Material settings (Basic Mode)

Contains controls for setting material parameters in Basic Mode.

Constrain efficiency to <Value>

If on, the efficiency of the material is constrained to the value shown. The efficiency of a material is defined as the total percentage of incoming light that is re-transmitted back into the environment. This includes diffuse and specular reflections, as well as the light transmitted through transpareny and translucency. When the efficiency is 100% or greater, it is displayed in red, warning that the material is unrealistic. Typical materials in the real world generally range in efficiency from 30% to 70%.

With the efficiency constrained, changing any of the Dark/Bright, Dull/Shiny, or Opaque/Clear material parameters can automatically cause changes to the other two parameters in order to maintain the displayed efficency value. If, however, a setting is completely off (set to the leftmost setting of the slider), then it will not be adjusted automatically when other settings are modified.

If off, each of the Dark/Bright, Dull/Shiny, and Opaque/Clear material parameters may be edited individually. Such changes will affect the efficency value of the material, but will not automatically change the values of the other two parameters.

Color button

Defines the color used for the material when rendered.

Clicking the arrow icon opens a menu with the following options:

• Custom
— Use the custom color. You can define the custom color by clicking the color button to open the Base Color dialog box, which lets you define the color. When Custom is selected, the color button displays the selected Base Color.

• Use element color
— Uses the color of the element in the model.

Pattern button

Defines whether or not a pattern map is used by the material. Click the arrow icon to open a menu with the following options:

• On
— A pattern map, if defined, will be used in the material. Hovering the pointer over the pattern icon will display the name of the current pattern map.

Click the icon to open the Open Image file dialog box, which lets you select an image file for use as a pattern map. After selecting the image file, the Map Editor dialog box opens, which lets you edit the settings for the pattern map. This includes options for selecting an image file, a procedure, or a gradient.

• Off
— No pattern map will be used by the material.

Color/Pattern slider

Specifies the amount of color versus pattern map that is used in the material.

Dark/Bright slider

Specifies the brightness of the material under direct illumination (Diffuse in Advanced settings).

Dull/Shiny slider

Specifies how shiny the surface appears with respect to reflected light (Specular, Reflect, Finish in Advanced settings).

Opaque/Clear slider

Specifies how much you can see through the surface (Transparency in Advanced settings).

Smooth/Bumpy slider

Specifies how bumpy the surface appears when used with a bump map (Bump scale in Advanced settings).

Bump button

Defines whether or not a bump map is used by the material. Click the arrow icon to open a menu with the following options:

• On
— A bump map, if defined, is used. Click the Bump icon to open the Open Image file dialog box, which lets you select an image file for use as a pattern map. After selecting the image file, the Map Editor dialog box opens, which lets you edit the settings for the bump map.

• Off
— No bump map will be used by the material.

• Link to pattern
— Uses whatever is defined for the pattern map — Nothing, Image, Gradient, or Procedure.

• Unlink
— (Available only if the bump map currently is linked to the pattern map) Lets you unlink the bump map from the pattern map.

Reflective

If on, reflections can be seen in the surface (Reflect in the Advance settings).

Metallic

Specifies the color of reflected light (Specular color). If the toggle is greyed out, then the material currently uses a Custom color, which is defined in the Advance Mode settings.

If on, the reflected color is the same as the base material color.

If off, the material is considered to be plastic, reflecting white.