(3ds Max) select objects by material WITHOUT selecting whole group?

[Rich O]

Is there a way to get Max to select all the objects in a scene which have a particular material *without* also selecting the whole group if the any of the objects happen to be in a closed group?

 

The only way to avoid this is to open the groups in question, which is not practical when I want to quickly change the desktop material on 50 desks which are all grouped. I've tried Neil Blevins findByActiveMaterial script but it exhibits the same behaviour as Max's method; selects the entire group if it's closed.

 

This script from 2007 http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/selectobjectsbymaterial would do what I want but I can't get it to work in Max 2015.

Outliner by pjansen also has a material select mode which does what I want, but isn't compatible with 2015.

 

Any help would be great. Something I took for granted in Maya that is so difficult to do in Max

Cheers

Edited November 22, 2014 by Richard7666

[Corey Beaulieu]

For this I usually draw a box. Apply your new material to that box. Then right click on the material (assuming Slate) you want to replace and select Change Material (or something to that effect.) This will bring up the materials menu an you can select the boxes material from the Scene materials list. Then, of course, delete the box.

[frog_a_lot]

Is there a way to get Max to select all the objects in a scene which have a particular material *without* also selecting the whole group if the any of the objects happen to be in a closed group?

 

The only way to avoid this is to open the groups in question, which is not practical when I want to quickly change the desktop material on 50 desks which are all grouped. I've tried Neil Blevins findByActiveMaterial script but it exhibits the same behaviour as Max's method; selects the entire group if it's closed.

 

This script from 2007 http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/selectobjectsbymaterial would do what I want but I can't get it to work in Max 2015.

Outliner by pjansen also has a material select mode which does what I want, but isn't compatible with 2015.

 

Any help would be great. Something I took for granted in Maya that is so difficult to do in Max

Cheers

 

Why can't you just do "select all" "open" then material select.. sure it isnt ideal, but it isn't like it takes hours either..

Or if you are just changing the desk material can't you just eye drop the desk and change the material?

[Rich O]

Right click material in slate "Select by material", hit select in box that pops up to confirm selection, isolate select in viewport, open, (open, open, open depending on how deep the group nesting goes), right click material in slate "select by material", hit select on the box that pops up, right-click in slate "apply material to current selection" close close close ...see how many extra clicks we're now at though

 

This is my current procedure. It just seems woefully excessive in that it takes 10-15 seconds to do what should be a 2 second task.

 

The desk was only an example. There are sometimes instances where I want to replace say, all of WoodMaterialA throughout a scene. Select All and open can take a long time on a big scene.

Edited November 26, 2014 by Richard7666

[frog_a_lot]

Right click material in slate "Select by material", hit select in box that pops up to confirm selection, isolate select in viewport, open, (open, open, open depending on how deep the group nesting goes), right click material in slate "select by material", hit select on the box that pops up, right-click in slate "apply material to current selection" close close close ...see how many extra clicks we're now at though

 

This is my current procedure. It just seems woefully excessive in that it takes 10-15 seconds to do what should be a 2 second task.

 

The desk was only an example. There are sometimes instances where I want to replace say, all of WoodMaterialA throughout a scene. Select All and open can take a long time on a big scene.

 

Correct me if im wrong or thinking something different.. If you are changing WoodMaterialA to WoodMaterialB then just why dont you simply copy/paste B over A in the material editor? Any object using WoodA will then have WoodB instead.. the only issue with this is that if you have say 50 desk and 50 chairs with Wood A and only want to change the desks to B then it wont work.

[nickcolavita]

Its pretty simple to just select all, open up all your groups, then select by material, do whatever you need to and close your groups back up. Doesn't seem like a tough situation.

[notamondayfan]

Don't use groups, use linking instead. Much tidier and no faffing around opening / closing groups.