About the reference record

In a selection project:

• the reference record can be highlighted on a selection chart.
• the reference record's data values are shown in a limit stage for guidance.
• the selection results can be sorted on 'nearness' to the reference record.

In a comparison table:

• the reference record is automatically added.
• the data values of the other records being compared can be expressed relative to the reference.

When you save a selection project, its reference record setting is stored as part of the Selection Data for the project.

For any data table (such as MaterialUniverse), you can only have one reference record active at a time. If you open a saved selection project, it overrides any current reference record setting for the data table the project is based on.

Nearness is calculated based on a material's similarity to the property profile of the reference material. This is based on the Nearness settings, which have defaults specifying key material properties for each dataset, and can also be amended. The attributes used are highly populated, that is, most records in the table have a value for that attribute. Nearness (and the accompanying Find Similar) is only designed to work with materials, it will not work for processes, material producers etc.