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 Section 13.1: The View Tab Up Chapter 13: The Post Panel Section 13.3: The Data Tab  

13.2 The Material Tab

The Material Viewer gives an overview of the different materials (or parts) in the model. It can be accessed by selecting the “Materials” tab.
All the materials in the model are listed in the large window on the left. A material can be selected by clicking on the entry in the list. Multiple materials can be selected by holding down the shift button or the ctrl button.
The name of the material can be modified by first selecting it, and then editing the name field, which is located in the center of the material viewer. The enable button, next to the name field, can be used to toggle the state of the material. When a material is disabled, the corresponding part will not be evaluated when visualizing the model data. In that case, it will display with the material colors as defined in the Material Viewer. When enabled, the part will be evaluated, and will be colored according to the local node or element values. See Chapter 6 for more details on this process. The visible button, next to the enable button, can be used to toggle the visibility of the corresponding part in the Graphics View.
figure ../Figures/Material Viewer.png
When a material is selected, the property window on the bottom of the material viewer, lists the available properties that the user can change. The options are:
  • Color - sets the color of the material. By clicking on the colored button, the Color Selector dialog is opened and the color can be changed. Closing the Color Selector will automatically update the color in the Graphics view.
  • Specular - sets the specular color for the material. Click the colored button next to it to change the specular color.
  • Emission - sets the emission color for the material. Click the colored button next to it to change the emission color.
  • Mesh Color - sets the mesh color for the material. Click the colored button next to it to change the mesh color.
  • Shininess - sets the shininess value for the material. Slide the slide bar to change the shininess value.
  • Transparency - sets the transparency value for the material. Slide the bar to change the transparency value.
  • Show Mesh - if checked, the mesh lines will be drawn on top of the model.
  • Cast Shadows - allows the material to cast shadows on other materials. This has only an effect when shadows are enabled. Shadows can be enabled by selecting the corresponding button on the toolbar.
  • Clip - allows the material to be clipped when a clip plane is defined for the model.
 Section 13.1: The View Tab Up Chapter 13: The Post Panel Section 13.3: The Data Tab