Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. Chapter 17 Materials in AutoCAD 443 Document Materials Area Materials are added to the Document Materials area from the Library area. Hovering over a material swatch in the Library area displays two options. See Figure 17-3. Picking Adds material to document adds the material to the Document Materials area. Picking Adds material to document and displays in editor adds the material to the Document Materials area and opens it in the materials editor (discussed later). After you add a material to the document, a swatch for the material appears in the Document Materials area. Picking the button on the right end of the Document Materials title bar opens a drop-down menu. The options in this menu allow you to control which materials are displayed in the Document Materials area. You can show all materials, only the mate- rials that are applied to objects in the drawing, selected materials, or unused mate- rials. Materials may be sorted by name, type, color, or category. They can be displayed in thumbnail, list, or text view, and the size of thumbnails can be changed. Refer to Figure 17-2. Picking the show/hide button on the Document Materials title bar hides the display of the Library area. Pick the button again to expand the Library area. Right-clicking on a material in the Document Materials area displays a shortcut menu. There are several options available in the shortcut menu: • Assign to Selection. This is active if one or more objects are selected in the scene. The material will be applied to the selected object(s). • Select Objects Applied To. All objects in the drawing that have the material applied to them are selected in the drawing window. • Edit. This displays the materials editor for editing the selected material. The materials editor is discussed later in this chapter. • Duplicate. A copy of the material is added to the drawing. A new material is added with the same name as the original material, but with a sequential number added to the name. • Rename. This option is used to change the name of the material. It is a good idea to rename all of your materials to meaningful names. • Delete. This option removes the material from the drawing. If it is currently being used in the drawing, a warning alerts you to this. Continuing with the deletion removes the material from the objects in the drawing as well as from the Document Materials area. It is not, however, removed from the library. • Add to. This option displays a cascading menu with two choices. The material may be added to the Favorites library in the Library area. This is excellent for organizing materials that you frequently use and want to make available for quick access in other drawings. You can also add the material to the active tool palette. • Purge All Unused. This option removes from the drawing all materials not currently assigned to an object. Pick to add material to document and display in materials editor Pick to add material to document Figure 17-3. Hovering over a material in the Library area displays two buttons that allow you to add the material to the document. Picking the button on the right adds the material to the document and displays it in the materials editor.