Material Methods

Rhino rendering materials are stored in a material table, or array in the Rhino document. Thus, Rhino objects and layers maintain a material index which identifies which material in the table to use when rendering.

If ObjectMaterialIndex or LayerMaterialIndex returns a material index of -1, then the object or layer does not have a material. When objects and layers are created in Rhino, they are assigned a material index of -1 to denote they will just use Rhino's default (read-only, non-modifiable) material. This saves system memory for those who want to model in Rhino but never need render a scene.

When you want to modify an object's or layer's material property, you first need to make sure that the object or layer has a material. If it does not, use AddMaterialToObject or AddMaterialToLayer to add one. Note, when you use the Properties or Layers window to modify material properties, the before mentioned is done for you automatically.

The following methods are available for creating, querying or manipulating object and layer rendering materials.

Method	Description
AddMaterialToLayer	Adds a material to a layer.
AddMaterialToObject	Adds a material to an object.
CopyMaterial	Copies a material's definition to another material.
IsMaterial	Verifies the existence of a material in the document.
IsMaterialDefault	Verifies that a material is a default material
IsMaterialReference	Verifies that a material is a reference material.
MatchMaterial	Matches the material of one object to another.
MaterialBump	Returns or modifies a material's bump map.
MaterialColor	Returns or modifies a material's color.
MaterialCount	Returns the number of materials in the document.
MaterialEnvironmentMap	Returns or modifies a material's environment map.
MaterialId	Returns the identifier of a material given the material's index.
MaterialIds	Returns the identifiers of all material in the document.
MaterialIndex	Returns the index of a material given the material's identifier.
MaterialIndices	Returns the indices of all material in the document.
MaterialName	Returns or modifies a material's name.
MaterialReflectiveColor	Returns or modifies a material's reflective color.
MaterialsByColor	Returns all materials of a specified diffuse color.
MaterialsByName	Returns all materials of a specified name.
MaterialShine	Returns or modifies a material's shine quality.
MaterialTexture	Returns or modifies a material's texture map.
MaterialTransparency	Returns or modifies a material's transparency quality.
MaterialTransparencyMap	Returns or modifies a material's transparency map.
ResetMaterial	Resets a material to Rhino's default material.