Color Documentation¶

Admin Sections¶

As the Materials and Colors work closely with each other, their entries on how to create and manage will be combined onto this single page. Colors are only able to be accessed by a material, as color is a component of each material.

Colors¶

Colors Page¶

Colors can be found under the Assets tab of the Admin. The page contains a full list of every color used by the Builder, and the page has several actions an Admin can take:

Edit: The menu to modify an existing entry.
Delete: Deletes the color from the database.
New: Creates a new color entry.
- The menu is the same as the 'Edit' page, just blank.
Sort: Some lists can be sorted alphabetically. Press the arrow next to the title to change the direction the entries are sorted.
Search: The Colors can be searched by Name, or partial name.
Show: Change the amount of entries shown on the page.

Each entry on this page has several columns that can be used to identify and modify. They are:

Color Name: The name of the color.
Hex Color: The color code used by the Builder to assign a Hue, Saturation and Value for each entry.
Color Type: The Color Type is a series of categories that a color belongs to. By assigning this category, the builder is able to filter colors to only apply to certain criteria, which is assigned on the mesh before it is uploaded. That criteria is detailed in the section 'Dynamic Colors' below.
Sequence: This sets the position the order will be placed in a color list.
Swatch Texture: This is the texture file that appears in the builder when the color is assigned to one of the four possible swatches on the right side of the 3D builder.
Out of Stock: Allows the admin to make customers aware that a certain color is temporarily not available, while still preserving past orders with this color assigned.
Properties: This field allows the builder certain functions of code that can be applied with a specific color. For a full reference, see here.

Dynamic Colors¶

A keyword system is used for managing dynamic colors within the shed builder renderer. These keywords are defined within the DynamicColor enum in the client application, and can be viewed here.

When a mesh file is loaded, the renderer iterates through the mesh materials. Each mesh material may specify in its properties one of the dynamic color keywords. If one of those keywords is found, the renderer selects the corresponding color type, and allows the colors in that list to be applied on the material.

Materials¶

Materials Page¶

Materials can be found under the Assets tab of the Admin. It contains a full list of every material used by the Builder, and the page has several actions an Admin can take:

Edit: The menu to modify an existing entry.
Delete: Deletes the color from the database.
New: Creates a new color entry.
- The menu is the same as the 'Edit' page, just blank.
Sort: Some lists can be sorted alphabetically. Press the arrow next to the title to change the direction the entries are sorted.
Search: The Colors can be searched by Name, or partial name.
Show: Change the amount of entries shown on the page.

The Materials menu is contains every aspect of a material that can be used to give a mesh character. When creating or editing a material, the admin can modify the look of anything that material is assigned to in the builder. This includes:

Name: The name of the material.
- This needs to match the name of the material that was assigned to the mesh before it was imported into the builder. Failure to have the names match will result in the material not being applied.
Roughness: How rough the material is.
- This value determines how much of a highlight appears on the surface of the mesh. The lower the value, the more pronounced and 'shiny' the material will appear.
- This value moves on a 0 - 1 scale.
- This field works in relation to the Roughness Texture map.
Metalness: How metallic the material is.
- This value determines how much of the environment is captured in the material. The higher the value, the more the material will appear to 'mirror' the environment around it.
- This value moves on a 0 - 1 scale.
- This field works in relation to the Metalness Texture map.
Bump Scale: The Bump scale is how much the material applies to the 'Bump' value.
- The higher this value is, the more the Bump Texture is pushed.
- This field works in relation to the Bump Texture map.
Normal Scale: The Normal scale is how much the material applies to the 'Normal' value.
- The higher this value is, the more the Normal is pushed.
- This field works in relation to the Normal map.
Color: The color of the material.
- If the material is dynamic, this value will get overwritten by the builder as a user changes the colors.
- This field influences the color of the 'Map' Texture.
Map Texture: This is where the patterns seen in the builder are applied to the mesh.
- If the material is dynamic, the texture map should be a black and white image. This allows the builder to overlay the dynamic color on top of the texture, and create the variety of color choices seen in the builder.
- Please use JPEG or PNG file formats.
AO Map Texture: The AO Map texture was a method originally concieved to apply soft shadows to our meshes. This system did not work out, and is being depreciated.
Bump Map Texture: A bump map is a map used to create the illusion of depth and texture on the surface of a 3D mesh.
- This map should be a black and white image.
- Please use JPEG or PNG file formats.
- The higher the value of the Bump Scale, the more extreme the illusion will appear.
Normal Map Texture: A normal map is an RGB map in which each pixel represents a direction in which the surface of the texture appears to be facing. It is used as an alternative method to creating depth on the surface of a 3D mesh.
- Please use JPEG or PNG file formats.
- The higher the value of the Normal Scale, the more extreme the illusion will appear.
Roughness Map Texture: A roughness map can be applied to a material to vary how much roughness is on the surface. This allows for certain areas of a mesh to appear shiny, while others appear flat.
- This map should be a black and white image.
- Please use JPEG or PNG file formats.
- The higher the value of the Roughness, the more extreme the differences will appear.
Metalness Map Texture: A metalness map can be applied to a material to vary how much metallic is on the surface of a mesh. This allows for certain areas of a mesh to appear more reflective, while others appear do not.
- This map should be a black and white image.
- Please use JPEG or PNG file formats.
- The higher the value of the Metalness, the more extreme the differences will appear.

Dynamic Materials¶

Similar to the dynamic colors, a keyword system is used for managing dynamic materials within the shed builder renderer. These keywords are defined within the DynamicMaterial enum in the client application, and can be viewed here.

When a mesh file is loaded, the renderer iterates through the mesh materials. Each mesh material may specify in its properties one of the dynamic material keywords. If one of those keywords is found, the renderer loads the corresponding material data.

Color Schemes¶

Color Schemes can be found under the Assets tab of the Admin. It contains a full list of every color scheme used by the Builder, and the page has several actions an Admin can take:

Edit: The menu to modify an existing entry.
Delete: Deletes the color scheme from the database.
New: Creates a new color scheme.
- The menu is the same as the 'Edit' page, just blank.
Sort: Some lists can be sorted alphabetically. Press the arrow next to the title to change the direction the entries are sorted.
Search: The Colors can be searched by Name, or partial name.
Show: Change the amount of entries shown on the page.

Color Scheme Page¶

This is every field that is goes into creating or editing a Color Scheme. It includes:

Name: The Name of the Color Scheme.
Sequence: The Order in which the Color Scheme is placed in relation to other Color Schemes on a list.
Roof Color: The Roof Color of the Color Scheme.
Color 1: The Primary Color of the Color Scheme.
Color 2: The Secondary Color of the Color Scheme.
Color 3: The Tertiary Color of the Color Scheme.

It is important to note, only exisitng Colors can be added to a Color Scheme. They cannot be created from this page. If a Color does not appear, it is either the wrong Color Type, has not been saved, or has not been created.

The Color Scheme is also dependent on the siding type chosen by the user. Color Schemes for Vinyl will not appear for Smartside sheds, and vise versa.