Appearances on surface data are often used to communicate different points of interest in a model. For example, color can be used to show the last revision of entities on a part. The ability to place an appearance on entities and surfaces assists in visually communicating design intent. If you have Inventor, specific appearances also make it easier to identify unique surface parts in an assembly.
Appearance on part modeling surface
Procedural surfaces, sometimes called construction surfaces, are generated in general Inventor modeling or part modeling. They are not the surfaces imported from Step or IGES found in the construction environment.
Appearances enhance the display of features and faces in part modeling using a variety of parameters - Shiny, Opaque, Textures with scale, rotation, and choice of bitmaps.
Materials each have an appearance assigned to them. Appearance helps distinguish one material from another.
Parts have a material assignment. Selecting a part shows the current part appearance in the Inventor Quick Access toolbar. However, selecting a part feature does not show the selected feature appearance in the Inventor Standard toolbar,
Features and faces have appearance overrides.
Appearance on construction environment solid and surface
Construction environment surfaces use the part appearance. Construction environment bodies, such as solids, surfaces, quilts, and wires can have appearances. If faces have colors in the original .iges or .step file, corresponding appearances are applied and remain after translation.