Only available for

Located at the bottom of the page, the Appearances library contains all the standard attribute combinations that are applied to parts, part faces, or surfaces, to provide a material texture, as well as functions that are applied to appearance parameters:

Appearances library

Use the Search appearances field to narrow the appearance results in the library. The Search appearances field only locates appearances within the selected folder. For example, in the image above, if the Ceramic folder is selected, typing a keyword into the Search appearances field and pressing the Enter key shows only results within the Ceramic folder.

Use "and", "+", and "or" operators between words to further refine the search.

Once narrowed by the search, results appear as a thumbnail list on the right side of the Appearances panel. To clear the search, delete the keyword(s) in the Search appearances field and press the Enter key or press the clear field icon ().

To hide/show the Libraries panel, click the expand/collapse toggle () at the top right corner of the panel.

If the entire name of the Appearance is not visible, hover over the name and a tooltip reveals the complete name:

Appearance tooltip

Click the View description toggle () at the bottom of the Appearance card (top left image below) to flip it and reveal a short description of the Appearance on the back of the card (top right image below). If the description is too long for the card container, hover your cursor over the text for a moment and the card expands to reveal the full description (bottom image below). Click the View description toggle again to flip the card to the thumbnail on the card front.

Appearance library description

Only one Appearance card can be flipped to the back description at a time. Clicking a second Appearance's View description toggle simultaneously flips the first Appearance's description view to the front (thumbnail) and flips the second Appearance's view to the back (description).

See Render Studio Libraries for a complete list of all appearances and appearance functions.

See Appearance panel for an explanation of the default Appearance parameters.

Tips

  • If an appearance cannot be assigned to a part (the context menu options are not available or do not display when using drag and drop to apply an appearance to a part), it probably means the appearance is a function. Functions must be applied to appearance parameters in the Appearance panel (via drag and drop). See Using Appearance functions for more information.

  • Once an Appearance is applied to a part, Part Studio, or Assembly, check the Appearance panel and browse through the appearance's submenus. This panel contains all editable parameter options for the current Appearance.

  • If the Appearance panel is empty, most likely there are multiple items selected in the Scene list or graphics area. Deselect all but one item, and the Appearance panel should populate with applicable parameters.

  • If the appearance is a light source (Add emission, Diffuse light, Photometric light, Spot light), ensure some walls or other parts are modeled so the light has something tangible against which to reflect. If the light is black, increase the Intensity and/or Unit scale parameter in the Appearance panel. See Light emission for more information.

  • If the appearance contains a pattern or texture that does not appear on the part, it might be too small or too large. In the Appearance panel, increase or decrease the Scale parameter. In addition, try increasing the Intensity parameter, if it exists.

  • To adjust the Appearances/Environments Libraries panel height, hover the cursor over a panel edge. When the cursor turns into a double-sided arrow, click and drag to resize the panel.

See Render Studio Examples and Resources for more information.