A material is defined by a number of properties.
The available options depend on the material type selected.
You can create a new material in the Material window. The
Material window can be activated by selecting Tools from the
pulldown menu, Palettes, and Materials. The Material window is
displayed. Select the Create New Material button below the
Available Materials in Drawing panel and a new material will be
created. In the Material Editor section of the Materials window you
can select a type of material and a template to create your new
material. After you set these properties you can modify
your new materials even more by using maps, such as texture map or
procedural maps, Advanced Lighting Override, Material Scaling &
Tiling, and Material Offset & Preview settings.
In the Material Editor panel, you can set the following
properties:
Realistic and Realistic Metal types.
Materials based on physical qualities. You can select a material
template from a list of predefined materials such as, Ceramic Tile,
Glazed, Fabric, or Glass, and so on.
Advanced and Advanced Metal types.
Materials with more options, including properties that you can use
to create special effects; for example, simulated reflections.
Advanced and Advanced Metal types do not offer material
templates.
One material is always available in a new drawing, GLOBAL; by
default, it uses the Realistic template. This material is applied
to all objects by default until the material is changed on an
object. You can use this material as a base for creating a new
material.
Depending on the type of material you use, one or more of the
following properties may be available for you to refine your
material.
Color
The color of a material on an object is different in different
areas of the object. For example, when you look at a red sphere, it
does not appear to be uniformly red. The sides away from the light
appear to be a darker red than the sides facing the light. The
reflection highlight appears the lightest red. In fact, if the red
sphere is very shiny, its highlight may appear to be white.
You can set three types of colors for a material that uses the
Advanced or two colors for the Advanced Metal material type.
Diffuse. The main color of the
material.
Ambient. The color that appears on
faces lighted by ambient light alone. The ambient color may be the
same as the diffuse color.
Specular. The color of a highlight on a
shiny material. The specular color may be the same as the diffuse
color.
The Realistic and Realistic Metal templates use only Diffuse
color.
Shininess
The reflective quality of the material defines the degree of
shininess or roughness. To simulate a shiny surface, the material
has a small highlight, and its specular color is lighter, perhaps
even white. A rougher material has a larger highlight that is
closer to the main color of the material.
Other
Properties
The following properties can be used to create specific
effects:
Opacity. A completely opaque object
does not allow the passage of light through its surface. An object
with no opacity is transparent. (Not available for metal material
types).
Reflection. The reflection slider
controls how reflective the material is. When set to 100, the
material is fully reflective and the surrounding environment is
reflected in the surface of any object to which the material is
applied. (Not available for metal material types.)
Refraction. In translucent materials,
light rays are bent as they pass through the material and thus
distort objects that are seen through the material. For example, at
1.0, the object behind the transparent object is not distorted. At
1.5, the object is distorted greatly, as if it were seen through a
glass marble. (Not available for metal material types.)
Material
Index of Refraction
Vacuum
1.0 (exactly)
Air
1.0003
Water
1.3333
Glass
1.5 to 1.7
Diamond
2.419
Translucency. A translucent object
transmits light, but also scatters some light within the object;
for example, frosted glass. The translucency value is a percentage:
at 0.0, the material is not translucent; at 100.0, the material is
as translucent as possible. (Not available for metal material
types.)
Self-illumination. The object appears
to be emitting its own light. For example, to simulate neon without
using a light source, you could set a self-illumination value
greater than zero. No light is cast on other objects.
Luminance. Luminance causes a material
to simulate being lit by a photometric light source. How much light
is emitted is a selected value in photometric units. No light is
cast on other objects.
Two Sided Material. Two Sided Material
sets the property of the material as two sided. Set this property
if you want both sides of the fabric to be rendered in the
scene.
