Best way to rapidly explore materials changes without repainting?

[Xianpants]

Howdy! We're planning a kitchen remodel and are at the stage where we want to explore and compare various cabinets materials (wood, wood + painted, several different paint colors).

 

Preface: I'm a homeowner and this is the first time using the software, so I'm probably missing something that to many of you is very obvious. 

 

Problem: To make a color or material change to a set of cabinets, I have to manually repaint them. Since I want to rapidly explore different colors, this re-painting process is cumbersome.

 

I'm looking for a way to set materials on 3-4 distinct subsets of cabinets: group 1 is lower cabinets, group 2 is uppers, group 3 is a full heigh unit and fridge cabinet, and group 4 is a built in fridge. I want to be able to quickly tweak or adjust the material applied to each group separately. Ideally, changing the material color and seeing the corresponding group update immediately, without any material painting or manual work.

What I'm seeing now is that when I apply a user defined material to a set of cabs, and then I change the material the cabinets don't update. I have to re-paint them.

 

Attached are some screenshots of work in progress, in case the visual helps makes sense of the question. 

 

Thanks in advance!

Christian

 

PS: I'm using Home Designer Pro 2021.

 

[solver]

31 minutes ago, Xianpants said:

Problem: To make a color or material change to a set of cabinets, I have to manually repaint them. Since I want to rapidly explore different colors, this re-painting process is cumbersome.

 

Review the different Material Painter Mode options.

 

You cannot group objects together for the purpose of changing materials, but you can change all objects with the same material with a single click.