Overview
The Materials Library is a Cylindo platform feature that allows for easy access and leveraging of all your materials. With the Materials Library, you can browse and filter through different materials, download materials directly from the CMS, and further leverage your digital material assets via the Content API.
What is the Materials Library?
The Materials Library is a database of your digital materials rendered by Cylindo. You can gain easy access to all the materials you’ve visualized with Cylindo. You can filter, download swatches, and find relevant, up-to-date information for every material on the Material Page. For reference: when creating a 3D model, Cylindo has a multistep approach, allowing Cylindo to render materials separately from the model.
Materials Library requirements
To begin using the Materials Library, you need to have all the material renderings in a PBR format. The PBR format stands for Physically Based Rendering. PBR is a texture workflow that helps 3D artists simulate how light and shadows would react with a 3D model in a real-life environment. This helps to recreate the realistic texture of objects. The PBR format is becoming a standard in 3D design, allowing for 3D files to be used across multiple tools and platforms without the need to convert files.
By now, most clients should already have the majority of materials in the required PBR format. Cylindo teams are working hard to ensure all files are converted in a timely manner. However, if you don’t have the files in PBR or you’re unsure which format your files are in, please reach out to your assigned Customer Success Manager. Cylindo teams are happy to assist you in converting files to PBR.
Content API
You can use our Content API to grab each of the individual materials we create. To understand why this would be used, check out the use cases article. To understand the API, please head over here to our developer documentation.
Walkthrough
Once the Materials Library loads, you will see the Materials Library List Page where you can view all of the materials you own.
At the top of the page, you will notice there are several filters. Use the search and filter functionality to find materials by name, code, family, or type. You can easily sort materials by status and see active and discontinued materials.
You are able to click into each material to see the design up front and the material setup.
On the material page, you can download swatches and find more information. Simply click on the download button to download your swatch and use the information fields to discover more relevant information. You can see whether this material is applied to any products and find collections utilizing the material.
A very handy tool on the materials page is the attachment feature. Use the attachment feature to attach real-life photographs from the material or ready-made products with the material applied.
Use Cases
Use case #1: Download material swatches
By using the Materials Library, you can now easily download material swatches directly from the CMS. On the Material Page, simply click on the Save button to download the swatch in 2K resolution. Many customers will use these images on in-store tear sheets or PDF spec sheets to show all of the possible options a product comes with.
Use case #2: Populate material swatches on the product page
One particularly handy use case is to populate the material swatches on the product page. By using Cylindo’s Content API, you can now populate the material swatches that appear alongside the configurator on the product page.
For reference, the material swatches placed strategically alongside the Cylindo 360 HD Viewer guide users as they customize the product and show materials that specific product is available in.
Use case 3: HD preview of materials on the product page
Show an HD preview of every material a product is available in on the product page.
Example courtesy of Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams
FAQ
What is the Materials Library?
The Materials Library is the latest platform feature allowing for a better way of accessing and leveraging material swatches rendered by Cylindo.
What’s the difference between the Materials List Page and the Material Page?
All of your materials are listed on the Materials List page, where you can use various filters to sort them by. The Material Page is where you can download material swatches and find relevant, up-to-date information for each material, such as the material status, whether the material is applied to any product, the last modification dates, and so on.
What do I need to begin using the Materials Library?
To begin using the Materials Library, material files need to be in a PBR format. PBR stands for Physical Based Rendering.
By now, as Cylindo teams are converting files for all clients, you should have most files in the required format. Please contact your Customer Success Manager for any additional questions.
How can I access the Materials Library?
The Materials Library can be accessed via the main menu on the Cylindo CMS. Simply click the Materials Library located on the left hand menu to get started.
How can I filter materials?
You can filter materials by using the various filters on the Materials List. You can group materials by family, status, type, and so on. Additionally, you can enable this filtering on your website as well.
Why are some materials shown differently on the Materials List page?
Work in progress materials are also included on the Materials List page. If you see a material highlighted in a different color and/or lacking a thumbnail, it may be a material that has not yet been finalized.
Where can I find relevant information for every material?
The Material Page is where you can find more information on each material, such as the status, the collection it belongs to, the last modification date, and so on.
How can I download material swatches from the Materials Library?
You can download material swatches from the Material Page. Click on the Save/Download button to save the material swatch. Alternatively, you can use the Content API to leverage multiple material swatches at the same time.
How can I download materials in bulk?
At the moment, there is no option to download materials in bulk. Cylindo teams are continuously updating the platform and we will be updating the FAQ as more options become available.
What’s the best way to leverage the Materials Library?
The Materials Library comes with many different use cases. With the Materials Library, you can download materials directly from the CMS, populate material swatches on the product page, and enable easy product filtering by material on the website.