====== Materials ======
To ensure material accuracy, be sure to use **STE** files, not **SPM**. Please see the previous section on [[input|Input Files]] for details.

Materials are queried using **SteGetGeometry()**. It’s possible to [[query|query only the material information]], bypassing the geometry and other data, by setting the appropriate flags in **SSteGeometryOptions**.

Material definitions are straightforward as shown in this listing below.

<code cpp-qt>
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////  
// Structure SSteTextureMap  

struct SSteTextureMap  
{  
    bool                m_bTextureMapUsed;      // if true, use m_szFilename texture, otherwise use 
                                                // m_vColor in place of map  
    SteFilename         m_szFilename;           // texture map filename  
    SSteVec3            m_vColor;               // fallback constant color  
};  
	  
	  
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////  
// Structure SSteMaterial  
  
struct SSteMaterial  
{  
    SSteTextureMap      m_aMaps[STE_MAP_COUNT]; // bank of PBR texture maps  
  
    bool                m_bTwoSided;            // e.g. true for palm fronds, most leaves  
    SteStringLarge      m_szUserData;           // user data as specified in the Modeler app  
    SteStringLarge      m_szName;  
};  
</code>

This definition is primarily just a set of PBR textures and when a texture isn’t provided, a fallback color is. SpeedTree uses the following PBR map types (defined in ESteMapType):

  * Color/Albedo
  * Opacity
  * Normal
  * Gloss
  * Specular
  * Metallic
  * Subsurface
  * Subsurface Amount
  * Ambient Occlusion
  * Custom

[[example_materials|Here]] is an example for reading just the materials from a SpeedTree model.