# Materials The Materials page holds every material you've created or imported into your workspace. A material describes how a surface looks and reacts to light — its base color, roughness, metalness, normal map, and other texture channels — independent of any specific model. Reach it at **Asset Library → Materials**, or directly at [`/library/materials`](https://www.app.glossi.io/library/materials). ### What a material is In a 3D render, a material defines the *finish* of a surface: a polished metal looks different from raw wood not because the geometry is different, but because the materials assigned to those surfaces describe different optical properties. Glossi materials are stored independently of any model so you can build a single library of finishes — leather, brushed steel, walnut veneer, brushed aluminum — and apply them to any product in the studio. A material you create once becomes a reusable building block. ### What's on the page * **Toolbar** — Count of materials, search, sort, and a **Create Material** button on the right. * **Asset grid** — Material cards, each showing a preview sphere rendered with the material applied so you can read the actual finish at a glance. * **Card hover actions** — Favorite, more menu (rename, delete), and a click-through to the details modal. The preview sphere uses your workspace's default lighting environment — what you see is roughly what the material will look like on a model in the studio. ### Creating a material Click **Create Material** to open the material creation surface. You can build a material in two ways: * **AI generation** — Describe the finish in plain language ("matte brass with fine scratches", "soft beige boucle"). Glossi's AI generates the channel maps (base color, roughness, normal, metalness) and you can name and save the result. * **Upload texture maps** — Provide your own PBR texture set (base color, roughness, metalness, normal, height, opacity). Glossi packages them as a material with its own preview sphere. Materials you create are workspace-scoped — every member of your workspace can use them. ### Filtering and finding * **Search** — Filter materials by name. * **Sort** — Order by recency, name, or other material fields. ### Opening a material Click any material card to open the **Material Details** modal. Inside you can: * **Rename** the material * **View and adjust the channel maps** — Inspect each PBR channel (base color, roughness, etc.) and replace any of them. * **Edit via AI** — Iterate on the finish with prompts. Each edit produces a new version of the material; you can revert at any time from the version history. * **Delete** the material ### Applying a material Materials are applied inside Glossi Studio, not from this page. While editing a project: 1. Select a model surface in the studio viewport. 2. Open the **Materials** panel from the right sidebar. 3. Pick any material from your workspace library and click to apply. The material library inside the studio shows the same set of materials you see here — they're the same data. ### Tips * **Build a base palette first** — A small set of well-named materials (e.g., "Walnut", "Brushed Brass", "Charcoal Felt") goes a long way; you can always iterate on specific products from a base material. * **Iterate with AI edits** — If a generated material is close but not quite right, use AI edit to nudge it ("make it slightly darker and more matte") rather than starting over. * **Favorite your most-used finishes** — Surface them in the Favorites filter for quick access during studio sessions. ### Related * Asset Library Overview * Editing Your Model — Where materials are applied in the studio. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.glossi.io/asset-library/materials.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.