What to call them- Materials, colors... shaders?

McGyver

I was recently reading an older thread in the Plugins forum and I realized there was some confusion as to what was the correct term...

I assume that We should refer to an image based material as a "Texture"... correct?

But... what is the correct term for the non image based "color type" materials such as found in "Colors- Named" and "Colors"... I've been referring to them as "Materials"... I'm assuming that the term "Shader" does not really apply since within SU there really is no other property besides the base "Diffuse" color... Just calling it a "Color" does not seem proper either...

I'm just asking, as correct use of terminology is often very important and can make or break the understanding of an answer or question.

Thanks!

Aerilius

Colors and textures are properties of materials (color always, texture optional).
I call all of them materials, textured materials and the others maybe colored materials or plain colors.

Krisidious

Materials and Textures. you should edit this thread for a poll.

thomthom

In SketchUp it's all Materials. However, some Materials are Textured, some are not.

I try to be explicit when I talk about materials and textures.

If I mean a material with texture I say "textured material" - otherwise just "material" Then you also have "colourized textured materials".

If anyone say they applied a "colour" to an entity I assume they are talking about a non-textured material.

Another distinction that people often omit is the one of Images and Textured Materials. (Technically an Image is a special component type with a face with a textued material) - but due to the special behaviour it reduces confusion if people make a distinction between an Image and a Material.

@krisidious said:

Materials and Textures. you should edit this thread for a poll.

This is not a subjective matter though - there is a clear technical and logical distinction.

Krisidious

That's why I said two of them... I've never thought of or called them colors. Even when I use flat colors. I think of it and refer to it as a material. I used to think of them in line weights back in 2D cad. they were color coordinated. certain colors meant certain line weights.