Creating and editing materials

• Placing and editing patterns  on the floor plan
• Saving patterns as materials
• Editing the material properties

Check out our webinar on editing materials, which details how you can create and edit materials and textures.

There are many pre-installed materials and textures in the program, but design often requires a unique material that users create for themselves. The dialog for creating new materials and editing existing materials is the same.

Location: Ribbon bar > Interior > Material > Creating own materials

Placing and editing patterns  on the floor plan
Place the desired pattern on the floor plan. The program provides several options for editing the image:

• • Scale: pages can be resized proportionally at once.
  • Stretch: you can stretch the image horizontally or vertically.
  •        Flip: you can mirror the image horizontally or vertically.
  •        Reload: refreshes the image on the floor plan.
  • Recoloring image: Adds a color correction to each pixel in the image.
  • Make a picture transparent: you can select which colors and to what extent the program will make the program transparent.
  • Convert image to grayscale: converts color images to grayscale.
  • Generate normal map: makes the appearance of surfaces uneven, changes normal vectors of the surface.
  • Invert color: the program assigns the opposite of all the colors in the image.
  • Make seamless pattern: cutting off the edges of the image creates a pattern that, when multiplied, creates a continuous pattern.
  • Make seamless pattern quad: the program mirrors the image in all directions.

Saving patterns as materials
You can create a material from the placed pattern two ways.

1. Save the pattern as a material. Right-click on the pattern and select Save > Save As Material. In the pop-up window, set the desired name and location in the Design Center, then click OK. Find the material in the library and click on the gear icon in the upper right corner, then select Settings.
2. Save the image from floor plan view to your computer. Right-click on the pattern and select Save > Save as... option. Save the image to the desired folder on your computer. Click on the Ribbon bar > Interior > Material > Creating own material option to create the material and add the saved image by clicking on the Browse... button.

Editing the material properties
Use one of the methods described in the previous paragraph to open the Material properties dialog.

1. Basic settings: here you can set the name of the material.

2. Physical properties: here you can adjust the position of the pattern, the replacement color, and the pattern of the material. In the case of Tile, you can adjust the size and direction of the tiles. In the case of Stretch, the material is stretched over the entire surface.

3. Appearance: the first step is to set the render style, which adjusts the settings at the bottom to match the selected surface type. This allows you to adjust the 3D appearance of the material as shown by the object in the preview window in the upper right corner.

4. Thermal parameters: here you can find the settings required for architectural calculations, which can be customized.

5. Hatch in 3D: here you can set the replacement pattern and its parameters shown in the Texture display mode on the elevation view.

6. Hatch on section: here you can set the pattern of the section and its parameters.