split mesh

Hello,
I’m quiet new to blender and this is my first post in this forum.
can someone guide me what is the correct way to split a mesh in order to assign a different material to each part of it?
for example I’ve attached a sphere and a plane crossing it.
How can i assign different material for the part of the sphere that is in the left hand side of the plane

thanks a lot

Attachments


well, if your faces correspond with where you want your materials to be, it’s easily accomplished using material groups, but if you want to precisely place different materials in a way that does not correspond to the topology, I would try the first link in my signature on how to do this with nodes and UV mapping.

I mean there are so many way to do it with Blender it is not even funny! Here is one way to do it with Blend material just projecting colors. No cut no mess!

http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums/m626/cabby24/Blender%20Pics%202011/blend.png