Material Managment

[D C]

Hi, relatively new to the forums but not 3d or 3ds max in general.

 

I came over from Cinema 4d, and since then I've always had the problem with the number of material slots in the material editor.

 

There must be another way, there is simply not enough material slots for the number of elements in my scene. Can someone tell me how best to get around this?

 

Many thanks.

[Stephen Thomas]

Hi Dan. There is no need to keep all your materials in the material editor. You can easily pick from any scene object using the eyedropper, or you can choose from a list by picking 'scene' in the material/map browser. Probably the best way is to create a material library where you can store all your materials and recall them at any time. That way if you happen to delete all objects with a particular material from your scene you won't lose the material.

[D C]

Okay, I kind of understand what your getting at.

 

My materials can be based in either other max scenes or in a material libary I have created? Interesting.

 

Extremely ameteur question, but how do I go about creating my own material libary in 3ds max? For the past 2-3 years I have been using the material editor to host materials in my 3ds max scenes, so this workflow revoloution may take some getting used to.

[D C]

...also when you say 'material libary' are you talking about a libary of materials stored indivdually on the hard drive? or are we talking along the lines of some form of 3ds max file that opens up specifically in max? like .mat for example?

[Dave Buckley]

hello fellow Manc. Which version of Max are you on?

[D C]

Hello! Red or blue?

 

I'm still on 2009.

Edited May 11, 2011 by Dan.Corris

[Dave Buckley]

Ha always the first question, red. You?

 

Materials are saved with the scene but can also be saved out to a separate material library for use in another scene.

 

If you were to click on 'Get Materil' in your material editor, it would open the Material Browser.

 

From there you have the option to open a material library - somewhere down the left hand side should be a button saying 'open'.

 

Here you can open any library (.mat) file you have at your disposal.

 

So ... how do you make one?

 

There is a button in the mat editor called 'Put to Library'

 

If you click it, it will ask you to specify a name for the material but won't give you the option to specify where it is saved.

 

The reason being is because it automatically places it in whichever library was opened last (or should I say currently open).

 

So if you wanna create your own, you can do it as below

 

Open an existing library (as above) that ships with Max, delete everything out of it, then 'save as' a different name so you don't overwrite the library you first opened. It's a bit backwards and has changed in later versions of Max.

 

I'd post a screenshot but my mat editor and mat browser look different to what you would see and I don't have Max 2009 anymore.

 

Where bouts in town are you?

[D C]

Red. I like you already. I'm in Withington/Fallowfield

 

That's very clear. Thanks.

 

Another issue, regarding pre moddled trees and car's from DVD's etc. Do these always come un-textured and without materials already applied? I find myself having to texture (with the included DVD bitmaps) and create materials each time I want to bring in a new model into my scene. For example, I recently bought a car DVD collection little did I know they come un-textured and without materials applied. Is this the norm? It easy enough exporting such models as vray meshes and importing into my scene as proxies (along with the materials in a vray proxy material) but i would of thought buying a DVD would of made the process a little hassle free.

Edited May 11, 2011 by Dan.Corris

[Dave Buckley]

Ha crazy, I was in Didsbury, moved closer to Altrincham now although I'm always out and about in Didsbury and Fallow.

 

Where you working at?

 

Regarding the models, they should have materials applied, I'll just bet that Max can't find them due to the file paths. You should only need to re-route the images, not create the materials.

 

Open a car, sample it's material in the mat editor, you'll soon see if it has a material applied.

 

I'm betting it does.

 

The way around it is to download the Relink Bitmaps script from Scriptspot.

 

I use it everyday. Once you have it, it's a case of running the script, it will detect all missing bitmaps, then all you need to do is point the script to the folder that has the necessary bitmaps and press relink.

 

Done.

 

Also I wouldn't work directly off the DVD, save everything to your HD if you can, makes it easier

[Peter M. Gruhn]

Just a clarifying illustration.

You could take the material in the first slot and apply it to an object. Then rename it, make changes and apply it to another. Then rename it, make changes and apply to another. You could use only the first slot to create and manage all of the materials for a feature film. You would not want to, though.

