Creates and edits materials used for renderings through the Drawing Explorer dialog box.
Note: Materials provided by RedWay () cannot be edited initially and so their settings are greyed-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.
Accessing the Command
command bar: materials
aliases: mat, finish, rmat
menu bar: Tools | Drawing Explorer | Materials
View | Rendering | Materials
ribbon: Home | Settings | Drawing Explorer | Materials
View | Materials | Materials
toolbar: Rendering|
: Materials
Displays the Materials section of the Drawing Explorer dialog box:
Command Options
Materials Toolbar Option |
Description |
|
Creates a new material:
|
|
Deletes selected material(s). The Global material cannot be deleted. |
Preview Options |
Description |
|
Displays a preview of the selected material applied to a cube. |
|
Displays a preview of the selected material applied to a cylinder. |
|
Displays a preview of the selected material applied to a sphere. |
Light Intensity |
Sets the light intensity in the Preview window:
|
Edit Material Option |
Description |
Name |
Type a name for the material. The material name must be unique. The Global material cannot be renamed. |
Description |
Type a description for the material. The material description is optional. |
Color Option |
Description |
Diffuse Ambient |
Sets the diffuse and ambient color:
|
Highlights |
Sets the highlight property of the material:
|
Glossiness Transparency Refraction Index Self-Illumination Reflectivity |
Defines a property of the material surface:
Glossiness - range = 0 - 100 |
Maps Option |
Description |
Maps |
Texture maps add detail to a surface, which is not included in the 3D model itself. To apply a texture map:
(*) The TextureMapPath user preference defines the search path for texture map images. In the BricsCAD program folder exist 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 Diffuse 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. Drag the slider to blend the texture map with the Color settings. |
Transparency Map |
The selected Texture Map can be applied as Transparency Map or as Cutout Map. In the examples below, this image is used as transparency map and cutout 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.
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 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. If Cutout Map is selected, then the selected transparency map defines cutouts: parts of the objects will be fully visible and parts not visible at all, depending on the pixels of the selected image. The image is recommended to be a bitonal black-and-white image, without grays. White pixels are visible, and black pixels are invisible. The Cutout Map Inverted option inverts the effect: visible parts become invisible and vice versa.
|
Bump Map |
Bump mapping is a technique for simulating bumps and wrinkles on the surface of an object. The result is an apparently bumpy surface although the surface of the underlying object is not modified. Blend factor range = -1000 / +1000 Left: Diffuse Map only; Right: Bump Map applied. |
Map Transformation |
|
Scale |
The texture map image is applied at a size of 1 drawing unit multiplied by the Width and Height factors. E.g. 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 maps are tiled starting from the origin of the WCS. To adjust the tiling you can define an Offset X and Offset Y. The offsets are expressed in drawing units. |
Rotation |
Sets the rotation of the texture maps. Type the desired rotation in the Rotation field. |
Related Commands
MatBrowserOpen - opens the materials browser, which shows an overview of available high-resolution render materials.
MaterialMap - allows to adjust how a texture is mapped to regions, faces and faces of a 3D solid.
Render - calculates a photorealistic image of the 3D model.
Light - creates a new light in the drawing.
VisualStyles - creates and controls visual style definitions in the Drawing Explorer.
Explorer - opens the Drawing Explorer dialog box.