Materials

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The Materials command opens the Materials panel which specifies the color, finish, transparency, texture, and bump for use by the built-in Rhino renderer.

Note

Materials can be dragged and dropped onto any Material, Texture, and Environment control.
Any number of materials can be stored in the model. Materials can be designed in-place in the material and environment editors by adding textures as child. Opening a floating preview allows visualization of the texture during its development.
Colors can be dragged from a color swatch and dropped onto a different color swatch.
Drag a texture from a texture field and drop it onto a different texture field to move. Hold the Ctrl key to copy.
Material Editor displays materials used by objects in linked 3dm files. The materials can be used in the current model, but they are not editable. Double-click a linked block to edit the materials in a new Rhino window.

Materials panel

Panel options

Materials panel toolbar

The Materials panel has additional browsing tools.

Back

Selects the previous item in the list.

Forward

Selects the next item in the list.

Current item

Displays the current item icon and name.

Search

Click the search box (magnifying glass) to display a menu for searching names, notes, or tags.

Search Names

Limits the search to names.

Search Notes

Limits the search to notes.

Search Tags

Limits the search to tags.

When tags: is selected, a list of available tags appears. These tags are gathered from the materials, environments, and textures in the document.
In the tags list, arrow keys move up and down and the selected tag is appended to the search.
Type a semicolon to keep the selected tag and append a semicolon to the search.
Backspace removes the last tag from the search.
Once the focus is on the tags list, you can navigate the list using the keyboard with the semicolon and backspace keys appending and removing tags from the search without having to use the mouse.

Show Search Tips

Displays how 'name:', 'note:', 'tag:', '?', '#' and '^' are used for searching items.

Help

Thumbnail preview actions

Right-click a thumbnail to display a context menu.
Right-click the blank area of the thumbnail browser to display a context menu.
Right-click and drag in the thumbnail to change the view.
Double-click to display a larger preview window.
Double-click the large preview to open a floating window that can be re-sized to get a higher resolution view of the preview.
This window has all the same functionality as the original preview image including the context menu and the ability to drag and drop onto other materials or objects in the model.
Right-click the large preview window or the floating preview window to display the context menu.
Information entered to the Notes section appears in the tooltip when you mouse-over the thumbnail.

Drag and drop actions in the list section

Drag and drop to a different position in the list to reorder.
Drag and drop with Ctrl to a blank area to make a copy.
Drag and drop with Alt to a blank area to make an instanced copy.

Create New Material

To create a new material

In the thumbnail browser, click Create New Material.
On the menu, select a material type.

Import from material library

Imports a material (.rmtl) from the Render Content library folder.

Use a new material

Creates a new material. Choose a material type to use as a template.

Custom

Creates a new custom material.

Custom materials have all possible settings available in the editor.

Gem

Creates a new gem material.

Glass

Creates a new glass material.

Metal

Creates a new metal material.

Paint

Creates a new paint material.

Picture

Creates a new picture material.

Plaster

Creates a new plaster material.

Plastic

Creates a new plastic material.

More types...

Opens the content type browser to see more options for creating a new material.

Plug-in

Render materials are assigned using the current rendering plug-in application.

This option appears only if there is a rendering plug-in loaded.

Match

Changes the material properties to match a different object.

Command-line options

To access command-line options

Type a hyphen in front of the command name: -Properties.
Select Material or type m.

Command-line options

Assign

Rename

Library

Color

GlossColor

GlossFinish

Transparency

TextureMap

TransparencyMap

BumpMap

EnvironmentMap

Match

Edit

Name

The name of the material.

Type

Sets the material type.

Note

At any time, you can change the material to a different type using this control.
Changing a material type maintains all of the settings the material types share. For example, changing a gold metal material to a paint material maintains the gold diffuse color. Changing the gold to a gem matches the gem color and becomes Amber.

Custom

The default material is white and matte, with no reflectivity or transparency.

Color

The Color control sets the material's base (also called diffuse) color.

The color used to render surfaces, polysurfaces, or polygon meshes.

The color option does not affect the select wireframe display. To change the color of the wireframe display, change the color of the object's layer or set the color in Object Properties.

You can drag the color swatch to a folder to create a Rhino color file.

To add this color to a color library

Drag it from a folder to another color swatch in the Materials, Environments, or Textures panels, or you can drag it onto an object.

To change the color

Click the color swatch to select a color from the Select Color dialog box.
Click the menu arrow or right-click the swatch to open the context menu.

Menu options

The menu items displayed are based on the material types.

Color Picker

Open the Select Color dialog box.

