1. A method of automatically transforming a computerized 3D model having portions of images utilized as textures on one or more physical objects represented in the computerized 3D model to include material property information for one or more regions of the textures of the computerized 3D model, comprising the steps of: comparing, using computer executable code operated on a computer, at least a portion of an image texture applied to a computerized 3D model to entries in a palette of material entries to determine a best match for the image texture; assigning the material palette entry that best matches the image texture to the portion of the image texture to indicate a physical material of the physical object represented by the computerized 3D model; and storing material property information in the computerized 3D model for the image textures that are assigned a material palette entry.