Working with Materials
Materials are used to apply colors or map textures onto objects in order to make them look realistic.
To work with materials, you will use the Palette, material library and Inspector.
The program includes a large material library. In addition to this standard set, more materials can be imported as part of imported objects and added to the library.
The material library is used together with the Palette. In your workflow, the Palette acts as a clipboard standing between the library and your document.
To open the Palette, tap on the Materials button in the app bar. The Palette opens up above the canvas.
The Palette can display either one of material library categories or Favorites. Favorites acts as a temporary material storage. You can add materials to it from the library, or from your project. The name of the current category is indicated in the middle of the window above thumbnails.
To select a material in the Palette, tap on its icon. You can select only one material at a time. A selected material is indicated by the blue background and gear icon.
Actions available for a selected material are listed in its contextual menu. To bring it up, tap on the gear icon.
To display one of categories on the Palette, tap on the Library button, and choose a library category or Favorites.
To open the material library, tap on the Library button on the left side of the Palette, and then tap on the Manage Library button. To close the library, tap on the Back button. When the library is open, the Palette displays Favorites.
All materials in the library are grouped into categories. To open any category, tap on its icon. To preview materials, scroll through the icons horizontally. In the material view, you can scroll through the content of all categories. Custom categories appear at the end of the list.
To switch from the material view to the category view, use the pinch gesture. To return to the material view, use the stretch gesture.
The material library shows currently available commands in the app bar area.
To select a material, swipe up or down across its icon. To deselect it, swipe again. You can select multiple materials at a time in this view. A selected material is indicated by a blue frame.
To deselect all selected materials, tap on the empty space in the library. This is useful if a selected material has been scrolled aside and is not visible any more.
The Pro version lets you add new materials to the library. To add a material, tap on the Import Material button, select the category where the new material should be stored, then select a graphic file as a texture.