Materials

Apply materials to elements in a building model.

Manage tab Settings panel Materials.

You can also apply materials to elements when defining their families.

Topics in this section

About Materials
Materials control how model elements display in views and rendered images.
About the Material Browser
Use the Material Browser dialog to find and manage materials for elements.
Video: Manage Materials
Define the properties of a material to change its graphic display, rendering appearance, thermal properties, or structural properties.
Create a Material
You can create a material from the Material Browser dialog.
Apply Materials to Elements
Apply materials to elements to provide a realistic visualization of the building model or to provide information that can be used in analysis and scheduling.
About Material Libraries
A material library is a collection of materials and related assets. Some libraries are provided by Autodesk, and others are created by users. You can create libraries to organize your materials.
Video: Manage a Materials Library
Create a library, add materials and assets to the library, and load the library into your project.
About Locked Libraries
A locked material library is protected from having materials modified, added, or deleted from its contents. If you create a standard material library for use by several members of a project team, you can lock the library to prevent unwanted changes.
Create a Material Library
You can create a library to contain a set of materials for easy access, such as a set that you use most often, or a set that you use with a particular project type, such as Commercial or Residential. You can also create categories within a library to organize the materials.
Share Materials and Material Libraries
You can share custom materials with other users by making them available in a material library that is shared.
About Material Properties and Assets
The properties that define a material are organized into assets. Assets are groups of properties that control certain characteristics or behaviors of an object.
Change the Graphics Properties of a Material
Change the display properties of a material in views by modifying options on the Graphics tab in the Material Editor panel.
Change the Appearance of a Material
To change the appearance properties of a material in a project, modify the options on the Appearance tab in the Material Editor panel of the Material Browser. This information controls how the material displays in the preview and in renderings.
Change the Physical Properties of a Material
To change the physical properties of a material in a project, modify options on the Physical tab in the Material Editor panel of the Material Browser. This information is used in the structural analysis of buildings.
Change the Thermal Properties of a Material
To change the thermal properties of a material in a project, modify options on the Thermal tab in the Material Editor panel of the Material Browser. This information is used in the thermal analysis of buildings.
Change the Identity Data of a Material
To change the general information associated with a material in a project, modify options on the Identity tab in the Material Editor panel of the Material Browser. This tab provides general information about the material, such as a description, manufacturer, and cost data.
Specify Custom Parameters for Materials
Use the Material Parameters dialog to specify values for custom parameters that you create.
About Materials and Imported ADSK Files
You can open or import ADSK (.adsk) files from Autodesk® Inventor.

Parent topic: Project Settings

Object Styles

Materials

Related Concepts