When you say "it never showed up" how exactly are you picking a material from the figure, with the eyedropper tool?  Does the material display correctly in preview?  What happens if you pick a material using the pulldown menu?  I have found that sometimes a material will display correctly in preview, but when I try to pick it with the eyedropper tool I don't get the material's properties, I get a very basic pink material, but when I select by menu pick it works OK.

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