MATERIALS command

Opens the Drawing Explorer dialog box with Materials selected.

BricsCAD Lite; BricsCAD Pro; BricsCAD Mechanical; BricsCAD BIM

Icon:

Alias: FINISH, MAT, RMAT

Method

Open the Drawing Explorer dialog box with Materials category selected to view and modify materials in the current drawing.

Note: Materials provided by RedWay () cannot be edited initially and so their settings are grayed-out, except for Map Transformation. To edit these materials, right-click a Redway material, and then choose Convert to regular material from the context menu.

Options within the Drawing Explorer

Preview options
Cube
Displays a preview of the selected material applied to a cube.
Cylinder
Displays a preview of the selected material applied to a cylinder.
Sphere
Displays a preview of the selected material applied to a sphere.
Light Intensity
Sets the light intensity in the Preview window.
Color
Diffuse
Sets the diffuse color. You can click the colored tile to choose a color in the Color dialog box. When Inherit is checked on, the entity color is applied.
Ambient
Sets the ambient color. You can click the colored tile to choose a color in the Color dialog box. When Inherit is checked on, the entity color is applied.
Highlights
Sets the highlight property of the material. You can choose between Non-metallic or Metallic.
Glossiness
Defines the glossiness of the material surface. You can choose a number in the range of 0 – 100.
Transparency
Defines the transparency of the material surface. You can choose a number in the range of 0 – 100.
Refraction Index
Defines the refraction index of the material surface. You can choose a number in the range of 1.00 – 3.00.
Self-Illumination
Defines the self-illumination of the material surface. You can choose a number in the range of 0 – 100.
Reflectivity
Defines the reflectivity of the material surface. You can choose a number in the range of 0 – 100.
Maps

Texture maps add detail to a surface, which is not included in the 3D model itself.

Note: The TextureMapPath user preference defines the search path for texture map images. In the BricsCAD program folder there are three subfolders under Textures, each containing a number of texture files of the same name. Images in folder 1 have a size of 256 x 256 pixels, folder 2 contains images of 512 x 512 pixels, images in folder 3 have a size of 1024 x 1024 pixels. If the Texture map setting of a material uses the image name only (not path), you can control the quality of a rendered image by setting the TextureMapPath user preference to folder 1, 2 or 3.
Diffuse map
Diffuse maps apply a texture to the surface of a material such as wood grains, bricks, or tiles. You can select a texture bitmap file with the Browse button (). The selected Texture Map can be applied as Transparency Map or as Cutout Map.
Blend factor
Sets the intensity of the texture map. In this way you can blend the texture map with the Color settings. You can set the Blend factor in a range of 0 to 100.
Transparency Map

If Transparency Map is selected, the selected Texture Map image defines a transparency map. The image is recommended to be a grayscale image. White pixels will be invisible, black pixels will be opaque and gray pixels will be transparent.

Note: If you select a colored image, it will be converted to a grayscale image in the background. The alpha channel of the image is ignored.
Cutout Map
If Cutout Map is selected, then the selected transparency map defines cutouts. White pixels are visible, and black pixels are invisible. The image is recommended to be a bitonal black-and-white image, without grays.
Cutout Map Inverted
Inverts the Cutout Map effect. Black pixels are visible and white pixels are invisible.
Note: If you select a colored or grayscale image, it will be converted to a black-and-white image in the background. The alpha channel of the image is ignored.
Blend factor

The transparency values in the texture will approach the scalar Transparency setting as the Blend factor approaches 0. This means that if the Blend factor is 100, then the transparency value will be controlled completely by the Texture Map image. If the Blend factor is 0, the transparency texture will be completely ignored and the scalar Transparency value will be used.

Bump map

Simulates bumps and wrinkles on the surface of an object. The result is a bumpy surface although the surface of the underlying object is not modified.

Left: Diffuse map only, Right: Bump Map applied

Blend factor
Defines the amount of bump which is applied to the material.
Map Transformation
Scale
The texture map image is applied at a size of 1 drawing unit multiplied by the Width and Height factors. For example, if the Width and Height factors or both set to 10, the size of the texture image is 10 x 10 drawing units.
Position
Offset

Texture maps are tiled starting from the origin of the WCS.

To adjust the tiling, you can define Offset X and Offset Y values. The offsets are expressed in drawing units.

Rotation
Sets the rotation of the texture maps.
Projection type
Defines the way the material is projected onto the object.

Context menu options

New
Creates a new material.
Delete

Deletes material definitions from the drawing. The following material definitions cannot be deleted:

  • Global
  • Materials in use
Rename

Renames the material.

Note: The following material cannot be renamed: Global.
Select All
Selects all material definitions.
Invert selection
Deselects the current selection and vice versa.
Convert to regular material
Converts materials to regular material and makes it possible to edit them.
Add material(s) to library
Adds materials to the material library so you can use them in other files as well.