Materials & Basic Rendering

File Organization

So far, we haven't really worried about what the color, material, or finish of the forms we're making are. It's not a critical step in designing a functional part, though it will be necessary if you want to create renderings, or run certain kinds of mass analysis. by default, Fusion applies a steel material to all bodies (you can change the default material in the main settings).

You're going to bring your table and tableware together in later exercise, then ultimately render it. Now is a good time to talk about applying materials, as well as different model scopes.

If you haven't already, move your Craftsman Table and all your plates, bowls, and glasses to their own folder using the Fusion file manager. Make sure each file and the containing folder have logical names.

Component Color Cycling

In a multi-component part, Fusion can automatically render each sub-component in a different color. This is entirely for organization and does not have an impact on the materials that have been applied to the part. It is incredibly helpful for working with assemblies, however.

Applying Appearance Materials

Applying materials is actually incredibly easy. The video below shows a standard practice, including changing color. The library included with Fusion 360 is quite large, but you may not find the exact material you're looking for. You can search the web for something more specific, or just choose the closest available option. In the clip below, a Paint material was used to approximate ceramic.

Later on, we'll look at how to create more complex materials and push rendering further.

Basic Rendering

Fusion provides a basic but robust rendering engine. It's definitely not the best on the market, but it can get the job done in most instances. To use it, switch to the rendering environment. Fusion offers a live rendering option that makes previewing changes easy, but requires a relatively powerful graphics processor. You can use this view to get a rough idea of what your image will look like, then use the full rendering engine to create a more refined image. Don't worry about this too much right now. You'll do more involved rendering work in a bit.

Apply Materials to a Face

You can also apply a material just to a face to create multi-material renderings. For now, this limits you to creating color breaks along existing, possibly uncontrollable, breaks in geometry. You'll learn how to control those breaks later, but for now, it's important to start seeing the difference between bodies and faces.

Assignment

Add materials to your tableware. Play with wood and glass as well as paint and plastic as your designs dictate. You don't need to render them at this time. Just make sure they all have materials applied.