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When entering the Material Editor, Amapi 3D automatically opens the Material Editor and the main window that includes the dialog box settings of the level zero layer. This dialog box also gives access to the upper level layers. The uniform level zero layer is defined by the following characteristics: the ambient color, the diffuse color, the shininess, the transparency, the reflection, and the refraction. |
The ambient color is the color of the object in the darkness. (In the complete dark, only the ambient light is used. If the ambient parameter is set to none, the object is not visible).
To modify the ambient color:
1. Click on the color sample.
2. Set the color following the dialog box’s instructions.
3. Click on the “OK” button when satisfied, or click on “Cancel”.
4. You can then define the intensity of the ambient color parameter using the corresponding slider.
The diffuse color is the color that the object reflects when lighted by a direct light (daylight or artificial light). This color will be mixed with the specular color.
To modify the diffuse color:
1. Click on the color sample.
2. Set the color following the dialog box’s instructions.
3. Click on the “OK” button when satisfied, or click on “Cancel”.
4. You can then define the intensity of the diffuse color parameter using the corresponding slider.
Shininess is the capacity of an object to reflect light. Shininess is defined by the color, the intensity, and the size of the halo of reflected light.
For instance:
A polished surface has a small and intense reflection.
A matte surface has a wide and weak reflection.
The Specularity sets the color and intensity of the reflection of an object.
The Spread sets the size of the reflection.
The falloff defines how the reflection is diffused along the surface of the object.
The Filter controls the influence of the color of the lighting on the color of the reflection (tuned by the Specularity). If the Filter is set to the minimum, the reflective color is the same as the light color. If the Filter is set to the maximum, the lighting has no influence (the reflection has the color defined by the Specularity).
To modify the reflective color:
1. Click on the color sample.
2. Set the color following the dialog box’s instructions.
3. Click on the “OK” button when satisfied, or click on “Cancel”
4. You can then set the color luminance using the corresponding slider.
The Spread, the Falloff and the Filter are set by moving the sliders.
Surfaces can reflect surrounding colors. Reflection defines the ratio between incident light and reflected light (when a surface is lighted).
To modify the reflection:
1. Click on the color sample.
2. Set the reflection color following the dialog box’s instructions.
3. Click on the “OK” button when satisfied, or click on “Cancel”.
4. You can then set the color luminance using the corresponding slider.
Transparency is the ability of a material to let light go through it, and therefore let objects positioned behind it be seen. The more transparent a surface is, the more light goes through it.
A black color indicates that a material is not transparent (i.e., opaque), while a withe color indicates that a material is completely transparent.
Materials are opaque by default.
Rendering and display time will increase for transparent objects.
To modify the transparency color:
1. Click on the color sample.
2. Set the color following the dialog box’s instructions.
3. Click on the “OK” button when satisfied, or click on “Cancel”.
4. You can then set the color luminance using the corresponding slider.
The propagation of a light beam through a translucent or transparent material is determined by refraction. Light beams will be bent to a greater or lesser extent depending on the material they go through, as each material has a different refractive index.
A refraction type and a slider are used to define the refraction index. Of course, those settings are useful only for transparent materials.
You can select the refraction type from the list of choices:
- None: The refractive index is set to 1. The beam of light is not bent.
- Water: The index value is greater than 1.
- Lens: The index value is less than 1.
For these two types of refraction, you can set the angle of difraction of the light beams using the slider.
