The Material Explorer window is divided into five main areas shown in the picture below: the View bar, Categories, Material Groups tabs, Preview Area, and Tool bar.

View bar

On the View bar, there is a Search field for searching for different materials. This will help you find your desired material from the Viewing area. Just type a part of the name of a material, and it will appear in the Viewing area. You can also change the size and style that materials are previewed in the Viewing area.

Categories

This area displays all material categories for your selected Material Group. You can create new categories in the Material Lab in the General properties section.

Material folders contain materials that are available in the Material Explorer. You can add your own folders as a complement to the CET-defined material folders. Add a new material folder by clicking the Add a material folder button in the Material folders dialog and select desired folder. To see which folder a material belongs to, select the Detailed List option in the View bar.

Any .gm file types discovered in these folders will appear in the Material Explorer. Sub-folders are not searched and must be added.

Refresh will reload all materials from the defined material folders.

Material Groups

Material Explorer is split into Material Groups to make it faster and easier to find materials. After selecting the preferred tab, the associated Categories will update, along with the Preview Area. 

Material folders are split by material groups: Folders under the CET defined material folders will show under the CET Materials group tab; User defined material folders will show under the My Materials group tab; Manufacturer defined material folders will show under the Manufacturer Materials group tab.

Preview Area

The Preview Area is where you view all materials predefined by CET, those you have created in the Material Lab, and those loaded through material folders.

You can change the size of your thumbnails in the drop-down menu found in the View bar and you can select the Material Group from the tabs.

Some tabs have multiple pages of results. Use the page arrows to move through the pages.

Tool bar

From the Tool bar you can use the following tools: Change selected instantly, Pick and Material Lab.

Change selected instantly: Check this box to change the material of all layers of the selected component instantly when a material is selected. If no component is selected in the drawing, the floor will be painted.

Pick: Select a material from any component you have placed in the drawing and then use the material in the Material Lab.

Material Lab: Open to create or edit materials. Available properties to edit are Primary color, Specular, Reflection, Opacity and Bump.