Materials and Color

All elements of rooms, furnishing and decor in a plan can be given different materials and colors. Depending on the method of construction of the objects used, it is possible to edit any number of details to make them fit your wishes.

You can get direct access to the World of materials online catalog via the Materials button in the Appearance group, Edit tab. There a huge number of textile, metal, wood, glass, stone, plastic and painted surfaces are to be found and these can be assigned to the objects in your plan. Simply click through the various categories of materials available.

pCon.planner_materials_01

To assign an actual material to an object, first click on the Paint Bucket icon (see screenshot on left). The material will then be loaded into pCon.planner and the mouse cursor will change to a paint bucket. Now click on the objects/surfaces to receive the material.

To cancel the material assignment, either press Esc or select Cancel from the context menu (right click).

The Fill Color tool in the Appearance Group, Edit tab, allows you to color in objects or parts of them in the plan. This is how:

pCon.planner_materials_02

1.Click on the Fill Color button.

2.Select a color from the color dialog or define one yourself. The mouse cursor will then appear as a paint bucket.

3.Click on the objects you wish to color.

4.To cancel the assignment, either press Esc or select Cancel from the context menu (right click).

The Dye Selection tool enables you to dye groups of objects. This is particularly helpful when creating plans for the disposition of space within a room as it makes it unnecessary to dye each object separately. To dye a whole selection, follow these instructions:

1.Select the objects in your plan.

2.Click on the Dye Selection item in the Materials group, Edit tab.

3.Select the color you desire from the color dialog or define an own color. The color selected will be assigned to the group of selected objects.

It is possible to allocate a color in advance to certain Drawing Elements such as the circle, line, sphere or rectangle. You can thus give such objects a color before they are created.

pCon.planner_materials_03

To set the future color, click on the arrow pointing downwards in the Drawing Elements group, Insert tab (see red circle in the screenshot on the left). Now select a color or define one yourself.

Using the Materials Pipette, it is possible to transfer the material or color of one object to others. This is how:

1.Click on the Material Pipette item in the Appearance group, Edit tab. The mouse cursor changes to a pipette.

2.Click on the object from which you wish to transfer material or color. The mouse cursor now appears as a paint bucket.

3.Now click on the objects to receive the material or color you have picked up.

4.To cancel the assignment, either press Esc or select Cancel from the context menu (right click).

It is possible to drag normal pictures onto objects (besides the materials from the pCon.catalog or other sources) and they can then be used as material, although there are certain restrictions associated with this. In the case of the genuine materials, the data included is not only graphic data, but also (for instance) information on shininess and reflection characteristics.

All the same, images are a pleasant addition to the configuration of object surfaces. They are assigned using drag and drop. You click on a picture and drag it onto the object in your plan. It is immaterial whether you drag it straight from an Internet page or a local directory.