Assets provided by Evermotion

Important: Update Your Chaos License Server by January 28, 2025
To ensure uninterrupted access to your licenses, an essential update is required by January 28, 2025. Failure to update your Chaos license server will result in the loss of access to your licenses. For detailed instructions, please visit the FAQ Article.


Table of Contents

This page provides information about the Materials tab in Chaos Vantage.



Overview


The Materials tab offers a list of all materials in the scene. This includes materials imported with .vrscene file.



Scene sub-state


Scene sub-state – A dropdown list of all scene material assignments sub-states.

Create (Vantage_CCtab_CreateSubState.png) – Creates a new scene material assignments sub-state.

Update (Vantage_CCtab_UpdateSubState.png) – Updates a scene material assignments sub-state.

Delete (Vantage_CCtab_DeleteSubState.png) – Deletes a scene material assignments sub-state. Double-click to delete.

 Note that the default scene sub-state cannot be updated or deleted.


EnvironmentTab_SceneSubstate.png



Clay mode


Clay mode – When enabled, overrides all scene materials with a simple grey (default) material.

Clay color – Specifies the color for the override material.

Edges – When enabled, renders geometry edges with a specified Color and Thickness in pixels on top of the clay override material.

Color – Specifies the color of the edges when Edges is enabled.

Thickness – Specifies the width of the edges in pixels when Edges is enabled.

Use reflection – When enabled, the original material's reflection setup is used instead of overriding it.

Use refraction – When enabled, the original material's refraction setup is used instead of overriding it.

Use bump – When enabled, the original material's bump setup is used instead of overriding it.

Use opacity – When enabled, the original material's opacity setup is used instead of overriding it.

Use self illumination – When enabled, the original material's self illumination setup is used instead of overriding it.


Vantage_MaterialsTab_ClayMode.png



Material lister


ButtonDescription

Vantage_MaterialsTab_AssignMtl.png

Assigns a material from the list to the selected objects in the scene. Available only when a material is selected.

Vantage_MaterialsTab_SelectObj.png

Selects all scene objects based on the material that has been selected in the list. Available only when a material is selected.

Vantage_MaterialsTab_SelectMtl.png

Selects the material of the selected object in the scene. Available only when an object is selected.

Imports a material(s) from an external supported file and adds it to the Material lister.

Vantage_MaterialsTab_Preview.png

Opens the Preview scene settings dialog.

Vantage_MaterialsTab_Search.png

Filters the material list and shows only those materials that contain the input string.

Vantage_MaterialsTab_Clear.png

Clears the filter string.

Vantage_MaterialsTab_Filter.png

Filter menu that enables the listing of materials based on type e.g. Generic, 2 Sided, Multi material, etc. Use Ctr + click to isolate a selection.

Vantage_MaterialsTab_FilterMenu.png

Vantage_MaterialsTab_Grid.png

Controls the amount of columns in the materials list:

Vantage_MaterialsTab_GridMenu.png

Vantage_MaterialsTab_Sort.png

Sorts the material list:

Vantage_MaterialsTab_SortMenu.png


Vantage_MaterialsTab_MaterialLister.png



A context menu is available when right-clicking a material thumbnail:

Select objects with this material – Selects all scene objects based on the material that has been selected in the list. ()

Assign this material to the selection – Assigns a material from the list to the selected objects in the scene. ()

Assign this material to the selection and its children – Assigns a material from the list to the selected objects and their children in the hierarchy in the scene.

Delete unused Cosmos material assets – Deletes any currently unused imported Cosmos material assets. This frees up GPU memory.


Vantage_MaterialsTab_MaterialsMenu.png



Materials can also be assigned to objects by drag-and-drop. There are also modifier key combinations with drag-and-drop with the following functionality:

  • Alt+drag-and-drop replaces material on all object with same material.
  • Ctrl+drag-and-drop assigns material to objects and its children.



Preview Scene Settings


The Preview scene settings dialog contains options to customize how the material thumbnails are rendered.


Load vrscene – Loads a custom vrscene file for the material preview scene.

The material preview scene has the following requirements in order to be loaded properly:

  • scene must contain at least 1 object with '__thumbnail_target' user attribute
  • scene objects(nodes) that will be listed in the Preview mesh dropdown must have a '__thumbnail_target' user attribute set. Different objects must have incremental values e.g __thumbnail_target=1, __thumbnail_target=2


Features of the loaded material preview scene:

  • scene lights will be listed and their color, intensity and enable/disable properties can be modified
  • scene cameras will be listed in the Preview camera dropdown list
  • objects that have a '__thumbnail_target' user attribute set will be listed in the Preview mesh dropdown

Please note that the loaded scene will replace the current preview scene. If there are no lights and/or an environment texture or color set then the preview thumbnail will render black.


Samples – Specifies the samples per pixel for refining the material thumbnail. Low values speed up thumbnail generation at the cost of quality.

Preview mesh – Specifies the mesh to be used in the material thumbnail:

Vantage_MaterialTab_PreviewSceneSettings_PreviewMesh_Sphere.png

Sphere

Vantage_MaterialTab_PreviewSceneSettings_PreviewMesh_Cube.png

Cube

Vantage_MaterialTab_PreviewSceneSettings_PreviewMesh_Cylinder.png

Cylinder

Vantage_MaterialTab_PreviewSceneSettings_PreviewMesh_Shaderball.png

Shaderballl

Vantage_MaterialTab_PreviewSceneSettings_PreviewMesh_Liquid.png

Liquid

Vantage_MaterialTab_PreviewSceneSettings_PreviewMesh_Cloth.png

Cloth


Preview camera – Specifies the render camera for the material thumbnails:

Vantage_MaterialTab_PreviewSceneSettings_PreviewCamera_Main.png

Main

Vantage_MaterialTab_PreviewSceneSettings_PreviewCamera_Zoom.png

Zoom


Environment mode – Specifies the mode which will be used for scene lighting.

Texture – Enables the use of an environment texture for lighting. When this option is selected, Load environment and Rotation parameters appear.
Solid Color – Enables the use of a solid color for lighting. When this option is selected, Environment Color parameter appears.

Load environment – Loads an image for Environment. This option is available only when Environment mode is set to Texture.

Flip horizontally – Flips the environment image horizontally. This option is available only when Environment mode is set to Texture.

Rotation – Specifies a rotation angle in degrees for the Environment texture. This option is available only when Environment mode is set to Texture.

Intensity – Specifies the intensity of the Environment lighting.

Rim Light – Enables/disables and controls the intensity and color of the rim light in the default preview scene.

Fill Light – Enables/disables and controls the intensity and color of the fill light in the default preview scene.

Front Light – Enables/disables and controls the intensity and color of the front light in the default preview scene.

Internal Lights – Enables/disables and controls the intensity and color of the internal light in the default preview scene. Useful for previewing two sided materials.

Close – Closes the Preview scene settings dialog.


Vantage_MaterialsTab_PreviewSceneSettings.png

Was this helpful?