Man-made objects frequently have multiple components. Modeling all of these as separate Blender objects can present problems. To begin with, you will have to attach each component if you wish the whole object to move in an animation. You may also get problems with mesh intersection where two materials are so close together that the computer will find it difficult to work out which is in front of the other. This can lead to flashing textures that can become emphasized in an animation. Wouldn't it be great if Blender provided some way of assigning different materials to various parts of a mesh? Well, fortunately, Blender can do this and, as we will discover, it is very easy to achieve.
The faucet, created in Chapter 5, when simulating reflections in metal materials, is an excellent candidate for multiple materials as most bathroom taps have hot and cold labels attached to the top of the stopcock. We will attach an enamel-looking label to the top of...