{"id":1910,"date":"2019-09-28T17:11:23","date_gmt":"2019-09-28T16:11:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/?p=1910"},"modified":"2023-09-07T16:03:01","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T15:03:01","slug":"delete-material","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/delete-material\/","title":{"rendered":"Add, Assign, Delete Materials"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_83 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-light-blue ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a0947fcc61a4\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a0947fcc61a4\"  aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/delete-material\/#add-material\" >Add Material<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/delete-material\/#assign-to-object-global\" >Assign to Object (Global)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/delete-material\/#assign-to-element-local\" >Assign to Element (Local)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/delete-material\/#delete-material\" >Delete Material<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/delete-material\/#delete-all-materials\" >Delete All Materials<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/delete-material\/#delete-material-data-blocks\" >Delete Material Data-Blocks<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>Generally speaking Blenders (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/material-basics\/\">node-based<\/a>) material system can be thought of as a two-part process, of material creation and material assignment, that in practice means adding, assigning or deleting materials can be done independently of an object or element selection.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><b>Design note<\/b>: for Blender 2.8+ and newer meshes need to be UV unwrapped and mapped for materials assigned an image or texture to appear on the mesh in <b>LookDev<\/b> or <b>Rendered<\/b> display modes otherwise the materials diffuse colour (Base Color) is shown. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/material-basics\/\">Learn more about the basics of node-based materials here<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/multiple-materials.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 100%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/multiple-materials.jpg\" alt=\"Multi-object project using multiple materials\" width=\"900px\" height=\"500px\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<i>A project shown in the 3D View comprising multiple objects, each assigned a single unique material taken from a larger pool of materials (not ordinarily visible unless objects are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/join-meshes\/\">joined<\/a> together and\/or selected using <a href=\"#assign-to-object-global\">Browse Material to be linked menu<\/a>).<\/i><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"add-material\"><\/span>Add Material<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Materials in Blender are <b>data blocks<\/b>, segments or chunks of information that define the surface (or volumetric) properties of whatever they might be assigned to or associated with. As such this means they can be created in Object Mode or Edit Mode with or without an active object or selection being made.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><b>Design note<\/b>: although no object or selection is strictly necessary, adding a new material to a project will automatically assign it to, or associated it with, the last item selected, especially if this was a mesh (depending on object selection a number of different material &#8216;sets&#8217; might appear to be created because Blender defaults to assuming an association between the last selected object or item and the materials subsequently generated &#8211; a completely new set of materials can be added to different object selections &#8211; all of which then become available project-wide).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/outliner-inactive-selection.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 98.5%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/outliner-inactive-selection.jpg\" alt=\"Inactive selection shown in Outliner\" width=\"900px\" height=\"500px\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<i>Although no objects are shown selected in the 3D View, the <b>Outliner<\/b> highlights the last item interacted with as an <strong>inactive selection<\/strong>, for example &#8216;trim&#8217; shown in the above, new materials will be associated with this by default.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>To create or add a material, in <b>Material<\/b> properties click the <b>+ <\/b>(<i>Add Material Slot<\/i>) button to the right of the <b>Material List<\/b> aperture and then the <b>+ New<\/b> (<i>Add a new material<\/i>) button below, once an entry appears, to populate. Alternatively click the <b>+ New<\/b> button (<i>Add a new material<\/i>) below the aperture to create a new list item (index) <i>and<\/i> set of properties at the same time.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><b>Design note<\/b>: using the <b>+<\/b> button adds an &#8216;index&#8217; or &#8216;list item&#8217; to the Material List (the aperture displaying materials associated with the selected object) minus accompanying properties; <b>+ New<\/b> places a new index and populates it with a set of default (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/material-basics\/\">node-based<\/a>) properties &#8211; where multiple materials are being created, a multi-material, the <b>+<\/b> button inserts an index which then needs to be populated clicking <b>+New<\/b> (the + New button isn&#8217;t available once an index\/instance has been populated so click + first to add an index then + New to populate).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/material-index-item.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 98.5%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/material-index-item.jpg\" alt=\"There are two ways to add materials in Blender 2.8\" width=\"900px\" height=\"500px\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<i>When adding materials to a project they can be created as an initial &#8216;index&#8217; or &#8216;list item&#8217; without an accompanying set of material properties and options, or a list item with a set of properties, the panel below propagated with various settings and options.