# Material Settings XPlane2Blender's material model is different from Blender's. In XPlane2Blender, all Blender objects must have a material. If you have multiple materials, only the first one is chosen. A material can have any number of texture slots that do the majority of the work changing how an OBJ looks in X-Plane. Due to some inconveniences of Blender's data model, some UI elements will be shown even if using them would result in an invalid OBJ or would have no affect. ## Relevant Blender Settings ### Link `Link` - The data-model linkage of the material **must be set to "Data"**. If you have materials that are linked by "Object", it is recommended to remove them to keep things neat ### Specular | Setting | Default | Description | Requirement(s) | | ----------- | ------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------- | | `Intensity` | 0.50 | How intense (bright) the specular reflection of the material is. All materials in an OBJ must have the same specularity | | ## XPlane2Blender Settings ### Draw Linked Objects These settings are used to decide when and how to draw the material. | Setting | Default | Description | Requirement(s) | | --------------------- | ------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | | `Draw Linked Objects` | Off | If checked, any object that uses this material will be drawn. If left unchecked, any object that uses this material will not be drawn | | | `Draped` | Off | If checked, geometry with this material will hug the ground | Only valid for "Scenery" and "Instance Scenery" exports | | `Normal Metalness` | Off | When checked, X-Plane will take the blue channel of this material's normal map and use it as base reflectance. This is commonly used for metal-like surfaces | `Export Version` must be greater or equal to "11.0x" | | `Blend` | "Alpha Blend" | Controls how texture's alpha channels are blended with each other. See the **Blend Mode Options Table** for more details | | | `Alpha Cutoff Ratio` | 0.5 | For this material's textures, alpha levels below the `Alpha Cutoff Ratio` are rendered as fully transparent. Alpha levels above the level are fully opaque. Values can range from 0.00 to 1.00 | `Blend` must be set to "Alpha Cutoff" | ### Blend Mode Options | Blend Mode | Description | Requirement(s) | | -------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------- | | "Blend Shadow" | In shadow mode, shadows are not blended but primary drawing is | | | "Alpha Cutoff" | Textures alpha channel will be used to cutoff areas above the Alpha Cutoff Ratio | | | "Alpha Blend" | Textures alpha channel will blended | | ### Blend Glass The alpha channel of the albedo (day texture) will be used to create translucent rendering. `Export Version` must be at least "11.0x" ### Surface Behavior Surface Behavior settings control how this material interacts with X-Plane in non-visual ways. | Setting | Default | Description | Requires | | ------------------ | ------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | | `Surface Type` | "None" - a smooth surface | A drop down menu of types of surfaces that X-Plane can simulate the bumpiness of. Grass is more bumpy that concrete, for instance. | | | `Deck` | Off | When checked, objects with this material can be flown or moved under | `Surface Type` must not be "None" | | `Camera Collision` | Off | When checked, the X-Plane camera will be prevented from moving through objects with this material | Always shown in UI but will only affect Cockpit objects | ### Light Levels | Setting | Default | Description | Requires | | ---------------------- | ------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------- | | `Override Light Level` | Off | When checked, X-Plane's chosen object night lighting is overridden with custom dataref driven values | | | `Value 1` | 0.00 | First value to be mapped to the dataref | `Override Light Level` is on | | `Value 2` | 0.00 | Second value to be mapped to the dataref | `Override Light Level` is on | | `Dataref` | | The dataref to change the value of the material's night time lighting level | `Override Light Level` is on | ### Day-Night Preview Balance `Day-Night Preview Balance` - This setting provides a convenient way to preview the material in Blender's 3D View. To enable the Day-Night Preview feature, add an albedo texture (uses Diffuse->Color) and a night texture (uses Shading->Emit) to the material. Adjusting this slider sliding this will automatically adjust their preview in the 3D Viewer. It does not change the content of exported OBJs. ### Instancing Effects These settings can only apply to `Instance Scenery` exports. | Setting | Default | Description | Requirement(s) | | ---------- | ------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------- | | `Tint` | Off | If checked, Albedo Tint and Emissive Tint settings will be enabled. | | | `Albedo` | 0.0 | A float between 0.0 and 1.0, where 0.0 is no darkening of the albedo (day time) texture and 1.0 is total darkening of the albedo texture | | | `Emissive` | 0.0 | A float between 0.0 and 1.0, where 0.0 is no darkening of the emissive (day time) texture and 1.0 is total darkening of the emissive texture | | ### Polygon Offset | Setting | Default | Description | Requirement(s) | | ---------------- | ------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------- | | `Polygon Offset` | 0 | Indicates to X-Plane what order the object should attempt to be drawn in, from farthest away from the player camera to closets. 0 tells X-Plane to automatically chose drawing order. Very useful for an object with many parts that are close together. See the blog post [The road to hell is paved with ATTR\_poly\_os](http://developer.x-plane.com/2006/09/the-road-to-hell-is-paved-with-attr_poly_os/) for a more detail | | ### Cockpit Panel | Setting | Default | Description | Requirement(s) | | ----------------------- | ------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------- | | `Part Of Cockpit Panel` | Off | If checked, objects with this material will use the OBJs panel texture and will be clickable | | | `Cockpit Region` | None | Defines which region this material should appear in. If set to none, no region will be used. The region number refers to the regions defined in X-Plane Layer's Cockpit Regions | | ### Custom Properties See Object->Custom Properties