Page 190 - Mastering SolidWorks

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Using the DisplayManageR 159

Differentiating Appearances and Materials
It is easy to confuse appearances and materials. The biggest reason for this is that, in many cases,
appearances have the same names as materials, and the texture associated with the appearance
typically also has the name of a material. SolidWorks has appearances with names such as
high-gloss plastic, wrought iron, and chromium plate. It may become even more confusing
because materials (which you can assign from the FeatureManager on the left) have appearances
(which you assign from the Task pane on the right) assigned to them. For example, you could
assign an appearance called polished aluminum to a material called AISI 304.
You cannot use appearances to assign mass properties (such as density or stiffness) to a part,
but you can use materials to assign an appearance as well as mass properties to a part.
Figure 5.18 shows the RMB menu for editing material, which you invoke from the Material folder
in the FeatureManager.

Figure 5.18
editing a material

Materials assign properties to your parts for drawing hatch and mass properties, as well as
simulation. Notice in Figure 5.19 that the second tab allows you to assign an appearance to the
material. You can use this interface to create your own custom materials, which automatically
apply appearances to your parts.