Materials, names and display

These methods change how a shape looks, what it is called and what it weighs, not its geometry. Each returns a new shape of the receiver’s kind.

material

shape.material(color: "#RRGGBB", alpha: 1, roughness: 0.5, metallic: 0, transmission: 0, density: nil)

How a Solid is shaded, and what it is made of. On a Sketch or a Path, color: is the colour of its drawing (its SVG fill, its DXF colour); the rest is kept with it.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
color	String	"#FFFFFF"	"#RRGGBB" or "#RGB".
alpha	Number	1	Opacity, 0 to 1. Becomes an OBJ material’s dissolve.
roughness	Number	0.5	0 (mirror) to 1 (matte).
metallic	Number	0	0 to 1.
transmission	Number	0	How much light passes through, 0 to 1.
density	Number	—	g/cm³, for the parts list’s mass and mass. Shows nowhere.

At least one keyword is needed. The material goes with the Solid into glTF, 3MF, OBJ (with its material library) and SVG and DXF exports, and into the viewer. A Solid’s outermost material is the one that counts: cube(5).material(color: "#f00").material(color: "#00f") is blue. A union has no material of its own.

The B-Rep engine can’t keep materials yet: a B-Rep model is built without them, with one warning.

Returns: the receiver’s kind.

Raises: ValueError for a colour in another form, a factor outside 0 to 1, or a density of 0 or less; ArgumentError with no keywords.

part = cube(10).material(color: "#FF5F14", roughness: 0.2, metallic: 0.8, density: 1.24)
glass = sphere(5).material(color: "#88CCFF", alpha: 0.4, transmission: 0.9)

named

shape.named(name)

Gives a Solid, a Sketch or a Path a name: the name its part has in the parts list, and in exports (a glTF node, an OBJ object, an SVG path’s id, a DXF layer, a --split file). It stays through moves. A Sketch’s name isn’t passed to a Solid extruded from it, nor to its offset. As with materials, the outermost name counts.

Returns: the receiver’s kind.

bolt = cylinder(r: 1.5, h: 20).named("M3 bolt")
lid = square(40).named("lid")

ghost

solid.ghost
ghost { solid }

Shows a semi-transparent copy of a Solid in the viewer, for reference: a mating part, an envelope, a part from a previous version. A ghost isn’t part of the model. It is exported beside the model to glTF and GLB, and nowhere else.

• solid.ghost returns the solid itself, unchanged, so the script can go on using it. A script that ends with .ghost ends with that solid, which is then its model.
• ghost { ... } shows the Solid the block gives and returns nil.

Returns: the Solid (method); nil (block form).

Raises: TypeError when the block gives anything but a Solid; ArgumentError for a break in the block.

envelope = cube(100).ghost
ghost { cylinder(d: 22, h: 7) }
cube(20)

highlight

solid.highlight
highlight { solid }

Shows a Solid in the viewer’s highlight colour, seen through whatever hides it, to find a part in a busy model. The geometry is unchanged; a glTF export only tags the part’s material for the viewer.

• solid.highlight returns the solid, marked.
• highlight { ... } returns the Solid the block gives, marked.

Returns: Solid.

Raises: TypeError when the block gives anything but a Solid; ArgumentError for a break in the block.

bolt = cylinder(r: 3, h: 20).highlight
body = cube(30) - bolt