BIM Coordinator Program (INT) April 22, 2024

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HELP! Can't change color of materials

Anonymous
Not applicable
I constantly struggle with the "Materials" in ArchiCAD, probably because of my lack of knowledge on them. I want to take the material " Siding-4" H" and change the color from the default white to a gray. So, I open Options-Element Attributes-Materials. What do I do from here? I've tried changing the surface color, the specular color, etc to no avail. Can anyone guide me on this seemingly easy task?
15 REPLIES 15
Anonymous
Not applicable
Thanks, David. Obviously I need to study this stuff to get a handle on the basics.
Anonymous
Not applicable
Hi guys, I also struggle with this. I am very new to Archicad so apologies if I'm missing something obvious.

Everything in my 3d window looks grey. I am trying to make a colorbond shed. When I go to options / element attributes / materials I change the surface colour to anything (like bright green) nothing happens in the 3D window. I understand from the posts above that it won't change the 3D it will only change what gets output when you do a photorender. So I do a photorender ane the whole thing still looks grey.

When I choose other items for the walls and roof from the model settings like Brick, the brick colours show up fine in both views showing the texture and the color but the chanegs to the material colour that I make dont' seem to work. I have tried the internal rendering engine and the lightworks rendering engine (I don't really understand what they mean). I have tried all rendering engines in fact both on the material settings and the photo render settings. I select every option that I think could have an impact on the quality of the final render but no good.

I also in desperation found the corrogated iron texture in the library, coped it, edited it in photoshop to give it a new colour, re-loaded the library then selected the new texture in the material window. this didn't change the appearance either in the 3D window or in the photorender immediately but then at some point (im not exactly sure when) seemed to change everything on the page (all walls, roofs etc) to the new material. Which is not what I wanted but I seem to be getting somewhere. If there is something obvious that I am doing that anyone can help with please let me know otherwise I'll push on anyway and if I figure it out I'll post back with where I got to with it!
Anonymous
Not applicable
Steven wrote:
OK, so what if I want to show a client a project by "flying" around it in 3D perspective using the explore tool, and have the siding changed to a different color?
WISH!
So, just to be clear, there is no way to change the color of a material that has "texture" so that the change shows up when "flying" around in 3D. Is that right? If so, what do the experts here do to accomplish this valuable task?

Thank you,
Doug
Anonymous
Not applicable
As I understand it, the "material" is an actual image, jpeg or similar, so no, you cannot change the color of an existing image. The "texture" of a material can be changed, this is what you would see in an exterior elevation, clapboards for example. That can be changed for any material.
Anonymous
Not applicable
Steven wrote:
As I understand it, the "material" is an actual image, jpeg or similar, so no, you cannot change the color of an existing image. The "texture" of a material can be changed, this is what you would see in an exterior elevation, clapboards for example. That can be changed for any material.
Steve—So, did you find a way to change colors of materials so you they would show up in OpenGDL as you showed a client the model in 3D?

Doug
Anonymous
Not applicable
I just stumbled on this. I can't seem to find an colour options for Door or Windows, mainly in the 3D view. Any solutions found to this?
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