You can apply a material from the Twinmotion Library to more than one object or surface in a scene. By default, if you apply the same material to several objects, and then change the properties of the material, the material on all these objects is also modified.
For example, in the scene below, the same material was applied to both deck chairs. If we were to modify this material, the changes would be applied to both deck chairs. To keep the same material on both deck chairs but change the properties of the material on one of them only, we can duplicate the material and modify it, then apply the duplicate material to the deck chair we want to change.
This tutorial explains how to select, duplicate, and rename a material applied to more than one object, and then modify the properties of the new material and apply it to an object.
Prerequisites for Using this Method
Keep Hierarchy
To change the materials as described in this tutorial, your model must be imported into Twinmotion using the Keep hierarchy option (under Collapse in the Import window). With this import method, all assets in the model are imported separately, providing you with the means to change the properties of each asset individually.
Instances vs Copies
When you duplicate an object in Twinmotion, it is created as either an Instance or a Copy. If you modify the material on a duplicated object that was created as an Instance, the modification to the material will be applied to the duplicated object, to the original object, and to all Instances of that object.
To use the method in this tutorial on identical objects, the objects or surfaces on which you want to change the materials must be created as Copies.
1 - Select the Material
In the Toolbar, select the Material Picker.
Using the Material Picker, click the object in the Viewport that has the material you want to duplicate.
An image of the material and its name appears in the Material Manager.
The Material Manager has two viewing modes: Single and Multi. In Single mode (as in the image below) the thumbnail of the currently selected material only is shown. To switch to Multi mode and view all the materials used in the scene, click the icon on the bottom-right corner in the Material Manager.
The Viewing mode icon
The Material Manager in Multi mode
2 - Duplicate the Material
Open the Material Manager menu by clicking the ellipsis (...) above the thumbnail.
In the Material Manager menu, select Duplicate.
The material is duplicated and added to the Material Manager.
If the Material Manager is in Single mode when you duplicate a material, as in the image above, the image of the original material is replaced by the image of the duplicate material.
If the Material Manager is in Multi mode, a thumbnail of the duplicate appears at the start of the material list as shown below.
Thumbnail of the duplicated material
3 - Rename the Duplicate Material
In the Material Manager, open the Material Manager menu by clicking the ellipsis (...) above the thumbnail.
In the Material Manager menu, select Rename.
The name of the duplicate is highlighted in light blue.
Type a new name for the material.
4 - Modify the Properties of the Duplicate Material
Select the duplicate material in the Material Manager and modify its properties.
For the purposes of this tutorial, we will change the color of the material.
Open the Color Picker by clicking Color.
In the Color Picker, select a new color and click OK.
5 - Apply the New Material to an Object
Before applying the new material to the object, make sure Apply to object is selected in the Toolbar. This ensures the new material is applied only to the object on which you drag the material. If Replace material is selected, the material on all objects that use the same material will be replaced.
From the Material Manager, drag the new material to the object in the scene.
In our example, the duplicate material is now applied to one of the deck chairs. The other deck chair uses the original material which is unchanged.
If you want to keep a copy of the new material for later use, or use it in another Twinmotion project, add it to the User Library.
For more information about the User Library and instructions on how to save custom materials, refer to The User Library.