# Material Swatch icons inside the Entity Info Dialog Box

**URL:** <https://forums.sketchup.com/t/material-swatch-icons-inside-the-entity-info-dialog-box/388>\
**Category:** SketchUp\
**Created:** [August 21, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/material-swatch-icons-inside-the-entity-info-dialog-box/388 "2014-08-21T16:17:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mvmcali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@mvmcali](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/mvmcali)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/material-swatch-icons-inside-the-entity-info-dialog-box/388/1 "2014-08-21T16:17:51Z")

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Can Anyone explain why these symbols dont seem to correspond to the colors of the entity that i have selected in the model.

for components and groups… i see a single swatch (but component has many faces) and the swatch doesnt show any of the colors that are in the entity that is selected)

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**Author:** ![Guy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/guy/32/88_2.png) [@Guy](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/Guy)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 5:50pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/material-swatch-icons-inside-the-entity-info-dialog-box/388/2 "2014-08-21T17:50:20Z")

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I don’t fully understand what you try to say, but I think you don’t understand how materials work in SketchUp.

You can assign a material to each side of a face and you can assign a material to a group or a component. But you have one special material, the ‘default material’. When the default material is attached to a face (if you draw a face the default material is automatically attached to the face) and the face is part of a group or component, the face will get the material of the group or component.

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**Author:** ![Anssi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/anssi/32/105_2.png) [@Anssi](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/Anssi)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/material-swatch-icons-inside-the-entity-info-dialog-box/388/3 "2014-08-21T18:16:42Z")

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I am trying to decipher your message: Are you looking at the Entity Info window? If a component is painted with a material “from the outside”, the window would display that material, whatever the faces within the component or group are painted with. When you paint a whole component with a material, only the faces within that use the Default material are affected.

Anssi

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**Author:** ![Geo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/geo/32/82_2.png) [@Geo](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/Geo)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/material-swatch-icons-inside-the-entity-info-dialog-box/388/4 "2014-08-21T19:45:13Z")

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When you paint a group from the outside, all default material faces within (both front and back) will “display” the material applied to the group.

However, it is the **group** that bears the material attribute, not the default faces within the group, they’re still the default material.

-Geo