Methods and systems for simulating light interaction and physical materials in a graphical user interface (GUI) of a resource-constrained device are provided. Simulating physical materials, such as glass and metal, in a GUI can allow a user to feel more natural in interacting with the GUI. The user experience can be further enhanced if the simulated physical materials in the GUI can interact with the device's environment in a manner similar to how the actual physical materials would interact. However, continually polling various sensors can be resource-intensive, especially for resource-constrained mobile devices. Accordingly, a mobile device can intelligently determine whether to begin a reduced detail mode, and then render user interface objects in the reduced detail mode to conserve resources.