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Material — the full vocabulary
This page is generated. Do not edit it by hand — run
scripts/atlas-vocab.py.
There are 9 registered values and nothing in use outside them.
Where it is stored: content_material.material — 98 rows carry a value.
How the registry and the data line up: 7 of the 9 registered values appear in the data, and nothing appears that is not registered.
What this axis answers
— no definition written yet.
The values
A bold value carries more than its row — tagging rules, a confusion map, or worked examples — and has its own entry under “Value details” below.
| Value | Stored as | In use | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat | flat | 51 | — |
| Photoreal | photoreal | 15 | — |
| Matte | matte | 11 | — |
| Glossy | glossy | 8 | — |
| Textured | textured | 7 | — |
| Chrome | chrome | 4 | — |
| Reflective | reflective | 2 | — |
| Illustrative | illustrative | — | working note, not a definition: LOOK: it looks drawn (canon §1 pair: illustration=craft vs illustrative=look; X1 #4) |
| Collage | collage | — | LOOK: layered-cutout aesthetic over any method (X1 #6, Joe: a look not a method; true paper-cut = stop_motion+collage) |
Value details
Photoreal
photoreal · 15 in use · kind: material
— no definition written yet.
Tag it when — Rendered/synthetic work whose result reads as photographic/real.
Never tag it when — NOT a claim about capture: live-action footage is trivially photographic — reserve photoreal for rendered/synthetic work reading as real. Origin (ai_generated) is a separate facet.
Easily mistaken for:
- content_origin.ai_generated (provenance, not look)
- dimensionality.3d (space, not finish)
Worked examples:
- photoreal 3D product render
- CG environment indistinguishable from plate
Illustrative
illustrative · not used yet · kind: material
The registry records a working note here rather than a definition: “LOOK: it looks drawn (canon §1 pair: illustration=craft vs illustrative=look; X1 #4)”
Tag it when — The result LOOKS drawn/illustrated, regardless of how frames were made.
Never tag it when — NOT the craft of Illustration (creative_disciplines: someone drew it as the deliverable) and NOT execution=cel (frames actually hand-drawn).
Easily mistaken for:
- creative_disciplines Illustration (craft)
- execution.cel (method)
Worked examples:
- 3D render shaded to look hand-drawn
- vector-look motion piece
Collage
collage · not used yet · kind: material
LOOK: layered-cutout aesthetic over any method (X1 #6, Joe: a look not a method; true paper-cut = stop_motion+collage)
Tag it when — Layered-cutout aesthetic composed (usually digitally) over any production method.
Never tag it when — A true physical paper-cut piece is execution=stop_motion PLUS material=collage — the look and the method are separate chips.
Easily mistaken for:
- execution.stop_motion (physical method)
Worked examples:
- digital layered-cutout social spot
- mixed photo/paper-texture layout
Registered, never used
2 of the 9 registered values have never been written to a row. For a young axis that is expected; for an old one it is a question worth asking.
illustrative, collage
How complete this page is
Of 9 registered values, 1 carry a written definition (11%) and 3 carry tagging rules (33%). A further 1 hold a working note where a definition should be — a spec reference or a rename history, useful to whoever wrote it and no help to a reader asking what the value means. Every number on this page was counted from the live database when the page was generated — none is stored, and none was typed by hand.
Where to look next
- What this is FOR, in plain language — the Content chapter.
- Every other vocabulary — the vocabulary index.
- What is still undecided about it — the open questions.
- The exact tables and columns — the data reference.