What is the difference between a material board and a mood board?

A mood board captures the overall feeling of a design through inspirational imagery, colors, and references. A material board is more concrete: it presents the actual materials and finishes proposed for the project, so clients and contractors can evaluate real textures, colors, and combinations before anything is specified or ordered.

What is a Formiq 3D material board?

A Formiq material board is a digital, photorealistic mood board tool for interior designers. Unlike traditional 2D collages, our boards allow you to visualize textures, lighting, and material interactions in a 3D environment using digital twins of real-world products.

How is this different from tools like Canva or Pinterest?

While Canva and Pinterest are great for 2D image collection, Formiq offers a 3D simulation. Our tool accounts for real-world scale, lighting conditions, and material properties (PBR), ensuring your mood board accurately represents how the final design will look and feel.

How do I create a material sample board?

Creating a board is simple: 1. Browse our library of thousands of virtual material samples. 2. Drag and drop products onto your canvas. 3. Use our transform tools to adjust scale and rotation. 4. Customize lighting to set the mood.

What items can I include in my material board?

You can include anything required for your interior design specification: flooring samples, fabric swatches, paint colors, and furniture models. You can also upload your own custom textures to create a truly bespoke presentation.

Can I use these boards for client presentations?

Yes. Formiq is designed to streamline client approvals. You can share a live, interactive link for real-time feedback or export high-resolution rendered images to include in your design documentation and pitch decks.

Is the material board tool free to use?

Yes, you can start creating 3D material boards for free. Access our comprehensive material library, use our professional lighting and layout tools, and collaborate with team members without an upfront cost.

Do I need 3D modeling skills to use this?

No. Formiq is designed for accessibility. Our intuitive drag-and-drop interface handles the complex 3D rendering in the background, allowing you to focus purely on creativity and curation without needing to learn CAD or rendering software.

3D Material Board

Create 3D Material Boards in Seconds

Q: What is a material board?

A material board (also called a material sample board or finish board) is a curated collection of material samples — wood, stone, tile, fabric, paint, and hardware finishes — that interior designers and architects use to visualize and communicate how the materials in a space work together. It can be physical or digital; digital material boards are faster to assemble, easier to share, and simpler to revise.

Drag and drop virtual samples to create photorealistic material boards. Source from thousands of products and curate digital mood boards with your team in real-time.

3D material board interface demonstrating drag-and-drop material sample placement

Design 3D material boards with ease

What is a material board?

A material board is a curated collection of material samples — wood, stone, tile, fabric, and paint — that interior designers and architects use to visualize how the materials in a space work together. It can be physical or digital: with Formiq, you build digital material boards from photorealistic 3D samples of real products, so clients see true textures, colors, and lighting before anything is ordered.

Also known as

material sample board

sample board

finish board

Material board vs. mood board

Mood board

Inspirational imagery, colors, and references that set the overall feeling of a design.

Material board

The actual materials and finishes proposed for the project — real textures you can evaluate, compare, and specify.

How it works

Material board showcasing the process of creating 3D material board

Step 1: Source from our Library

Streamline sourcing with our AI-powered digital material library. Filter by color, texture, and sustainable options.

Choose material and products from Formiq's material catalog

Step 2: Intuitive Drag & Drop

Simply drag products onto your canvas to instantly visualize textures and finishes in photorealistic detail.

Step-by-step guide showing material samples being dragged onto the 3D board canvas

Step 3: Customize & transform

Ensure accuracy with precise tools. Adjust scale, rotation, and lighting to visualize how materials interact in real life.

Customize your material sample models with our transform tools

Step 4: Curate the Perfect Look

Finalize your interior design mood board with decorative elements, props, and custom background images.

Drag material sample models to position and create your ideal material board composition

Design together with your project team

Project Sharing

Centralize your workflow. Assign roles and share project access with contractors and designers instantly.

Real-time collaboration

Co-create in real-time. Brainstorm ideas and adjust specifications simultaneously with multiplayer mode.

Real-time multiplayer collaboration with multiple designers editing the same board

Share and export

Impress clients with high-resolution exports or share a live link for interactive feedback and faster approvals.

Export and share options including high-resolution image download and shareable link

Customize your material board attributes

Lighting

Adjust light intensity and color temperature.

Background

Customize background color to match your mood.

Grid

Grid line can be turned on for sizing reference.

Recenter

Reset to top view in centered-position.

Lock models

Lock your models for making different composition.

Texts

Instant feedback to your co-workers or clients.

Start with a material board

Modern

Victorian

Luxury

Modern

Japanese

Rustic

Bohemian

Craftsman

French Country

Eclectic

Asian

Luxury

Try for free.

Get Started on Formiq

Focus on design, we handle the rest.

Formiq dashboard overview showing material library and project organization

Schedule

Spec smarter, design more.

Paper

The AI Rendering Canvas

Create 3D Material Boards in Seconds

Design 3D material boards with ease

What is a material board?

Mood board

Material board

How it works

Step 1: Source from our Library

Step 2: Intuitive Drag & Drop

Step 3: Customize & transform

Step 4: Curate the Perfect Look

Design together with your project team

Project Sharing

Real-time collaboration

Share and export

Customize your material board attributes

Lighting

Background

Grid

Recenter

Lock models

Texts

Start with a material board

Try for free.

Get Started on Formiq

Schedule

Paper

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a material board?

What is the difference between a material board and a mood board?

What is a Formiq 3D material board?

How is this different from tools like Canva or Pinterest?

How do I create a material sample board?

What items can I include in my material board?

Can I use these boards for client presentations?

Is the material board tool free to use?

Do I need 3D modeling skills to use this?