Materials help provide realistic representations of all objects in Virtual Worlds Professional, and work in tandem with Textures. See Materials and Textures explained for further guidance.
The following article provides a quick guide on changing material, as well as copying materials, considering how materials appear in renders, and changing materials in grouped objects.
Quick Guide
You can alter the material of any object selected in your plan. The following example updates the material of a tap from Brushed Brass to Chrome, however the steps can be applied to any object you select.
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You can click Advanced >> to customise further if required. |
How materials can override a texture
In the example shown in the Quick Guide steps above, you can see that the material changes from a matt effect to a shiny appearance in 3D View.
| Original Brushed Brass material | Changed to Chrome material |
The colour for both objects is yellow, because the texture set is matched to the brushed brass material:
Once rendered, the chrome material overrides the brushed brass texture, as the chrome material is completely reflective of light with a high glossy quality, removing almost all texture detail.
| Original Brushed Brass material | Changed to Chrome material |
It is important to consider rendering results when altering materials so that you get the intended result. Create test renders at a small resolution that do not save the image, so you can check as you work. For more details, see Creating Images.
Changing materials on an object group/pack
| If the object you are adjusting is a unit (or pack) of several different parts, the specific part will be highlighted blue. |
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In this example you can see that once selected, the part is highlighted blue. In the Material settings window, the part and geometry options in the Item section update as the part is selected. |
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Searching Materials to use
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The Material section in Material Settings will show the file address of the selected object’s current material. Materials are stored in a materials.txt file that accompanies each installed catalogue. It is specific to the material requirements of the catalogue. |
- In Material Settings, go to the Material section and click the Browse button to search for alternate materials.txt files. Look for them in other catalogue files.
Note: A general materials.txt file can be located in the main Virtual Worlds program files folder. - Once selected, click the drop-down to select any materials listed in this file.
- Click Apply to set the new material.
Copying materials
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