Material Tab
The Material Editor works in two different modes. Presets and Full. Presets allows you to quickly create materials by using the predefined options while the Full editor provides an advanced layering interface to fine-tune and create complex materials.
Material Preview
You can see a preview of the material in the top left of the Material tab by selecting either Preset or Editor. The preview updates as you make changes.
Maximize Preview Area: To view a full‐size preview, double‐click on the preview image.
Load Material: Right click and select Load Material
Save Material: Right click and select Save Material
Save Preview / Save Substance Preview: Save the material preview as an image. The "Save Substance Preview" option is available when the "Substance 3D" preset is selected.
Room Selection: You can change the preview room by right clicking and selecting Room Selection
Presets
This option allows you to quickly transform a standard SketchUp material into a Thea material through a simplified interface.
You can choose from a list of ready to use materials like Metal, Car Paint, Glass, etc. Next to 'Default Preset' click the hamburger menu icon, and then click a material.
Tip:
When rendering interactively in the Thea Window, the cursor changes to a cross‐hair, indicating that you can select a material directly in the rendered image. Click once to open the Material tab and display the material properties.
Customize a Preset Material
At the far right of a channel (Color, Reflections, Roughness, etc.), click the icon to choose from the following options:
SketchUp: Use the color defined in SketchUp's material tray.
Color: Select a custom color.
Bitmap: Select a bitmap texture. You can preview the bitmap texture and edit the parameters (Tonemapping, UV Editing, etc.)
Tip:
When switching from the Editor back to Presets a small popup will ask you whether you want to reset back to a default preset, making sure that you haven't accidentally clicked on it and lose your material modifications.
You can find more information about presets in the Appendix.
Tip:
Thea Cursor - When the Thea Tool window is open, the SketchUp cursor changes to the Thea cursor, indicating that you can click on a face to pick the corresponding material for editing. The Thea Cursor can also be used to select and edit Thea Lights from the scene.
Tip:
When rendering interactively in the Thea Window, the cursor changes to a cross‐hair, indicating that you can select a material directly in the rendered image. Click once to open the Material tab and display the material properties.