# Materials Library **URL:** \ **Category:** Released Add-ons and Extensions\ **Created:** [June 20, 2011, 7:17am UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/materials-library/511018 "2011-06-20T07:17:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mackraken](https://blenderartists.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Mackraken](https://blenderartists.org/u/Mackraken)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 7:17am UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/materials-library/511018/1 "2011-06-20T07:17:20Z")
Hi. This addon will create a material library for Blender. This library will store all the materials you want and you can retrieve them at any file. Matlib VX: It supports everything, external renders, all node materials and textures… ![](https://blenderartists.org/uploads/default/original/3X/0/9/093b6eb12547bccf1949892dee3a63f57c7bdb1a.jpg) [Download link and install information](https://sites.google.com/site/aleonserra/home/scripts/matlib-vx-5-6) Please read the installation process at the web site. Hope you like that. Cya. ---
**Author:** ![tin2tin](https://blenderartists.org/user_avatar/blenderartists.org/tin2tin/32/1084923_2.png) [@tin2tin](https://blenderartists.org/u/tin2tin)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 8:27am UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/materials-library/511018/2 "2011-06-20T08:27:24Z")
Thanks for all the work you put into coding add ons. This one will be absolutely essential for all Blender users! ---
**Author:** ![radek](https://blenderartists.org/user_avatar/blenderartists.org/radek/32/542572_2.png) [@radek](https://blenderartists.org/u/radek)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 8:45am UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/materials-library/511018/3 "2011-06-20T08:45:53Z")
Definitely useful! Two questions: 1. Does it work only with the Blender Internal or also with external renderers? (Lux, Yafa, etc.) 2. Do you plan to make also a preview of the materials in the Material library window? (This means that the window of Material library would not display the name of the material, but his outlook. Something like in MAX. For example: [http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/517/83532508.png/](http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/517/83532508.png/)) Have a lot of strength and motivation to finish it. ---
**Author:** ![Mackraken](https://blenderartists.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Mackraken](https://blenderartists.org/u/Mackraken)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 8:54am UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/materials-library/511018/4 "2011-06-20T08:54:23Z")
Yeah well, Im coding the ramps and textures first, and cleaning the xml. There are some ideas that i could try after that, material preview and a search menu will be some of them. I didnt tested for external renderers, guess that doesnt work for now, but it could. Thanks for the comments. ---
**Author:** ![Gillan](https://blenderartists.org/user_avatar/blenderartists.org/gillan/32/1679_2.png) [@Gillan](https://blenderartists.org/u/Gillan)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:22am UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/materials-library/511018/5 "2011-06-21T03:22:28Z")
good idea The preview is essential, might work by selecting the name of the material, assign it to a fake user , to generate the preview in the usual slot but already it is really useful ---
**Author:** ![Mackraken](https://blenderartists.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Mackraken](https://blenderartists.org/u/Mackraken)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:29am UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/materials-library/511018/6 "2011-06-21T03:29:02Z")
I didnt thought about that, good idea. Ill do that when i got the ramps and textures implemented. Now it just copies the material settings. ---
**Author:** ![lsscpp](https://blenderartists.org/user_avatar/blenderartists.org/lsscpp/32/3452_2.png) [@lsscpp](https://blenderartists.org/u/lsscpp)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 4:38am UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/materials-library/511018/7 "2011-06-21T04:38:06Z")
i don’t think having many previews is an optimal solution: it should calculate more and more as the library grows (as max used to do!). Wouldn’t it be better to have little bitmaps created just once when you hit the + button? the problem then is ‘where do you store them?’ otherwise fernando’s solution could be good ---
**Author:** ![HiRes](https://blenderartists.org/user_avatar/blenderartists.org/hires/32/16351_2.png) [@HiRes](https://blenderartists.org/u/HiRes)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 4:50am UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/materials-library/511018/8 "2011-06-21T04:50:46Z")
great! i like this… it will put in my “essential” add-on folder. ---
**Author:** ![kilon](https://blenderartists.org/user_avatar/blenderartists.org/kilon/32/483746_2.png) [@kilon](https://blenderartists.org/u/kilon)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 4:55am UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/materials-library/511018/9 "2011-06-21T04:55:21Z")
I was thinking to provide a material library editor for my script random material generator GYES , but I see that you saved me the extra work. Thank you very much, this should be a blender standard add on. Excellent work. I dont know why you use eval from line 139 to 210, could you explain the reason ? I think an int() would be much safer. ---
