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# Material

A type that describes the material aspects of a mesh, like color and
texture.

```
protocol Material
```

## Overview

In RealityKit, a *material* defines the surface properties of a 3D model. It
specifies how RealityKit renders the entity, including its color and whether
it’s shiny or reflective. A [`ModelEntity`](/documentation/RealityKit/ModelEntity) may have one material that
defines the way RealityKit renders the entire entity, or it may have several
that define the look of different parts of the model.

RealityKit provides several different material structures for different
types of rendering, including [`PhysicallyBasedMaterial`](/documentation/RealityKit/PhysicallyBasedMaterial), which is a
versatile material capable of simulating real-world objects in a highly
realistic manner, and [`UnlitMaterial`](/documentation/RealityKit/UnlitMaterial), which RealityKit draws with no
lighting effects or shadows.

If you import a model from a USDZ file, RealityKit automatically creates one
or more [`PhysicallyBasedMaterial`](/documentation/RealityKit/PhysicallyBasedMaterial) instances from the material properties
contained in the file.

## Topics

### Identifying a material

[`name`](/documentation/RealityKit/Material/name)

Name exported with USDz or Reality File asset


---

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