Accessing Materials

Introduction to Materials and Mapping

Creating Basic Materials

 

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

Assigning Materials to Objects

In this lesson, you will learn two ways to assign materials to objects.

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

Set up the lesson:

• Open intro_materials2.max.
  NoteIf you see the File Load: Units Mismatch dialog, choose the option Rescale The File Objects To The System Unit Scale.

Assign a material to a selected object:

Making your selection before assigning a material to it ensures that the material goes exactly where you want it to go. Use this approach for mapping complex scenes, or when you want to assign materials to sub-object selections.

1. On the keyboard, press H to display the Select Objects dialog. Highlight Orange and click Select.
2. Press M to open the Material Editor.
3. Click the sample slot that contains the orange material.
4. Click Assign Material to Selection. The object turns orange in the Camera01 viewport.

   

Assign a material using drag and drop:

Drag and drop is the most direct way to assign materials to objects. Use this approach when the objects you want to map are clearly visible in the scene.

1. In the Material Editor, find the sample slot that contains the shiny apple material.
2. Drag the sample onto the apple; a tooltip lets you know when the cursor is over the right object. The apple turns red.

   

See the results:

1. Activate the Camera01 viewport by right-clicking in it.
2. On the toolbar, click Quick Render. The view from the camera renders line by line in a separate window.

   

For practice:

• Assign materials to the rest of the objects in the scene. Use the tooltips to see the name of each object, or choose objects by name from the Select Object dialog. When you are done, render the scene to see how it looks.