Changing shader/material

Hi all,

I have an issue with some models/prefabs where I cannot change the shader on a material. The option to select a shader is greyed out. I have uber shader and want to use it instead of the standard shader. For most things I just select it from the list and I am good to go. With others I can't and the does not seem to be a reason that I can find.

I have googled and looked at solutions others have mentioned but they usually just say select a different shader/material which obviously I can't do. These models have lots of materials/sub meshes. Any advice appreciated

 

Not sure, but when i have a disabled material, it is an imported one.
Has to do with new way Unity imports models, where materials are embedded in the obj or fbx ..
All i could do, is make a new Material and assign that to the mesh.
Maybe changing import settings on that on that file would help as well. (i see a button Extract Materials)

 

yeah the materials are embedded into obj and fbx files. I was hoping to avoid duplicating the 30 odd materials and having to reassign on all the different sub meshes but it may well be the only way. Not going to be a fun afternoon unless a hero comes along. :-(