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 - Menu "Objects - Material/Color" - Short Cut:  + "M".
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| This dialog enables you to define the surface of each object using an extensive range of parameters. For instance, you can apply mathematically defined textures to generate surface structures similar to grained wood, marble, rock or multi-layered landscape textures on a fractal basis. These textures can be combined with bitmaps projected onto an object. You can apply several bitmaps at the same time, using bitmaps not only to texturize an object but also to control the reflectivity or transparency of the objects surface. With bumpmaps you can even simulate embossed structures on an object's surface. Or you can change a normal object into a luminous area light source with real light properties which you can adjust in the lights dialog. However, is it not necessary to specify all these possibilities at the outset - simply refer to the visual material library to select a required material. Use this material as a starting point and modify it to your own needs, every change will be immediately displayed in the large preview window at the upper left of the dialog. In the selector box below the preview window you can choose between several preview modes. You can select a primitive object for real time previews (Sphere, Cube or Cylinder) or the "Object" mode, where the selected object is displayed centered in the preview window. Last but not least there is the "Camera, complete scene" mode that shows a preview of the whole scene in camera view.
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| See also: Visual Libraries and Preview Options
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| Most material properties can also be animated (parameters that can be animated are indicated by a different emphasized background color). If, in Animation Mode, you change such a parameter in the dialog, then automatically a parameter keyframe will be generated for the interpolation of the material data in an animation.
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| · | The dialog is divided into several areas:
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| · | The preview window at the top left
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| · | The object selection right beneath the preview window
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| · | The <Get> button at the bottom left to adopt material settings from a specified object
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| · | The center part of the dialog contains five sets of material parameters that you can switch between with 5 tabs in the dialog's document header:
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| - | Material - The basic material settings and object-attributes, which are not necessarily related to the appearance of the material
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| - | Texture - The parameters for the procedural textures
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| - | Terrain - Additional fractal texture layers for landscape textures
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| - | Bitmaps - The parameters for bitmaps, bumpmaps, reflectivity- and transparency maps
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| - | Waves - Animated water textures
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| - | VRML - Enter object URL's for VRML export
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| · | The right-hand part of the dialog contains the visual material library. Just select an existing material or extend the library by saving your own materials
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| In the object selection box you determine the object for which you are going to edit the material parameters. Select an object with the mouse - the object's name will be highlighted and the parameters of this object are displayed in the parameter fields. Objects that do not have material, such as the Camera, Background and light objects, are shown in gray and cannot be selected.
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| When, after a great deal of effort and patience, you have set up a new material specification for an object it would be very useful if these attributes could be referenced to another object on the press of a button.
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| There is the <Get> button beneath the object selection box for this purpose. Having completed the settings for an object, click on the selected object once again in the object selection box with the left mouse button.
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| The name of the object will appear in the field beside the <Get> button.
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| Now choose the object in the selection box that you wish should assume the material parameters of the first object. Now simply operate the <Get> button in order for this object to accept the parameters of the other object. The material parameters are replaced by information giving the name of the object with the material specification.
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| Underneath this info is the <Change> button. When you operate this, the dialog changes back to the functions for the material side so that you could edit the individual parameters of the object.
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| When the material specification of an existing object is used, the same axes are also used for the texture on the other object. Thus, objects that overlap each other and are provided with the same texture are rendered with a continuation of the same pattern - so they appear to be formed from one piece of material.
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| If you select the <Change> button, the object retains the current material attributes of the base object, but it uses its own texture axes in the depiction of the texture.
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| This remains true if the original object is switched off.
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| If you hold the -key pressed when clicking on the <Get> button, the material of the referenced object ist adopted for all objects in the selected hierarchy branch.
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