Mapping and Mapping Coordinates

Introduction to Materials and Mapping

Using Raytrace Materials and Maps

 

Autodesk 3ds Max Tutorials > Materials and Mapping Tutorials > Introduction to Materials and Mapping > 

Creating Multi/Sub-Object Materials

When you want to apply two or more materials to an object, you use a Multi/Sub-Object material. This is a material type can contain up to 1,000 different materials, each identified by a unique number called a material ID. By assigning different material IDs to discrete selections of faces, you control where each material will appear when the parent Multi/Sub-Object material is applied to the object.

• The files for this lesson can be found in the tutorials/intro_to_materials folder.

In this exercise, you'll create the material automatically by dragging and dropping onto sub-object selections.

Create Multi/Sub-Object materials using drag and drop:

1. Open intro_materials4.max.
   NoteIf you see the File Load: Units Mismatch dialog, choose the option Rescale The File Objects To The System Unit Scale.
2. Right-click the Camera viewport label and change the viewport display mode to Wireframe.

   The viewport now displays all the geometry in wireframe.

   

3. On the menu bar, choose Views > Shade Selected.
4. Select the bottle in the viewport.

   The bottle alone is shaded. At the top of the Modify panel, the object name bottle with label is displayed in boldface to indicate that this is a group.

   

5. On the menu bar, choose Group > Open.

   The grouping is temporarily suspended so you can manipulate the members of the group individually.

6. Press H and select the label01 by name from the selection list.

   The label becomes shaded.

   

7. Right-click in the viewport and choose Hide Selection.

   The label is hidden from view. Now you can work just with the bottle.

8. Select the bottle again.

   The name of the object is bottlewithcork.

Assign material IDs:

In order to assign material ID numbers to different parts of an object you must first make a sub-object selection of faces or polygons. Since the bottle is already an Editable Poly object, sub-object selection tools are available in the Modify panel.

1. On the Modify panel, access the Polygon sub-object level by clicking the Polygon selection icon.
2. Right-click the Camera viewport label, and turn on Edged Faces (or press F4).
3. In the Camera viewport, select the polygons used for the cork by dragging a region around the top of the cork and down to (but not including) the top of the glass.

   The selected polygons turn red in the viewport.

   

   If the selected polygons don’t turn red, right-click the Camera viewport label and choose Configure. In the Viewport Configuration dialog > Rendering Method tab > Rendering Options group, turn on Shade Selected Faces.

4. In the Material Editor, click an unused material and name it cork.
5. From the Material Editor, drag cork to the cork on the bottle.
6. On the menu bar, choose Edit > Select Invert.

   Everything except the cork is now selected for the glass.

7. Drag the green bottle material from the Material Editor to the selection set of faces.

   The bottle turns bright green.

8. Turn off Polygon selection.

   

Add the new material to the Material Editor:

As a result of your placing different materials on different polygon sub-object selections, 3ds Max automatically created a new Multi/Sub-Object material in the scene. To work on this material, you'll need to load it into the Material Editor.

1. In the Material Editor, click an unused sample slot.
2. Click Pick Material From Object.
3. Click the cork with the eyedropper cursor.

   The Multi/Sub-Object material is transferred to the Material Editor. Both materials are displayed on the same sphere.

   

4. Name this material mybottle.
5. On the Multi/Sub-Object Basic Parameters rollout, click the material cork.

   The Material Editor moves to the level of that material and displays its parameters. The sample sphere now shows only the single material.

6. Expand the Maps rollout and click the None button next to the Bump map component.
7. Change Browse From to New, if it isn't already set.
8. On the Materials/Map Browser, pick Dent.

   

9. Name the bump component of this material bumpy dents.
10. On the Dent Parameters rollout, set Size to 22 and Strength to 5.
11. Set Color #1 to a pale brown and Color #2 to a medium brown.

    

12. Click the Go To Parent button.
13. Drag the bumpy dents map from the Bump component to the Diffuse Color component and choose Copy, if necessary.
14. Click the new Dent map to go to the Dent Parameters level of the Diffuse Color and name this map cork dents.
15. Set one of the viewports to Front and zoom in on the cork.
16. Render to see what the dents look like on the cork.

    

17. If you like, change the colors in the cork dents map in the Diffuse component and render again.
18. Save your file as mybottlematerials.max.