Combining Multiple Parts of a Model Into a Single Part in Keyshot

These instructions show how to take separate objects in Keyshot and combine them into a single one, allowing for materials to span across them. This does change the actual geometry of your file since you'll be exporting the 'pieces' and re-importing a single piece back in, that is separate from the original assembly. You can re-locate the new part back into the original hierarchy though.

Hide all objects in the Model Set that aren't part of the piece you want to combine. This can be easily accomplished by first highlighting the part(s) in the tree, and then right clicking and selecting 'Visibility>Show Only'

Keyshot lets you export what's visible in a scene as different 3D model types. With only the parts visible that you want to combine, select File>Export>OBJ (OBJ retains certain metadata we want to keep)

Temporarily hide the parts in the tree that you were working with (you can delete them later or leave them hidden as a backup)

Now select File>Import

Select the OBJ file you exported in the previous step.

BEFORE clicking Import/OK be sure to match the checkboxes visible in this screenshot. You want to omit everything but the geometry, and re-use the original location the object was in.

Now apply the material you had to the original part(s) and you'll notice it covers the entire assembly now.

Because the geometry is technically different now, it may not align how the original did.