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/add-new-material.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 100%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/add-new-material.jpg\" alt=\"Adding new materials in Blender 2.8\" width=\"900px\" height=\"500px\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<i>Adding new materials can be done by clicking the <b>+<\/b> button to add a new index then populating with a set of material properties or, clicking the <b>+ New<\/b> button to add an entry and populate at the same time.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/material-index.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 100%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/material-index.jpg\" alt=\"There are two ways to add materials in Blender 2.8\" width=\"900px\" height=\"500px\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<i>The <b>Material List<\/b> (<b>Material Index<\/b>) displays the instances available for assignment, each accompanied by a set of properties and options.<\/i><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"assign-to-object-global\"><\/span>Assign to Object (Global)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Once a material or set of materials are available they can be assigned. To do this in <b>Object Mode<\/b>, select an object 3D View then in <strong>Material<\/strong> properties click the <b>Browse Material to be linked<\/b> drop-down icon below-left of the Material List aperture and select an item from the list of materials shown, e.g. <em>frame<\/em> in the below. This immediately assigns the selected material to the object.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><b>Design note<\/b>: blank objects, that is objects absent material indexes or material assignments, will assume or take on the properties associated with whichever material is first assigned &#8211; subsequent applications generally don&#8217;t override this behaviour unless applied to <a href=\"#assign-to-object-local\">local selections<\/a> (Edit Mode).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/assign-single-material-object.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 100%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/assign-single-material-object.jpg\" alt=\"Assign a single material to an object\" width=\"900px\" height=\"500px\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<i>To assign a single material to an object first make a selection then from the <b>Browse Material to be linked<\/b> drop-down menu choose an item to assign from the list shown, e.g. frame.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>To assign additional materials, so two or more are associated with the selected object, with the object still selected click the <b>+<\/b> button to <i>add a new material index<\/i>, ensure this remain selected and use the <b>Browse Material to be linked<\/b> drop-down again to make a selection. The new slot will populate with properties. Repeat for however many materials need to be assigned to the item.<\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"background-color: #fc0; color: #000;\"><p><b>Important<\/b>: assigning several materials to an object (in Object Mode) does not change the initial assignments influence over the object, it remains the primary reference regardless. Changing this in Object Mode means deleting all assignments (cf. <a href=\"#delete-material\">below<\/a>) and reordering their (re)application, or their being assigning to specific element selections in Edit Mode (cf. <a href=\"#assign-to-element-local\">below<\/a>); reordering the indexes as they appear in the Material List only changes display order, it does not affect the material\/object relationship.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/assign-multiple-material-reassign.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 98.5%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/assign-multiple-material-reassign.jpg\" alt=\"Objects assume the properties of the first assigned material\" width=\"900px\" height=\"500px\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<i>Assigning materials in <b>Object Mode<\/b>, objects will take on the properties of whichever material is assigned first &#8211; reordering the Material List does not change this.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/assign-multiple-material-object.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 100%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/assign-multiple-material-object.jpg\" alt=\"Assigning several materials to an object\" width=\"900px\" height=\"500px\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<i>To assign several (multiple) materials to an object a new material index has to be created which is then populated with a properties selection using the <b>Browse Material to be linked<\/b> drop-down list.<\/i><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"assign-to-element-local\"><\/span>Assign to Element (Local)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Generally speaking, assigning materials in the <i>local<\/i> sense means using <b>Edit Mode<\/b> to apply them to specific element selections of an object. This is typically done when several materials need to be assigned to specific regions, areas or faces.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><b>Design note<\/b>: objects take on the properties of the first material assigned in Object Mode, which remain otherwise unaffected unless changed in Edit Mode through the addition and assignment of other materials. If materials are created and assigned entirely in Edit Mode, object mode behaviour is not generally applicable &#8211; the initial assignment won&#8217;t be automatically assigned to everything.