Creating and Modifying Material Palettes

The Material Editor dialog box is used to create or modify a material palette.

Material characteristics are stored in material palette “.pal” files. Sample palette files with a wide selection of materials are supplied with MicroStation. You can use these materials, create your own, or modify an existing material.

As you make adjustments to materials in the Material Editor dialog box, all changes are stored in memory only, until you Save the palette file to disk. This lets you recover from unintentional errors. For example, if you accidentally delete a material, you can simply re-open the palette file without first saving the modified version to disk.

Any materials, or palettes, that have been modified in the session appear in blue in the tree view, while unchanged materials and palettes appear in black.

You can use drag-and-drop to copy or move materials from one or more palettes to another in the tree view.

It is good practice to place any materials that you create in palette files separate from the ones that are delivered. This avoids the chance of them being overwritten with any software updates.

To modify a material definition

1. In the Material Editor dialog box, select a material from the Materials drop-down menu.
   Settings for the selected material are displayed. The material is displayed in the Display area.


2. Make required modifications to the material's settings.
   The Display area updates to display the current material. The original material is replaced (in memory) by the new definition, and will be used in the next render.


3. From the dialog box's Palette menu, choose Save, or click the Save Palette icon, to permanently record the modification.
   The palette file is saved with the new material definition.

To preview changes to a material's definition

1. In the Material Editor dialog box's Materials option menu, select a material.


2. From the Material menu, choose Preview Element.


3. Identify an element in the model.


4. Accept the element.
   The element is rendered with the material applied.

To preview the material on multiple elements, use the Element Selection tool to select the elements before clicking the Preview button.

To define a new material

1. In the Material Editor dialog box, click the New button.
   The Create New Material dialog box opens.


2. In the Material Name field, key in the name of the new material.


3. Click the OK button.
   The Create New Material dialog box closes. The new material name appears in the Materials field of the Define Materials dialog box. All settings are set to the default values.


4. Adjust the settings and select a pattern map or bump map, if desired.
   After each adjustment, the Display updates to display the current material definition.


5. From the Material Editor dialog box's File menu, choose Save Palette.
   or
   Click the Save Palette icon.
   The palette file is saved to disk with the new material definition.

To avoid conflicts, each material's name should be unique in the material palette and any other material palette that might be used at the same time.

The characters “[“ and “]” should not be used in the names of materials applied to models that will be exported as VRML worlds.

To make a copy of a material

1. From the Material option menu, choose the material to copy.
   or
   In the Palette/Material tree select the material.


2. Click the Copy icon.


3. In the Palette/Material tree select the palette into which the material is to be copied (may be the same palette from which it is being copied).


4. Click the Past icon.


5. (Optional) Make adjustments to the settings for the copied material.


6. From the Define Materials dialog box's File menu, choose Save Palette.
   The palette file is saved to disk with the new material definition.

Using drag-and-drop to copy a material(s)

1. In the Palette/Material tree select the material.


2. (Optional) Use <Ctrl> data to points select other materials to copy.
   Materials may be selected from multiple palettes in the tree view.


3. Holding down the <Ctrl> key, click and drag the material(s) to the palette to which you want the materials copied.
   If you are copying in the same material palette, or to another material palette that has materials of the same name, the copied materials will have a number appended to their names. You then can rename them.

Using drag-and-drop to move a material(s) between palettes

1. In the Palette/Material tree select the material to move.


2. (Optional) Use <Ctrl> data points to select other materials to copy.
   Materials may be selected from multiple palettes in the tree view.


3. Holding down the <Ctrl> key, click and drag the material(s) to the palette to which you want the materials moved.
   If you are moving materials to another material palette that has materials of the same name, the moved materials will have a number appended to their names. You then can rename them.

To rename a material

1. In the Palette/Material tree right-click the material, and select Rename from the menu.
   The material highlights, ready to be edited.


2. Change the material name to the new name.


3. From the Material Editor dialog box's Palette menu, choose Save.
   or
   Click the Save Palette icon.
   The palette file is saved to disk with the renamed material definition.

To delete a material

1. In the Palette/Material tree right-click the material, and select Delete from the menu.


2. An Alert box opens, asking if you are sure that you want to delete the material.


3. Click Yes.
   The Alert box closes and the material is deleted.


4. From the Material Editor dialog box's Palette menu, choose Save.
   or
   Click the Save Palette icon.
   The palette file is saved to disk with the deleted material definition removed.

To import a material from another palette file

1. In the Material Editor dialog box, select the palette file into which you want to import a material.


2. From the Material menu, choose Import.
   The Select Palette File dialog box opens.


3. Use controls in the Select Palette File dialog box to select the palette file from which you wish to import materials.


4. Click the Open button.


5. The Select Palette File dialog box closes and the Import Materials dialog box opens with a list box displaying the names of the materials in the selected palette file.
   Any materials having the same names as those in the open palette file are displayed in red.


6. Click the name of the material to be imported.


7. (Optional) In the Import As field enter a new name for the material to be imported as.


8. (Optional) Select further materials to import, by holding down the <Ctrl> key as you click their names, renaming them, if necessary, as you select them.


9. Click the Import button.
   The Import Materials dialog box closes and the selected material(s) is added to those in the open palette file in the Material Editor dialog box.


10. From the Material Editor dialog box's Palette menu, choose Save.
    or
    Click the Save Palette icon.
    The palette is saved with the new materials included.