Materials of One Color: Applying Standard Materials

Materials for Interior Scenes

Applying Multiple Materials to One Object

 

Autodesk 3ds Max Tutorials > Materials and Mapping Tutorials > Materials for Interior Scenes > 

Adding Complexity: Applying Mapped Materials

You can create more complex materials quite easily, by assigning a map to the diffuse color. A map applied to the diffuse color component is often described as a texture map. For example, the bookshelves used in the library model have two textures: wood grain for the shelves, and books for the shelves’ contents.

In this lesson, you create the mapped materials and apply them to a bookshelf model.

Set up the scene:

• On the menu bar, choose File > Open. Locate bookshelf.max in the \tutorials\designviz folder, and click Open.

  If you see the File Load: Units Mismatch dialog , choose the option Adopt The File's Unit Scale. This will change your system unit, so be sure to reset your system unit after completing this tutorial .

  To reset your system unit, go to the Customize menu and choose Units Setup > System Unit Setup > System Unit Scale > Inches.

  If the geometry is not visible in the viewport, click the Zoom Extents All button twice to correct the display.

  This scene contains the bookshelf model, but with no textures applied.

  

Setting Texture Coordinates Preferences:

1. From the Customize menu, choose Preferences.
2. In the General tab, under the Texture Coordinates group, make sure the Use Real-World Texture Coordinates option is turned off.

   

3. Click OK to exit the Preferences dialog.

Create the wood material:

1. On the toolbar, click Material Editor.
2. In the Material Editor, click the first sample slot to make it active (if it isn’t already).
3. On the Blinn Basic Parameters rollout, click the blank map button to the right of the Diffuse color swatch.

   The Material/Map Browser dialog is displayed.

   

   The map button is the gray square to the right of the diffuse color swatch.

   If a map has been assigned, it shows the letter ‘M.’

   

4. In the Material/Map Browser, locate Bitmap in the list, and double-click it.

   A Select Bitmap Image File dialog appears. Most of the controls in this dialog are standard Windows file controls.

5. In the same directory as the bookshelf.max file, choose the bitmap file named wood02.jpg, then click Open.

   In the Material Editor, the sample slot updates to show that the diffuse color of the material is now an image of the map file you chose. Also, the rollouts area of the dialog now shows controls for the map, rather than the parent material.

   

   Mapped wood material in sample slot

6. Click the Go To Parent button to get back to the top level of your new material.
7. In the material name field, enter Wood 2.

   By default, the material name is a generic name, 01 – Default. Giving your materials more descriptive names will help you manage them more efficiently in the future.

Apply the wood to the bookshelves:

1. On the toolbar, click Select By Name. In the Select By Name dialog that appears, choose Shelves in the list, then click Select.
2. In the Material Editor, make sure the Wood 2 sample slot is still active, then click Assign Material To Selection.

   The material is now applied to the shelves, and would appear in a rendering. However, it doesn’t yet appear in shaded viewports.

   Incidentally, when you apply the material, the sample slot shows solid, angled tabs at the corners. This is an indication in the Material Editor that the material in the slot is a material used in the scene.

   

   Solid corner tabs of a sample slot indicate that the material is used in the scene.

3. In the Material Editor, click to turn on Show Map In Viewport.

   Now the shaded Perspective viewport shows that the shelves have a wood grain.

   

   TipIf you turn on Show Map In Viewport, but nothing changes in shaded viewports, this is probably because objects with the material do not have mapping coordinates. In this case, you need to apply a UVW Map modifier . This modifier is used in later lessons of this tutorial.

Create the book material:

1. In the Material Editor, click the second sample slot to make it active.
2. On the Blinn Basic Parameters rollout, click the blank map button to the right of the Diffuse color swatch.

   

   The map button is the gray square to the right of the diffuse color swatch.

3. In the Material/Map Browser, locate Bitmap in the list, and double-click it. The Select Bitmap Image File is displayed. In the same directory as the bookshelf.max file, choose the bitmap file named books1.jpg, then click Open.

   Although it is somewhat hard to see on the sphere in the sample slot, the texture for this material is a scanned image of books on a bookshelf.

   

4. Click the Go To Parent button to get back to the top level of the material.
5. In the material name field, enter Books.

Apply the book material to the shelves:

1. On the toolbar, click Select By Name. In the Select By Name dialog that appears, choose Books in the list, then click Select.
2. In the Material Editor, make sure the Books sample slot is still active, then click Assign Material To Selection.
3. In the Material Editor, click to turn on Show Map In Viewport.

   Now the shaded Perspective viewport shows the shelves with books on them.

   

With just two image files, you have given the model a convincing amount of detail, especially if the model is meant, like the bookshelf, to be a detail in a larger scene. Texture-mapped materials are a convenient way to add textures and images to your scene. (You can also use a map as a scene background image.)

Save your work:

• Save the scene as bookshelf_with_maps.max.