Remove duplicate materials with different names

[09beckerboy]

I have created a script that imports a bunch of .obj files, but in doing so it creates new materials for each one. Some of these material have the same name with the same texture, but some have the same name and different textures. I have looked online for solutions, but all the ones I could find removed them based on name, which raises some false positives and removes materials that aren’t duplicates. Any insight on how I could fix this?

[Okidoki]

Welcome …

You may tell what you have found so far and what you experiences are. Also since your title seems to ask for some different than what you wrote.

Also: there are already some thread discussion this… for example:

Blender 2.8: Remove duplicated Materials

Anyone know a way/addon that could help removing duplicated materials like this addon? I have a scene with multiple FBX imports and now I have many duplicated materials (for example iron, iron.001, iron.002 and so on) I’d like to remove them and have one of each materials. Have you any suggestions?

or

Free Addon. RemoveDoubles. Remove unused/duplicate materials

Hi All. My first addon to the Blender community which might be useful for someone. RemoveDoubles.zip (17.1 KB) What it does: Remove duplicate node groups. Remove Duplicate materials (materials ending .00x which are the same as the base material name. (Option to leave material if materials are different. i.e different base colour or textures assigned) Remove 0 user materials Remove unused materials from objects with options to assign a new material or an existing material to Object…

( Hint: top right: --icon … )

[09beckerboy]

I figured out a way to do it on my own. First I found all objects that used the same textures, then used ctrl+L to link the materials. After that, I viewed the unused data and purged it. I didn’t see those threads when looking for it, but they look like they might also work.