How you name materials is entirely up to you.
The only guideline that you should follow is to name the material something descriptive enough that you will be able to come back to it several months later an recognize what it is.
Other than that, you can use any naming scheme you want.
When you are browsing materials from the library, they are always listed alphabetically.
So if you use certain materials frequently, you could give them names that would put them at the top of the list.
Using the number "1" puts any material at the top of the list.
3D Application's materials are called shaders.
Many other products use the name shader to denote the equivalent of a material in 3D Application.
Materials contain all the same type of properties, if not more, as a shader.
n Use the Standard material for most situations.
The Standard material contains most of the elements you need to design convincing materials.
With the addition of the Raytrace feature as a map, you can still employ accurate reflections and refractions.
Use the Raytrace material for realism.
The Raytrace material contains features that the Standard material does not, such as Translucency and Fluorescence.
These features, along with the way the material behaves, can make objects using this material render very realistically.
Raytracing is great for hyper-realism.
One of the best qualities of a Raytraced image is that if looks extremely convincing.
Reflections and refractions are believable.
Specular highlights can make metals and glass look more realistic than ever.
Raytracing is bad for speed.
Although Raytracing produces great imagery, it comes at a price-slower rendering times.
However, there are many optimizations for both rendering quality and anti-aliasing that can help reduce your rendering bottom line.