You can edit an existing material (provided in the Autodesk materials library), or start with a generic material.
You cannot modify the materials in the Autodesk materials library, but you can use them as a basis for new materials. The Materials Editor provides property settings such as glossiness, transparency, highlights, and texture. The available property settings change, depending on the type of material you are updating.
To edit the settings, you can double-click a materials swatch or use the context menu.
Default Generic material has the following properties.
You can assign a color or a custom texture, which can be either an image or a procedural texture.
The following properties can be used to create specific effects. Additional properties are available, depending on the type of material.
The Translucency and Index of Refraction properties become editable only when the Transparency value is greater than 0. A translucent object, such as frosted glass, lets some light pass through and scatters some light within the object. At 0.0, the material is not translucent; at 1.0, the material is as translucent as possible.
The index of refraction controls the degree to which light rays are bent as they pass through the material and thus distort the appearance of objects on the other side of the object. For example, at 1.0, the object behind the transparent object is not distorted. At 1.5, the object is distorted greatly, as if it were seen through a glass marble.
When you use transparency for frosting or translucent effects, reflectivity is maintained. Cutout areas are not reflective.
White areas of the map render as fully self illuminating. Black areas render with no self illumination. Gray areas render as partially self illuminating, depending on the grayscale value.
Use bump maps when you want to take the smoothness off a surface, or to create an embossed look. Keep in mind, however, that the depth effect of a bump map is limited because it does not affect the profile of the object and cannot be self-shadowing. If you want extreme depth in a surface, you should use modeling techniques instead. The bumps are a simulation created by perturbing face normals before the object is rendered. Because of this, bumps do not appear on the silhouette of bump-mapped objects.
The Bump map slider adjusts the degree of bumpiness. Higher values render as higher relief and negative values inverses the relief.
Use Amount to adjust the height of the bump. Higher values render as higher relief and low values render as low relief. Grayscale images make effective bump maps.