Change the appearance of materials

Note

If you plan to use ambient shadows, it is recommended you apply them first before you adjust your materials to make sure you get the desired effect. See Add ambient shadows.

Edit material properties by material

To change the properties of a material for all objects in the scene to which it is applied to:

Right-click on the material icon in the “Materials in this scene” category and select Properties... .

This also affects hidden objects or objects in alternatives. However, if the material is already added to an alternative, the material alternative will not change.

Edit material properties by object

To change the properties of a material for specific objects in the scene to which it is applied:

Select the surfaces you want to change.
Note
To change all occurrences of a material in the scene, right-click over a surface with that material and select All objects with this material from the menu.
Select Appearance > Material Properties (or press Ctrl+M).
The Material Properties window appears.

The controls available in this window vary by material. As you change their values, you can see the surfaces change in the scene.

For information on the parameters in this window, see Introduction to material properties.

Tip
To better see the material as you update its properties, deselect Hide selection highlighting in the Material Properties window.

Tip
You can select several objects with different materials. Only their common properties are displayed in the Material Properties window, and can be edited.