**Author:** ![comeinandburn](https://blenderartists.org/user_avatar/blenderartists.org/comeinandburn/32/5087_2.png) [@comeinandburn](https://blenderartists.org/u/comeinandburn)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 6:40am UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/materials-library/511018/10 "2011-06-21T06:40:36Z")
this is an absolute essential feature that has been needed for a long time. Thanks so much! I hope this ends up as a default add-on. great work! ---
**Author:** ![bleber](https://blenderartists.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/d26b3c/32.png) [@bleber](https://blenderartists.org/u/bleber)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/materials-library/511018/11 "2011-06-21T15:28:49Z")
what about make a structure like a folder to organize the materials on categories? Great work! ---
**Author:** ![rarebit](https://blenderartists.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/87869e/32.png) [@rarebit](https://blenderartists.org/u/rarebit)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/materials-library/511018/12 "2011-06-21T15:38:17Z")
Love it, i’ve been intending to do this for a while too. The materials are set internally to Blender so they should be translatable to external renderers just you would make them from other Blender standard materials. On that note, I intended to incorporate a function to have some pre-sets similar to the list you get with external renderers. e.g. plastic, metal, glass, etc… (even if just taken from: [http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender\_3D:\_Noob\_to\_Pro/Every\_Material\_Known\_to\_Man](http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Every_Material_Known_to_Man) ) Preview, as said pre-make and only load and display one at a time to save memory and resources etc… (but have feature to not bother (i’d just remember)) Great work! ---
**Author:** ![Mackraken](https://blenderartists.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Mackraken](https://blenderartists.org/u/Mackraken)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/materials-library/511018/13 "2011-06-21T15:47:43Z")
At this stage im including Blender’s textures to the library. Theres a lot to do yet. Ill begin with the basic ones, like sorting the list or a proper search menu. Then i can study all your suggestions. Thanks for the comments and ideas. ---
**Author:** ![Mackraken](https://blenderartists.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Mackraken](https://blenderartists.org/u/Mackraken)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/materials-library/511018/14 "2011-06-23T18:58:33Z")
Ive released the second version of the script, it makes a full copy and apply of the material settings. No textures yet, but coming soon. Im testing it on 2.57 so im not sure if will work on 2.58. check it out. Cheers ---
**Author:** ![Mackraken](https://blenderartists.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Mackraken](https://blenderartists.org/u/Mackraken)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/materials-library/511018/15 "2011-06-24T14:57:48Z")
The third version of the script its already out. It allows you to save procedural textures and images into the library. Voxel and point density textures are not included yet. It may raise any error, its not fully tested. If you have any problem please let me know. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![iKLsR](https://blenderartists.org/user_avatar/blenderartists.org/iklsr/32/14291_2.png) [@iKLsR](https://blenderartists.org/u/iKLsR)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/materials-library/511018/16 "2011-06-24T17:26:44Z")
o wow thats handy. well done. +1 for radekt’s suggestion, an active preview for materials in the material library panel ---
**Author:** ![GottfriedHofmann](https://blenderartists.org/user_avatar/blenderartists.org/gottfriedhofmann/32/578923_2.png) [@GottfriedHofmann](https://blenderartists.org/u/GottfriedHofmann)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 2:52am UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/materials-library/511018/17 "2011-06-25T02:52:17Z")
Wow - thanks for coding this! A also opt for the bitmap preview! ---
**Author:** ![Mackraken](https://blenderartists.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Mackraken](https://blenderartists.org/u/Mackraken)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/materials-library/511018/18 "2011-06-25T02:57:38Z")
A bitmap preview its gonna be hard, guess i can try, but at the moment applying the material to any object its the only way to make a preview. The next version of the script will include full material features, and support for any external renderer. Nodes will have to wait. ---
**Author:** ![Jogai](https://blenderartists.org/user_avatar/blenderartists.org/jogai/32/2998_2.png) [@Jogai](https://blenderartists.org/u/Jogai)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 5:34am UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/materials-library/511018/19 "2011-06-25T05:34:41Z")
You guys are aware of the [Blender Open Material Repository](http://matrep.parastudios.de/index.php)? Is has a script, probably outdated now, for integrating in the interface. ---
**Author:** ![kilon](https://blenderartists.org/user_avatar/blenderartists.org/kilon/32/483746_2.png) [@kilon](https://blenderartists.org/u/kilon)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 8:00am UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/materials-library/511018/20 "2011-06-25T08:00:38Z")
> [@Jogai](#): > > You guys are aware of the [Blender Open Material Repository](http://matrep.parastudios.de/index.php)? Is has a script, probably outdated now, for integrating in the interface. WOW no I did not know and thank for bringing this to my attention that could be very useful for my script. [Next page](https://blenderartists.org/t/materials-library/511018.md?page=2)