Eye Dropper

Allow picking the color from anywhere on the screen.

Copy Color

Copy the color in the color swatch.

Paste Color

Paste the color from one color swatch to another.

Assign Texture

Select a texture as the material color.

Change Texture

Replace the current texture with a different one.

Edit Texture

Change the texture properties.

Remove Texture

Delete the texture, so the material displays the base color.
In the edit box, specify the percentage of strength the color.

Gloss finish

The Gloss finish control adjusts the highlight from matte to glossy and sets the color of the glossy area.

To change the glossiness

Move the slider to the right to increase the glossiness.

To set the gloss finish color

Select the gloss finish color using the color swatch.
Set the highlight color to match the base color for metallic materials. Set the gloss color to white for plastic materials.

Reflectivity

The Reflectivity setting sets the material's reflectivity amount and sets the reflective color.

To change the reflectivity amount

Move the slider to the right to increase the reflectivity.

To change the reflectivity color

Select the reflectivity color using the color swatch.

Transparency

Adjusts the transparency of an object in the rendered image.

To set the transparency value

Move the slider to the right to increase the transparency.

IOR (Index of Refraction)

This value defines the bending of a ray of light when it travels from a transparent material into another.

Right-click in the value box to bring up a list of predefined values for different materials.

Example IOR values are shown in the following table:

Material	IOR
Vacuum	1.0
Air	1.00029
Ice	1.309
Water	1.33
Glass	1.52 to 1.8
Emerald	1.57
Ruby/Sapphire	1.77
Diamond	2.417

To change the transparency color

Select the transparency color using the color swatch.

Textures

Textures (images or procedural textures) can be used for color, transparency, bump, and environment.

Images changed outside of Rhino in Photoshop or a similar program automatically update in the rendered view.
Materials in the material library use textures stored on the internet the first time they are used.

Supported image formats

Rhino supports the following file formats:

Transparency is not supported in these formats:

JPEG - JFIF Compliant (*.jpg, *.jpeg, *.jpe)
Windows Bitmap (*.bmp)

Transparency is supported in these formats:

DDS files (*.dds)
HDRi files (*.hdr, *. hdri)
OpenEXR files (*.exr)
Portable Network Graphics (*.png)
Tagged Image File Format (*.tif, *.tiff)
Truevision Targa (*.tga)

To specify an image

Click the texture control.
(click to assign texture)
The check box automatically becomes checked the first time you do this. You can clear the check box to turn off the assignment.
Select an image file to use.
In the edit box, specify the percentage of strength the image will use to affect the color, transparency, bump, or environment.

Color

Specifies a texture to use as the material's color.

Note: Texture colors override mesh vertex colors. Reducing texture opacity blends texture colors with vertex colors.

Transparency

Sets a texture to use as the material's transparency.

Bump

Sets a texture to use as the material's Bump or Normal map depending on the loaded image.

Bump and Normal maps add details to surfaces in rendering without modifying the shape of the surface.

Bump map

Uses grayscale values of an image to make a surface appear bumpy.

A terrain material with a bump map makes the Moon look bumpy in rendering.

Normal map

Uses RGB values to represent the x, y, and z coordinates of surface normals.

A chrome material with a normal map adds details of a coin to the flat cylinder in rendering.

Environment

Sets a texture to use as the material's environment. This will be mapped onto the surface as though it were being reflected.

The image should be an angular map or light probe projection (spherical) image. Other image projections will produce the reflection effect, but it will be distorted and not produce the realistic environment reflection.

Advanced Settings

Self-illumination

Allows the material to render the diffuse color with shadowing and shading by enabling diffuse lighting.

Diffuse lighting off (left) and on (right).

On

If this setting is on, the object renders with shadowing and shading.

Off

If this setting is off, the object will render the diffuse color all over with no shadowing or shading. Turning this setting off ensures that the color the texture of picture frames remains constant over the surface.

Fresnel reflectivity

Causes objects to reflect fully at glancing angles and only slightly reflect when the object is seen head on.

This effect simulates many transparent or semi-transparent materials, such as glass, plastic, and materials that have a thin transparent glaze, such as laminated paper, polished woods, and paint.

Alpha transparency

Allows images with an alpha channel for transparency to make the object transparent in the areas of the image where the alpha channel is applied.

Alpha transparency on (left) and off (right).

Alpha transparency

Reflection polish

Makes the surface reflections fuzzy. For surfaces that are perfectly reflective, such as mirrors and chrome, use 100% polish. Lower values model materials like certain plastics and the sanded surface of frosted glass.

Changing this setting can increase rendering time.

