Consolidating appearances can improve processing time for workspaces that contain a large number of appearances.
Although the default is set to Yes, there may be cases where a workflow requires that appearances not be consolidated (for instance, if subsequent processing requires separate appearances, or if each appearance has different texture parameters [for example, offset, scaling, etc.]).
Appearances that have the same raster reference, diffuse color, and alpha will be consolidated. Any other differences may be lost during consolidation.