[D C]

Ha crazy, I was in Didsbury, moved closer to Altrincham now although I'm always out and about in Didsbury and Fallow.

 

Where you working at?

 

Regarding the models, they should have materials applied, I'll just bet that Max can't find them due to the file paths. You should only need to re-route the images, not create the materials.

 

Open a car, sample it's material in the mat editor, you'll soon see if it has a material applied.

 

I'm betting it does.

 

The way around it is to download the Relink Bitmaps script from Scriptspot.

 

I use it everyday. Once you have it, it's a case of running the script, it will detect all missing bitmaps, then all you need to do is point the script to the folder that has the necessary bitmaps and press relink.

 

Done.

 

Also I wouldn't work directly off the DVD, save everything to your HD if you can, makes it easier

 

I graduated from Uni a few years ago with a degree in 3d Digital Design, worked part time for an arch viz studio throughout my studies, lost the job as I graduated through redundancy! I now work for a bank, whilst working on bumping up my portfolio in my spare time.

 

Sob story over.

 

Regarding the dvd's yes, all copied to HD, it doesnt appear they come with .mats? Or am I missing something. Given a car for example comes with many elements I currently have to make and apply the materials myself. Tedious.

[Dave Buckley]

They won't come with .mats, you'll have to use the sample dropper from the material editor and click on a part of the car, this should then bring it's material into one of the sample slots.

 

Which Viz studio were you at?

[notamondayfan]

Just a clarifying illustration.

You could take the material in the first slot and apply it to an object. Then rename it, make changes and apply it to another. Then rename it, make changes and apply to another. You could use only the first slot to create and manage all of the materials for a feature film. You would not want to, though.

 

You would have to drag (copy) the material to a new slot, then rename it. If you just change the name, without dragging, then all you are doing is renaming the material, not copying it.

[notamondayfan]

Regarding libraries (back on topic), I do things slightly differently. I don't use .mat files, instead I have a 3Ds Max file, filled with blank boxes, which I apply useful / good materials to, along with any modifiers (such as vray displacement, uvw mapping, etc.), and when I want that material I merge the correct box / material into my scene, pick the material, and copy the modifiers. I find it cuts down the time remapping items, especially if they are quite complex.

 

Hope that makes sense!!

 

Deano

[D C]

They won't come with .mats, you'll have to use the sample dropper from the material editor and click on a part of the car, this should then bring it's material into one of the sample slots.

 

Which Viz studio were you at?

 

I see!

 

I worked for a studio called Virtual Planit.

[D C]

Regarding libraries (back on topic), I do things slightly differently. I don't use .mat files, instead I have a 3Ds Max file, filled with blank boxes, which I apply useful / good materials to, along with any modifiers (such as vray displacement, uvw mapping, etc.), and when I want that material I merge the correct box / material into my scene, pick the material, and copy the modifiers. I find it cuts down the time remapping items, especially if they are quite complex.

 

Hope that makes sense!!

 

Deano

 

Interesting idea. I will give this a shot.

[D C]

Regarding libraries (back on topic), I do things slightly differently. I don't use .mat files, instead I have a 3Ds Max file, filled with blank boxes, which I apply useful / good materials to, along with any modifiers (such as vray displacement, uvw mapping, etc.), and when I want that material I merge the correct box / material into my scene, pick the material, and copy the modifiers. I find it cuts down the time remapping items, especially if they are quite complex.

 

Hope that makes sense!!

 

Deano

 

This method brings the amterial into the material browser. Is this supposed to happen?

[Peter M. Gruhn]

Doh. Good catch.

In order to keep the job in one slot you can use the Get Material button from that slot. But now I'm solving a problem that doesn't need solving.

[D C]

I have a car, in the max viewport. I'm using the eye dropper to apply the materials to it. Now, as you can imagine the car is split up into many different parts, meaning I must apply the eye dropper to each indivual part of the car. Slowly.

 

Is there ayway to automatically apply the material to the corresponding part of the car?