Transparent clarity

Controls the clarity of the material.

Frosted

Creates translucent materials like tracing paper or hand-made glass.

Changing this setting can increase rendering time.

Polished

Creates clear materials such as water, float glass, and diamonds.

Emission color

Adds a color to the shaded result. It does not take into account the lighting, so if the emission color is white, the object will always appear white. If the emission color is gray, all parts of the object will appear brighter than they would otherwise.

Orange material emission color black (left); emission color blue (right).

Gems

The preset Gem materials offer a choice of preset gems. Other settings are pre-determined by the gem type.

Type

Amber	Amethyst	Aquamarine
Diamond	Emerald	Ruby
Sapphire

Glass

The preset Glass material type allows the Color, Frost, and index of refraction settings to be modified. Other settings are pre-determined.

Glass

Color

Sets the diffuse color.

Transparent clarity

Sets the Transparency clarity.

Transparency clarity

Index of refraction

Sets the index of refraction.

Metal

The preset Metal material allows the Color and Polish to be modified.

Other settings are pre-determined by the metal type.

Brass	Bronze	Chrome
Copper	Gold	Gold (Yellow)
Platinum	Silver	Stainless steel
Steel	Titanium

Color

Sets the diffuse color.

Common metal colors are presented in the limited palette.

Reflection polish

Sets the Reflection polish.

Reflection Polish

Bump texture

Sets the texture style for the bump from a limited list.

Hatch styles available

None

Hatch

Cross Hatch

Dots

Grit

Leather

Speckle

Scale

Sets the size of the bump pattern.

Paint

The preset Paint material allows the Color and Glossiness to be modified.

Red paint

Color

Sets the diffuse color.

Glossiness

Sets the Fresnel reflectivity and Reflection polish.

Picture

The preset Picture materials place a single image on an object using surface mapping.

The Picture material allows the image file, the Self-illumination, Grayscale, and Transparency settings to be modified.

Note: Tiling cannot be modified for a picture texture.

Texture

File

Sets the image file to be used.

Self-illuminated

Turns self-illumination on.

Self-illuminated on (left) and off (right).

Grayscale

Sets the image to grayscale.

Transparency

Sets the transparency of the image.

Use alpha channel

Uses the alpha channel in the image to set the transparency.

Use color mask

Uses a specific color in the image to set the transparency.

Color mask transparency off (left) and on (right).

Object transparency

The transparency in the image also makes the object to which the material is applied transparent in the areas covered by the color or alpha channel transparency.

Plaster

The preset Plaster material is the default matte, non-reflective, untextured material. Only the Color can be changed.

Color

Sets the diffuse color.

Plastic

The preset Plastic material allows the Color, Reflectivity, Polish, Transparency, and Clarity to be changed.

Color

Sets the diffuse Color.

Bump texture

Sets the texture style for the bump from a limited list.

Hatch styles available

None

Hatch

Cross Hatch

Dots

Grit

Leather

Speckle

Scale

Sets the size of the bump pattern.

Save and share render content

Render content (materials, environments, and textures) are stored in models. They can also be saved to files and shared across models. The Libraries panel displays the default content folder. Content can be dragged and dropped between Rhino sessions or between a Rhino window and a disk folder.

Command-line options
ShowPanel=Yes / No / Toggle	Displays the Materials panel.
Options	Displays command-line options. Add Delete Rename Change Duplicate LoadFromFile SaveToFile AssignToObjects

Note

Materials panel toolbar

Back

Forward

Current item

Search

Search Names

Search Notes

Search Tags

Show Search Tips

Menu

Help

Thumbnail preview actions

Drag and drop actions in the list section

Create New Material

To create a new material

Import from material library

Use a new material

Custom

Gem

Glass

Metal

Paint

Picture

Plaster

Plastic

More types...

Plug-in

Match

Tags

Command-line options

To access command-line options

Command-line options

Edit

Name

Type

Note

Custom

To add this color to a color library

To change the color

Menu options

Color Picker

Eye Dropper

Copy Color

Paste Color

Assign Texture

Change Texture

Edit Texture

Remove Texture

To change the glossiness

To set the gloss finish color

To change the reflectivity amount

To change the reflectivity color

To set the transparency value

IOR (Index of Refraction)

To change the transparency color

Textures

Supported image formats

To specify an image

Bump map

Normal map

Advanced Settings

Self-illumination

On

Off

Fresnel reflectivity

Alpha transparency

Reflection polish

Transparent clarity

Frosted

Polished

Emission color

Gems

Type

Glass

Color

Transparent clarity

Index of refraction

Metal