Dialog page - Material

OpenOffice.org 2.x Draw Guide

Chapter 7: Working with 3D Objects

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• Creating 3D objects
• Creating 3D bodies
• Producing 3D shapes
• Editing 3D objects
• 3D settings for 3D bodies
• Dialog page - Geometry
• Dialog page - Shading
• Dialog page - Illumination
• Dialog page - Textures
• Dialog page - Material
• 3D settings for 3D shapes
• Combining objects in 3D scenes
• Examples for your own experiments

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On this page (see Figure 37) you can assign certain material properties to the 3D object.

Figure 37: The Material dialog page

In the selection list under Favorites are the most commonly used materials (see Figure 38).

Figure 38: The favorites (from left to right): Metal, Gold, Chrome, Plastic and Wood

With the individual color parameters additional effects can be produced. The meaning of these parameters corresponds to those on the Illumination dialog page.

Materials and textures can be combined with one another. With all settings the material of an object is only simulated and it is sometimes a matter of trial and error to achieve the desired result.

Don't use too high a brightness value for individual colors – these are all additive and it is easy to end up with a totally white 'colored' area.

The Illumination color brightens those parts of the object which lie in shadow. The body is thus a little more illuminated. With textures the Illumination color is combined with the white color part of the texture. On the left the object has a black Illumination color, on the right bright green.

With the Specular color the reflecting capability of the surface is simulated. The position of the illuminated point is determined by the setting of the first light source. Left: Set the Specular color the same as the object color and the illumination point intensity to a low value, in order to give the impression of a matt body. Right: Set the Illumination point color the same as the light source color, in order to give a shiny appearance to the object surface.

Metallic surfaces and glass are not so well simulated, because the impression of material is produced in this case through reflection. Such simulation is (at the moment) not possible to be calculated by OpenOffice.org.