Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. Chapter 17 Materials in AutoCAD 447 The Materials Editor palette is displayed by picking the dialog box launcher button at the lower-right corner of the Materials panel in the Visualize tab of the ribbon. See Figure 17-6. You can also type the MATEDITOROPEN command, double-click on a material swatch in the materials browser, or pick the Opens/Closes material editor button in the lower-right corner of the browser. In addition, you can hover over a material swatch in the Document Materials area to display a small pencil icon. Picking this icon opens the materials editor. A preview of the material appears at the top of the materials editor. Picking the drop-down menu button at the lower-right corner of the material swatch displays three menus. The options in these menus allow you to change the geometry, type of lighting, and quality used for the preview. The Scene menu provides 13 shapes from which to select: Sphere, Cube, Cylinder, Canvas, Plane, Object, Vase, Draped Fabric, Glass Curtain Wall, Walls, Pool of Liquid, Utility, and Torus. The Environment menu provides four basic lighting options that allow you to preview a material in a setting similar to where you may be using it. The Grid Light option simulates overhead neutral-color lighting that you might fi nd in an offi ce environment. The Plaza option simulates an outdoor lighting environment with a bluish tint and strong shadows. The Snowfield option produces soft, even light that appears to be coming from everywhere. The Warm Light option produces a yellowish cast similar to incandescent indoor lighting. The options in the Render Settings menu set the quality of the preview image. The Quick option provides a good quality preview, but the environment settings are poorly shown. The Draft option displays the environment nicely and will take a few seconds to update (depending on material complexity and computer speed). The Production option provides the highest quality, but the resulting display may take a few minutes to update. The updates occur whenever you change a material property. MATEDITOROPEN Type MATEDITOROPEN Figure 17-6. The materials editor. A—A preview of the material appears at the top of the palette. Picking the drop-down menu button at the lower-left corner of the palette displays the drop-down menu shown in B. B—This drop-down menu provides options for creating a new material. A B Pick to copy current material Pick to display preview menus Preview menus Pick to create a new material based on type Pick to create a new material based on generic type Pick to open materials browser Pick to access drop-down menu (see expanded menu at right)