materializing

A material (shader) consists of different channels that define the visual properties of a surface. The channels include colour (diffusion), specularity, reflection, transparency and refraction, various methods of deformation, masking and emissive. Each channel can be adjusted individually for every position on a surface. Deformations can be simulated by the projection of shades on the surfaces (relief / normal) or by means of parallax. In addition, it’s also possible to deform polygons of a 3D model directly based of a bump map using displacement. Materials can be assigned to entire assemblies, individual parts or polygon surfaces. For 3D models with UV map, it’s possible to draw directly on the model surface and all available channels. Shadows and other lighting effects can be pre-rendered and projected on the model surfaces using lightmaps (backing). For the simulation of physics, in addition to visual properties values for density, friction and elasticity of a surface can be defined.