Introduction to Materials and Mapping

Introduction to Materials and Mapping

Assigning Materials to Objects

 

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

Accessing Materials

When you work with 3ds Max, you access materials from three different places: from the Material Editor, from scenes, or from an external collection of predesigned materials called a material library. The next exercise shows you how to load materials from a material library into the Material Editor.

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

Load a material library:

1. Start or reset 3ds Max.

   If you receive the dialog asking if you really want to reset the program, answer Yes.

2. Open intro_materials.max.
   NoteIf you see the File Load: Units Mismatch dialog, choose the option Rescale The File Objects To The System Unit Scale.
3. Press the M key on your keyboard to open the Material Editor.

   The sample slot in the upper-left corner has a white border around it, indicating that it is active.

   

4. Right-click the active sample slot. From the right-click menu, choose 5 x 3 Sample Windows. The sample palette redraws to display 15 slots.

   

   

5. On the Material Editor toolbar, click Get Material.

   The Material/Map Browser appears.

   

6. In the Material/Map Browser > Browse From group, choose Mtl Library (Mtl stand for “Material.”)
7. In the File group, click Open.

   The default Material Library, 3dsmax.mat, is displayed. A number of others might be listed as well.

8. In the Open Material Library dialog, navigate to the \tutorials\intro_to_materials directory and choose stillife.mat.

   The names of the materials appear in a list.

9. On the Material/Map Browser toolbar, click View List+Icons.

   A thumbnail of each material appears next to its name.

   

Transfer materials to the Material Editor:

1. On the Material/Map Browser, click the material named orange.

   A larger thumbnail of the Orange material appears in the preview window.

2. Drag the thumbnail from the Browser to the active sample slot in the Material Editor. You can drag it from either the preview window or the list of materials.

   The material appears in the sample slot. The name orange appears in the drop-down list just below the palette.

   

3. Click the next sample slot to the right. The slot becomes active.
4. On the Material/Map Browser, double-click shiny apple. The shiny apple material appears in the second sample slot.

   

5. Scroll the Material/Map Browser to the bottom of the list, if necessary.
6. Drag the wood countertop material from the list to the third sample slot.

   The third sample slot activates, displaying the wood countertop material.

   

Get materials from a MAX file:

You can just as easily get materials from MAX scene files as from material libraries. The procedure is nearly the same.

1. Activate the sample slot to the right of the wood countertop material.
2. On the Material/Map Browser, check that Browse From is still set to Material Library.
3. Choose Open from the File group.
4. Pull down the Files Of Type list and choose 3ds Max (.max,.chr) instead of .mat.
5. Navigate to the \tutorials\still_life folder, then open Still_life_animated.max.
6. Double-click the material named leaf.

   

   The leaf material is transferred from the MAX file to the Material Editor.

Get materials from objects in the scene:

There is a material already at work in this scene, but it is not in the Material Editor. It is applied to all the objects in the scene, so that they look like they are all made of the same substance. You can transfer the material from the scene to the Material Editor using the eyedropper cursor to sample the material.

1. Activate the fifth sample slot in the top row of materials.
2. In the Material Editor, click Pick Material From Object. The button is located next to the material name, below the top row of icons (under the sample slots).
3. Use the eyedropper to click any object in the viewport.

   The material, beige putty, appears in the sample slot. Because the material is currently assigned to objects in the scene and in the Material Editor, the corners of the sample slot display triangles. In 3ds Max parlance, this is called a "hot" material.

   NoteIf the triangular corners are hollow, this indicates the material is assigned to the scene. If the corners are solid, it means an object that has been assigned the material is currently selected.

For practice:

1. Transfer the rest of the materials from the material library into the Material Editor. Arrange them in a way that makes sense to you.
2. To copy and move a material, drag the sample to a new slot.
3. To remove a material from a sample, click Reset Map/Mtl To Default Settings.
4. To view more sample slots, use the scroll bars at the right and bottom of the sample palette, or change the right-click settings to 6 X 4 Sample Windows.
   NoteWhile the sample palette can show you 24 samples at any one time, there is no limit to the number of materials a scene can contain. Once you assign a material to an object, you can reset that sample in the palette and a new material created without affecting the original material.
5. Pan the sample palette by dragging in between the slots.
6. To examine a material up close, double-click the sample slot, or right-click the slot and choose Magnify.
7. Save your file as mymaterials1.max .