Working with Materials

The Material Library Panel

To open the Library panel when it is hidden, click the Library button in the toolbar.

Also, you can press Ctrl-Shift-L to open or close the Library panel.

Materials in the library are grouped into categories by types. To select a category, use the drop-down menu at the top of the panel. The Favorites category can be used to gather materials that you are currently working with.

After importing an object, the program can create a temporary category called Imported. This category is used to store materials of imported objects. If you wish to use these materials later, copy them to a standard or custom category.

To search for materials, click on the magnifying glass icon and type in what you are looking for.

Material's Context Menu

To open the context menu, select a material and right-click on it. A second way is to select a material and click on a gear icon at the top of the panel. The second method gives you access to extra commands related to managing categories. This will be explained later.

The context menu includes these commands:

• Add to Favorites – adds a copy of a selected material to the Favorites category.
• Export Library Archive – export selected material(s).
• Import Library Archive – import materials from a package created by the Export command.
• Cut – removes a selected material and places its copy to the Clipboard.
• Copy – copies a selected material to the Clipboard.
• Paste – pastes a material from the Clipboard to the open category.
• Delete – removes a selected material. The materials present in the library by default cannot be deleted.
• Undo – cancels the last operation you performed.
• Redo – reverses the last Undo operation.

Customizing the Material Library

Commands that are used to customize the library are located in the drop-down menu. To open it, click on the gear icon.

You can use the New Category…, New Nested Category… and Delete Current Category commands from the drop-down menu to add and remove material categories. The standard categories cannot be removed.

Using the Cut, Copy and Paste commands, you can duplicate materials or move them from one category to another.

The standard materials that are present in the library by default, cannot be deleted.

Creating New Materials

You can create a new material using a graphic file as a texture.

To create a new material:

1. Open a category that should store your material.
2. Click the gear icon at the top of the Library panel and choose Import Material…
3. Select a graphic file and click Open.

The name of the material will have the name of the graphic file at the beginning. It may make sense to rename that file as you want to name your future material in the library.

Exporting and Importing User's Materials

One or multiple materials, that you added to the library, can be exported as a *.lhzl file. This file can be imported on the same or another computer in order to add items, that are inside it, to the library.

To export, select one or multiple materials in the library. Then bring up the context menu and choose Export Library Archive.

You cannot export materials of the standard or any additional library.

To import, open the context menu and choose Import Library Archive. After that, select a *.lhzl file.

Imported materials will be added to a category with the same name as one in which those materials were originally located. The respective category will be created automatically if it is not present in your library.