You can see a rendered preview of the surface. The program takes into account all the settings you have made.

Using the icons at bottom left, you can switch between a cube and a sphere.

Each side of the cube represents 1m and the diameter of the sphere is 1m. You can thus estimate the relationship in terms of size between the texture and the 3D object for the Metric setting (in the Texture area).

Define the basic color for the material in the Color area. You can select a Texture for complex materials. This texture covers the material, hiding its color.

Select the color for the material in the Color palette.

The object reflects diffused light in the selected color.

You can define how much of the incident light is absorbed by the surface. Use this option to set the brightness of a color channel.

The default setting is 100%. With 0%, the surface absorbs all light; thus, it is black. With 100%, the surface does not absorb light; thus, the color does not change.

You can see the Modify colors option only if you have selected a texture in the Color area.

If Modify colors is selected, the RGB values of the colors are multiplied by the RGB values of the texture.
For example: RGB 255/128/0 (orange) multiplied by RGB 0/255/0 (green) results in RGB 0/128/0 (dark green).

You can define the Transparency of a surface in various ways: you can use a global value or the alpha channel from the texture. You can also mask a color.

With an Alpha channel, you can use an alpha plane of an image to mask areas of a material, thus showing a background of our choice. In this way, you can simulate details in 3D.

Using this option, you can quickly hide areas of a material, showing the material or object beneath. A tree in 3D is a classic example: instead of modeling a tree, you map the image of a tree onto an object and cut out the shape of the tree using the alpha channel.

Transparency as a % defines the percentage of light that can pass through a surface.

The higher the transparency, the weaker the material color.
The equation is color as a percentage + transparency as a percentage = 100%.
For example: white material with a transparency setting of 0% is white, but if you increase the transparency to 50%, it will become gray. White material with a transparency setting of 100% has no color.

Colors of textures you select in the Color area automatically get a transparent color or texture. A transparent texture behaves like a diapositive: red areas only let red light pass through; white areas let any light through. Black absorbs all light, thus preventing light from passing through. The lighter a pixel in the transparency map, the more transparent the area of the surface.

Using Mask color, you specify the color the program is to mask in the texture set in the Color area.
This is useful if the texture does not have an alpha plane and you want to mask an area in a specific color.

Mask color	Masks areas in a specific color in the original texture. The texture areas of the object that match the color are no longer visible.
Color	Select the color you want to mask.
Tolerance	Specify the tolerance for detecting the color to be masked.

A luminous object is always visible, even without lights. It gives light. Luminous materials simulate objects giving light in real life, such as neon signs or screens. When you render using Global Illumination, these objects radiate light.

Using the slide bar for Intensity, you can set the usual values ranging from 0 to 100. You can even set a value up to 1,000. To do this, double-click the value in the slide bar and enter the required value at the keyboard.

The color in the Color area is also used for the luminous color. If you assigned a texture to the surface, the surface acts as a light map. The lighter the pixels in the light map, the more luminous the area of the surface.

The Texture area is only available if you have selected a texture in the Color area.

On	The texture is repeated over the entire surface of an object. If the effect is not visible, you can reduce the texture using the Resize in X or Y direction option.
Off	The texture is applied once only on the surface of an object. The remaining surface is displayed in the selected color.

On	The texture size is defined by the values in the Scale area. 100 pixels in the original texture correspond to 1 m (see preview).
Off	The texture size is defined by the polygon.

Note: The bitmaps on which the textures are based are usually not true to scale. You can adjust how the texture is displayed in the Resize area.

You can resize textures in the X and Y direction.

If Metric is not active, enter an absolute value for resizing: 1 places the texture once; 2 places it twice and so on.

If Metric is active, enter the size in meters.

Use X/Y constant to retain the X/Y ratio.

Note: Bitmap textures are always applied to the surfaces of objects. The X direction and Y direction relate to the corresponding surface in plan view. You can check your entries in the Preview.

You can move textures on elements. Starting from the global point, the program moves the texture in the X and Y directions by the values you specify.

The unit of measurement used is the unit currently set in the Options - Desktop environment - General area - Unit of length.

Note: Bitmap textures are always applied to the surfaces of objects. The X direction and Y direction relate to the corresponding surface in plan view. You can check your entries in the Preview.

Tip: For example, you can use this option to hang a Picasso on the wall, position an oriental carpet (that you scanned in earlier) on the floor, or ensure that a brick texture exactly fits a 3D object.

You can rotate the texture (-180 to 180 degrees). Positive values result in a counter-clockwise rotation.

Using this option, you can place carpets at an angle, for example.

Define the height of bumps. The higher the value, the rougher the surface.

Using the slide bar, you can set the usual values, ranging from -100 to 100. If you want to enter a value between -1,000 and 1,000, double-click the value in the slide bar and enter the required value at the keyboard. Negative values have the opposite effect: light pixels produce deeper bumps; dark pixels produce higher bumps.

Using Roughness, you define the microscopic structure of a surface.

It is quantified by the vertical deviations of a real surface from its ideal form. If these deviations are large, the surface is rough; if they are small the surface is smooth.
A value of 0% means that the surface is smooth. Think of a mirror or chrome, for example. A value of 100% means that the surface is rough (Lambertian surface). Surfaces with a roughness setting of <>0.100 are usually referred to as glossy surfaces. High roughness values lead to blotchy transparency and reflection.

in the Glossy reflection area, you can specify whether a surface can reflect light. The color you have chosen in the Color area also defines the color that is reflected. You can also use a colored texture (reflection mapping). The color of a pixel in the texture has an effect on the color reflected in the corresponding area of the surface.

You can define how much of the incident light is reflected by the surface.

If the transparency of the surface is, for example, 90%, only 10% of the light strikes the surface. So you can define surface parameters for the remaining 10%. If you want to use the remaining 10% of the light for glossy reflection, set the Intensity to 100%. Otherwise, the program splits the remaining 10% between Glossy reflection and Diffuse reflection in accordance with the Intensity set.

Tip: Most objects (e.g., carpets, asphalt, masonry, terrain) do not have luster properties. In this case, set Glossy reflection to 0.

You can save all the settings of a surface you have defined in the Surface settings for selected color palette as surface files in SURF format. You can then retrieve these files whenever you need. Allplan comes with a selection of surface files, for example, seasonal surfaces. You can see which SURF files are seasonal surfaces: the file names include the term season_.