IG Data Creation Wiki

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====== Assets/Materials ======

=== Terminology ===

The modelling of materials is more complex as it maybe seems! So let's setup a little terminology for the IG.GFX/IG.Creator context:

  * A __Material__ describes basic surface parameters based on the Phong lighting model. A Material can have a Texture resp. diffuse map. Every IG.GFX client **must** implement these basic parameters.
  * A __Texture__ is an image that describes planar surface parameters, such as color values, reflection parameters, normal vectors, etc. In the context of IG.GFX, Textures are abstract entities that can be implemented by various formats and quality levels at the same time! Textures can be assigned to Materials, Meta Materials and Geometries!
  * A __Meta Material__ describes advanced material characteristics useful to implement super realistic rendering. Such properties are, for instance, domain-specific attributes as defined by a Material Taxonomy, or advanced asynchronous texture mappings. The implementation of Meta Materials is client specific! Between Meta Materials and Materials there's an 1:N relationship.
  * A __Mapping__ is a run-time texure-mapping modification. Again, the implementation of Mappings is client specific.

=== Materials ===

A Material is a composite data object that combines

  * a __Name__, with or without Scope, and a Description
  * a set of __Parameters__ corresponding to Phong material model
  * an optional __Texture__ that defines a replacement for the diffuse reflexion
  * an optional __Mapping__ that describes how the Texture should be applied to the Geometry
  * an optional __Meta Material__ for advanced rendering behaviour

Furthermore, there are **Material Categories** in the context of Materials.

=== Pages ===

So the Material management is done by various pages:

  * Index (This page) - Overview of all Materials, primary page to add (remove) Materials
  * [[ig.creator:assets:materials:meta|Meta Materials]] - An experimental approach for creation of Shaders based on a taxonomy and natural language
  * [[ig.creator:assets:materials:categories|Categories]] - Management of Categories for Materials 
  * [[ig.creator:assets:materials:parameters|Parameters]] - Table display of Material parameters incl. Textures and Mappings
  * [[ig.creator:assets:materials:editor|Editor]] - An editor for the Material parameters except for Texture/Mapping with 3D live preview
  * [[ig.creator:assets:materials:mappings|Mappings]] - Management of Texture Mappings to be assigned to either Materials or Graphical Components ([[ig.creator:products:graphical:material|Products/Graphical/Material]]) 
  * [[ig.creator:assets:materials:textures|Textures]] - Management of Textures to be assigned to Materials
  * [[ig.guidelines:creating_materials|Creating Material]] - Manual for creating materials inside the IG.Creator

Finding and replacing of Material Categories and Mappings is available in [[ig.creator:assets:geometries:search|Assets/Materials/Search]].

Please consider the implementation details of the [[ig.creator:misc:3d_back_ends|3D Back Ends]].