problems with adding materials

The problem I am having is now that I have duplicated my planes, I have different color materials but they are all showing the same color in the scene instead of showing the different color materials. I was in cycles render but when I switched it to blender render and its not using nodes it works. Could someone tell me why when I was adding materials to my walls it was working in cycles but I must have changed something because it will not let me do it now

  • Kent Trammell replied

    Hi Terence - Switching from Cycles to Blender Render isn't a smooth transition. My guess is that's where it got weird for you. What colors were your planes in Cycles and what color did they become when switching to Blender Render?

  • Terence Arseneault(terence7) replied

    Hey Kent, actually it has happened a few times for me now and in the middle of some projects using cycles. I will add a material to an object or two and it works fine then later in the project I try to add new materials to different objects and in the properties its showing the right color but in my scene it seems to be link to another material color.

  • Kent Trammell replied

    This happens while you still have Cycles enabled? That's odd if so. But when switching from Cycles to Blender Render, the colors always turn a different color since the materials aren't compatible between render engines.

  • Terence Arseneault(terence7) replied

    Yes just in cycles, happened a few times during projects that I just started over. Its probably something Im doing and dont even know it. I just noticed in cycles under in the properties panel under materials, and under surface if  "use nodes" is selected that is when this occurs.Is there a way to change it back? because I dont see how, even when I select a new material it still uses nodes until I shut down blender and reload it. 

  • Kent Trammell replied

    tterence7 "Use Nodes" should always be enabled when using Cycles because nodes is the foundation of all Cycles materials. However Blender Internal doesn't use nodes by default (even though it can be enabled there as well).

    I thought the issue was that you were creating a non-nodal material in Blender Render then switching to Cycles and enabling "Use Nodes". Though when I try it, the color doesn't change. So I don't know what's going on.

    If it happens again, please record your screen when the color shift happens, post a link to your video and I'll take a look.

  • Terence Arseneault(terence7) replied

    Hey Kent, here is the link I took a quick video of changing the color of a cube in cycles a couple times and then when I enable use nodes it does not change.

    https://drive.google.com/open?id=1W4-oJ3TkE6-bXLHYcC_v_pAVi5SFXsHQ

  • Kent Trammell replied

    tterence7  Thanks for the video - it's clear now what's happening. Whenever you enable "Use Nodes" you're turning on the default Cycles material system, as you notice you get a bunch more options in the material settings. When this happens you have a diffuse material color AND a viewport display color. The diffuse material color does not update in the viewports default solid shading mode, which is why you're not seeing the color update. But if you change the "Viewport Color" in the material "Settings" section, that will update in the viewport as you expect.

    I know that's quirky and unintuitive. Personally I think the viewport color should adopt the diffuse color until the user changes it. But I also understand the reason why they're separated. Since Cycles materials are nodal, it's just as likely for there to be no diffuse color node as it is to have one. So it's not a reliable parameter for the viewport color parameter to source.

    Anyway, thanks for the video. I hope this answers your question!

  • Terence Arseneault(terence7) replied

    Thank you Kent, it makes perfect sense now. So if I end up wanting the rendered color the same as the viewport color I see I can just drag from the view port color right into the surface color so they match. Thanks again.

  • Kent Trammell replied

    tterence7 that's correct. Glad we solved it! Happy blending 👍

  • tonegroove replied

    I was running into the same problem. There's a similar question on the Blender stackexchange.... It would be nice to have the default viewport color use the  diffuse, with an option to override it. Might be worth adding a note to the tutorial. I instinctively just switch to Cycles for almost all new projects. When I make a "real" material, for some reason I rarely run into this, if ever. Maybe my memory is bad.

    https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/75872/not-showing-colors-in-material-mode

    Cheers!