> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://manual.karamba3d.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://manual.karamba3d.com/3-in-depth-component-reference/3.4-material/3.4.2-material-selection.md).

# 3.5.2: Material Selection

The **“Material Selection”**-component in the menu subsection **“Material”** lets you select a material by family, name or index from a given list of materials (see fig. [3.4.1.1](/3-in-depth-component-reference/3.4-material/3.4.1-material-properties.md#isotropic-material-properties) or fig. [3.4.3.2](/3-in-depth-component-reference/3.4-material/3.4.3-read-material-table-from-file.md)). Input the list of materials via the plug **“Mat”**. In case no list of materials is supplied, the material table that comes with Karamba3D is used.

The input-plug **“Name|Ind”** expects either the zero-based list index of the selected material or its name. The names of materials are not case sensitive. A “#” in a material name means that the rest of the line is a comment. “&” starts a regular expression – in that case material names are case sensitive.

For quick access materials may be selected via the drop down lists **“Family”** and **“Name”**, which unfold when clicking on the components **“Select”** bar. These two entries serve as additional criteria which act on the list of materials selected through the **“Name|Ind”** input.

The inputs **“Elem|Id”** and **“Color”** have the same meaning as in the **“Material Properties”**-component (see section[ 3.4.1](/3-in-depth-component-reference/3.4-material/3.4.1-material-properties.md)). Any element identifiers already present in a material get overwritten by the values input via **“Elem|Id”**. Without a color supplied at input **“Color”** the original material color persists.

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