same for Blender 2.8

Beta version for Blender 2.8
In the Beta version for Blender 2.8 the addon is located below the "Misc" to the right"

Test files

Here is a link to download test files for the addon:
Download link for test files