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>With an object selected, in <b>Edit Mode<\/b> make an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/border-select\/\">element selection<\/a>, a group of vertices, edges or faces associated with a particular mesh region or area. In <b>Material<\/b> properties click the <b>+<\/b> button to <i>add a new material index<\/i>, ensure this is selected then click the <b>Assign<\/b> button below the Material List aperture. Once done click <b>Browse Material to be linked<\/b> and select the appropriate set of properties to accompany the index.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><b>Design note<\/b>: the material index can be assigned with or without a set of properties &#8211; rather than assigning blank indexes they can be matched to a set of properties beforehand making each more easily identifiable (once matched to a set of properties each index will have a named and\/or <strong>Base Color<\/strong> making identification easier).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/assign-multiple-edit-blank.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 98.5%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/assign-multiple-edit-blank.jpg\" alt=\"Blank material indexes\" width=\"900px\" height=\"500px\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<i>Assigning material indexes to different parts of a mesh before being associated with a set of properties can make it difficult to determine what&#8217;s assigned where as nothing uniquely identifies the assignments.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/assign-single-edit-mode.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 100%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/assign-single-edit-mode.jpg\" alt=\"Assign a single material in Edit Mode\" width=\"900px\" height=\"500px\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<i>To assign several (multiple) materials to an object a new material index has to be created which is then populated with a properties selection using the <b>Browse Material to be linked<\/b> drop-down list.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>To assign materials to different selections of a mesh, whilst still in Edit Mode, make another selection (being mindful to clear previous selections, <span class=\"shortcutkey\">Alt<\/span> + <span class=\"shortcutkey\">A<\/span>) and click the <b>+<\/b> button to <i>add another material index<\/i>, ensure this is selected then click the <b>Assign<\/b> button. Click <b>Browse Material to be linked<\/b> and select the appropriate set of properties from those available.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><b>Design note<\/b>: in Edit Mode, to test assignments select each entry in the Material List in turn then click the <b>Select<\/b> and <b>Deselect<\/b> buttons below; different parts of the mesh will highlight relative to the selected material.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/material-select-deselect.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 98.5%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/material-select-deselect.jpg\" alt=\"Assign multiple materials in Edit Mode\" width=\"900px\" height=\"500px\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<i>Test material assignments in <b>Edit Mode<\/b> selecting entries in the Material List and click the <b>Select<\/b> and <b>Deselect<\/b> buttons below &#8211; this can only be done in Edit Mode.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/assign-multiple-edit-mode.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 100%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/assign-multiple-edit-mode.jpg\" alt=\"Assign multiple materials in Edit Mode\" width=\"900px\" height=\"500px\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<i>Multiple materials (shown with <b>Base Color<\/b> above for clarity) can be assigned to different selections in <b>Edit Mode<\/b> clicking the <b>Assign<\/b> button once an available index or material slot is available &#8211; each can be accompanied by a set of properties or left blank (default state).<\/i><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"delete-material\"><\/span>Delete Material<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Although materials can be added and assigned in Edit Mode and Object Mode to varying degrees they can only be deleted in the latter, <b>Object Mode<\/b>. To do this, if in Edit Mode toggle into Object Mode, <span class=\"shortcutkey\">Tab<\/span>, and select the object to which the errant material is assigned.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><b>Design note<\/b>: upon object selection the Material List only displays assigned materials then available for removal.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In the <b>Material List<\/b> click an material index entry to highlight the instance to be removed, then click the <b>&#8211;<\/b> (minus) button (<i>Remove Material Slot<\/i>) to the right of the aperture (alternatively press the <span class=\"shortcutkey\">Delete<\/span> or <span class=\"shortcutkey\">X<\/span> keys). The material will be disappear from the list and the object will either; a) display &#8216;white&#8217; if the removed material was the only one assigned, or b) the selected element from which the material was removed will assume the properties associated with the first instance in the Material List &#8211; faces assigned &#8216;frame&#8217; in the below for example will assume &#8216;screen&#8217; as that is the first available index.<\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"background-color: #fc0; color: #000;\"><p><b>Important<\/b>: deleting materials does not remove the material itself, the <b>underlying data block<\/b>, it simply clears the associative link between it (data block as expressed as a material) and the object or element to which it was assigned. In this way materials can be removed (partially or fully\/all) from selections and remain available for (re)assignment to other objects and selections (caveat: materials absent a <b>Fake User<\/b> will be lost if the *.blend is saved and reopened).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/delete-data-block.