---
title: metalness
framework: scenekit
role: symbol
role_heading: Instance Property
path: scenekit/scnmaterial/metalness
---

# metalness

An object that provides color values to determine how metallic the material’s surface appears.

## Declaration

```swift
var metalness: SCNMaterialProperty { get }
```

## Discussion

Discussion This property measures only the total intensity of color values; texture contents are best defined in grayscale. This property generally approximates aspects of a physical surface—such as index of refraction, tendency to produce sharp reflections, and tendency to produce Fresnel reflections at grazing angles—that together produce an overall metallic or nonmetallic (also called dielectric) appearance. Lower values (darker colors) cause the material to appear more like a dielectric surface. Higher values (brighter colors) cause the surface to appear more metallic. This property applies only when the material’s lightingModel value is physicallyBased.

## See Also

### Visual Properties for Physically Based Shading

- [diffuse](scenekit/scnmaterial/diffuse.md)
- [roughness](scenekit/scnmaterial/roughness.md)