Available Materials

Available Materials

The Available Materials area on the left-hand side of the panel lists user-defined Material Attributes arranged by Category .

Categories act as a means to organise Material Attributes . In the image to the right, "Paints" is a category and "Red" is a material attribute belonging to "Paints". Categories can also contain sub-categories to further organise material attributes. In the same image "Matte" is a sub-category of "Paints"

Each material attribute has a corresponding set of properties which control its colour and lighting. Once these properties have been set, the material attribute can be applied to any part in the model. The link between parts and material attributes is retained for the duration of a D3PLOT session, so if the material attribute is modified the changes are reflected in the appearance of the parts to which that attribute has been applied. The link does not persist beyond the current session of D3PLOT.

Material attributes and categories can be saved for future use using the "Save" tab. This will output an XML file listing all of the material attributes and their corresponding properties. However, this XML file is independent of the model and consequently will not record the link between parts and material attributes.

A previously saved XML file can be read back into the panel by using the "Reload" tab.

Any material attribute can be copied and pasted allowing variants, e.g. different colours of paint, to be quickly created. Finally, a material attribute can be set as the "Default" by right-clicking on it and selecting "Set as Default". This will apply the selected material attribute to all parts within the model that do not currently have a material attribute applied to them.