Material is an enum and a property of parts that affects their appearance, and in some cases their physical properties, depending on which is chosen. Terrain is also made up of materials.
Custom materials can be created through the Material manager, as well as the MaterialService and MaterialVariant classes.
In early March 2009, Wood was released as the first material. Before this, the only material parts could be was plastic.
In late April 2009, Slate was released as a new material.
In early September 2009, Concrete, Corroded Metal, Diamond Plate, Foil, and Ice were released as new materials.
In September 2009, Grass was added as a new material.
In late October 2013, Brick, Fabric, Granite, Marble, Pebble and Sand were released as new materials.
The original appearance of Materials as used between 2009 and 2013. L-R/Top-Bottom: Concrete, Foil, Ice, Wood, Diamond Plate, Grass, Plastic, Corroded Metal, and Slate
In July 2014, Cobblestone, Metal, and Wood Planks were released as new materials. Grass and Fabric were also revamped.
In the summer of 2015, Neon, which glows when the quality is set to 6 or higher, was added.
In early 2017, Brick and Wood Planks were revamped.
In December 2017, Glass was introduced.
In June 2019, Forcefield was introduced.
In June 2022, Asphalt, Basalt, Cracked Lava, Glacier, Ground, Leafy Grass, Limestone, Mud, Pavement, Rock, Salt, Sandstone and Snow were introduced, being previously found only in Terrain. Additionally, many of the existing part materials were revamped.
From 2009 to 2013, Materials were either procedurally generated or texture-based―the latter being known as "fallback"― depending on the user's Rendering settings as configurable in Studio. If set to Low, all Parts would render as Plastic, whereas High would allow for procedural generation, which featured more complex visual effects. By default, all Materials would be set to Automatic, with the result being based on the user's system performance.[citation needed]
List of materials[]
Currently, there are 45 base materials to choose for parts. These are:
Beyond the regular materials, there are two that exist but are not intended to be used for parts. These are:
Water - Only usable for Terrain. If a part's material is set to Water via the command line or a script, it will take on the appearance of Plastic, but its density will be set to 1, its elasticity will be set to 0.01, and its friction will be set to 0.005.
Air - Technical material that is used by Terrain. If a part's material is set to Air via the command line or a script, it will take on the appearance of Plastic, but its Density, Elasticity, and Friction will all be set to 0.01.
Previously, it was possible to use the air material to create an invisible part that would cast a shadow.
Removed Materials[]
Several materials existed at one point but were removed. They are as follows:
Aluminum (the material enum for Aluminum still exists, but changes a part to the Foil material immediately if used)
Cinderblock
Gold
Mossy Rock
Gravel
Iron
Red Plastic
Blue Plastic
These materials, with the exception of Brass, were exclusive to Legacy Terrain and could not be used for parts. Although some materials were first introduced for Legacy Terrain and later made usable for parts (such as wood planks, brick, and granite), many terrain materials were color variants made as a result of terrain not supporting color in the same way parts do. As a result, these were never adapted for use in parts.
When Legacy Terrain was removed in 2017, these materials became unusable, and games with Legacy Terrain had them converted to other materials. Gold, Aluminum, Iron, and Cinderblock were all merged with Concrete. Mossy Rock was converted to Cobblestone. Gravel was merged with Asphalt. Because smooth terrain does not support plastic, Red Plastic was converted to Sandstone, and Blue Plastic was converted to Ice.
Can still be accessed through scripts. It does not change the texture but changes it's heaviness, friction and elasticity will be changed.
Scrapped Materials[]
There have also been many scrapped part materials. None of these were ever added to a public release, due to community outcry, and their deviation from the original purpose of the Developer Forum announcement to bring parity to terrain and part materials. These are:[1]
MaterialService and 
MaterialVariant classes.