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 98.5%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/delete-data-block.jpg\" alt=\"Deleting materials doesn't remove the underlying data block\" width=\"900px\" height=\"500px\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<i>Deleting materials removes the association between material and object\/selection not the underlying data block (cf. <a href=\"#add-material\">above<\/a>), which should remain available for use &#8211; caveat: materials prefixed with a &#8216;0&#8217; are Fake Users, data that can be lost if the project they&#8217;re in is saved and reopened.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/delete-material-index.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 100%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/delete-material-index.jpg\" alt=\"Deleting materials assigned to objects\" width=\"900px\" height=\"500px\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/delete-material-assumed.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 100%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/delete-material-assumed.jpg\" alt=\"Deleting materials assigned to objects\" width=\"900px\" height=\"500px\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<i>Materials can only be removed in object mode, which will strip the association, the selection then assuming the initial materials properties or those of the first index in the Material List &#8211; in the above &#8216;frame&#8217; is removed and in doing so those faces then take on the properties of the first entry in the Material List, &#8216;screen&#8217;.<\/i><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"delete-all-materials\"><\/span>Delete All Materials<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>To batch delete some or all materials from an object, the <b>Outliner<\/b> can be used as an alternative because the Material List can only remove single instances at a time. To do this, select the object with materials to be removed and in the <b>Outliner<\/b> expand its details clicking the \u25ba icon to the left of the appropriate mesh listing. Once assignments are shown, <span class=\"shortcutkey\">Shift<\/span> + click each item, right-click those highlighted and then select <b>Delete<\/b> from the context menu. All the materials will be deleted from the selected object.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><b>Design note<\/b>: using the Outliner to delete materials may leave indexes in the Material List, which will need removing separately <a href=\"#delete-material\">per the above<\/a> &#8211; using the Outliner, as with the Material List, is only deleting the relationship between object and material(s), it does not remove the <a href=\"#delete-material-data-blocks\">underlying data blocks<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/outliner-delete.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 100%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/outliner-delete.jpg\" alt=\"Deleting materials in the Outliner\" width=\"900px\" height=\"500px\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<i>Removing several materials at a time (batch removal) can be done using the <b>Outliner<\/b>; view the objects details and highlight the entries to be removed, right-click then select <b>Delete<\/b> from the context menu.<\/i><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"delete-material-data-blocks\"><\/span>Delete Material Data-Blocks<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Regardless as to how materials are deleted the underlying datablocks remain in place ready for reapplication. If this not wanted and materials should be removed from the file outright this can be done using the <b>Outliner<\/b>. To do this, switch the <b>Display Mode<\/b> to <b>Blender File<\/b> and expand the <b>Materials<\/b> category to reveal the assigned entries. Select the items to be removed from the file then right-click the highlighted entries, from the context menu click <b>Delete<\/b>.<\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"background-color: #fc0; color: #000;\"><p><b>Important<\/b>: once removed from Blender File using the Outliner the project will need to be saved and reopened to ensure the data is cleared properly &#8211; removing data this way can occasionally give rise to orphaned data, which can be removed using the Outliner and the <b>Orphan Data<\/b> editor.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/delete-orphaned-data.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 98.5%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/delete-orphaned-data.jpg\" alt=\"Deleting Orphaned Data from a Blender file\" width=\"900px\" height=\"500px\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<i>Removing materials from a project can leave data behind that&#8217;s not assigned to anything (indicated above by the column with 0&#8217;s [zero&#8217;s]), <b>orphaned data<\/b> as this is called. Use the <b>Orphan Data<\/b> editor to remove.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/outliner-blender-file.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 100%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/images\/tutorials\/materials\/outliner-blender-file.jpg\" alt=\"Deleting material datablocks\" width=\"900px\" height=\"500px\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<i>Removing the underlying datablocks associated with the materials being deleted in the <b>Outliner<\/b> &#8211; switch the <b>Display Mode<\/b> to <b>Blender File<\/b>, select the <b>Materials<\/b> to be removed, right-click and select <b>Delete<\/b>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,230],"tags":[597,598,488,601,596,162,485,346,599,600,103,423,602,372],"class_list":["post-1910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blender","category-tutorials","tag-add-material","tag-assign","tag-base-color","tag-data-block","tag-delete-material","tag-diffuse","tag-display-mode","tag-edit-mode","tag-material-index","tag-material-list","tag-materials","tag-object-mode","tag-orphan-data","tag-outliner"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1910"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5130,"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1910\/revisions\/5130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katsbits.com\/codex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}