Can i use 2 or more materials on just one shape?

[salf]

Can i use 2 or more materials on just one shape (or layer, or geometry)?

 

I mean, take this example, i model in AutoCAD and file link to VIZ for the rendering, and if i need to do a wall with 3 materials, for instance, the upper part is white painting, the middle part is a small wood railing (railing?) and from there to the floor is ceramic tiles. To do this i normally draw in ACAD actually 3 walls, 1 upper wall for the concrete, a small one for the wood part and a third one for the ceramic part, but this is too much, an if the model im making is bigger, ill have way too many layers to work with and it will be a huge file.

 

So i was wondering if i only have 1 wall, i could somehow "divide" that wall with VIZ in the 3 parts i need to apply the 3 differents materials, its possible?

 

Thanks.

[Ras]

Hi Salf

 

Look into material ID´s and multi/sub-object materials - thats what you are looking for. Plenty of info in the manual/online-help

[Iain Denby]

Ras is right, but c'mon, the extra geometry you're talking about is nothing, and probaly quicker an easier to model that mees about with material IDs and positionong the divides etc.

[STRAT]

dibbers speaketh the truth

[Ted Boardman]

>>the extra geometry you're talking about is nothing, and probaly quicker an easier to model that mees about with material IDs and positionong the divides etc.

 

I don't agree with that for most cases.

 

Material ID's are pretty straight forward and materials are often much quicker to change than geometry. Learn to work the materials and you'll be able to make the right choice when the time comes.

 

Extra faces slow things down. Extra objects, even more.

 

Ted

[salf]

thanks for the replies, ive been messing around with the Materials IDs and such, but im having a little problem right now, heres the story:

 

Ive modeled in AutoCAD a floor, lets say its a 10 x 10 meters, and 0.2 meters thick, ok now, on the top face of the floor i want a marble material, the thing is that when i see the same floor from bellow (which now should be a ceiling for the underneath level), i also see the marble material, which i dont like to be on the ceiling, so i tried to convert it to "editable mesh" and from there i use the "faces" option, so i can select the underneath face and apply a different material to it, so far in theory i think im right, but the thing is that i can only select small triangles faces (subdivisions i think) and not the whole 10x10 face, and after ive selected all the triangle faces, it applies the material with a different direction and size on each triangle, you know what i mean?

 

How can i fix this?, is there an easy way to select the whole 10x10 face, instead of each little triangle separately? if not, how can i have the same size and direction fo rthe material in each triangle?

 

thanks.

[Ted Boardman]

>>is there an easy way to select the whole 10x10 face, instead of each little triangle separately

 

Select by Polygon, not face. Or, use window selection from the side view.

 

This tutorial should help with assigning materials.

 

Ted

 

http://www.cgarchitect.com/upclose/article18_TB.asp

[salf]

Thanks a lot, sir!....you're the man!

 

I was looking at your tutorials yesterday, but i didnt have time to look them all, so i missed that......so today i had to remodel a lot of stuff in ACAD (roof/floor included) because i didnt know this.....

 

But now i know!

 

thanks

[Ted Boardman]

>>but i didnt have time to look them all, so i missed that......so today i had to remodel a lot of stuff in ACAD (roof/floor included) because i didnt know this.....

 

Good luck with it, Salf. It seems a little confusing at first because it's new, but you'll soon be very productive with the technique.

 

Ted

[salf]

*scratches head*

 

mmmmm....maybe im doing something wrong, but....i cant get it to work.

 

I followed your tutorial step by step, and i cant sleect just one face of an object.

 

I made a simple box on VIZ, i wanna apply 1 material on each box face, that will be 6 different materials, so i select the box, then i go to on the modifiers rollout to MESH SELECT (also tried POLYGON SELECT), in meshselect i click on "polygon", i click on the face of the box i wanna select, and i get to see on my viewports, the wireframe of that face turning to red, the other faces still white wireframe, however when i apply the material, it does it to the whole box, and not just the face.

 

[Ted Boardman]

>>I made a simple box on VIZ, i wanna apply 1 material on each box face, that will be 6 different materials, so i select the box, then i go to on the modifiers rollout to MESH SELECT (also tried POLYGON SELECT), in meshselect i click on "polygon", i click on the face of the box i wanna select, and i get to see on my viewports, the wireframe of that face turning to red, the other faces still white wireframe, however when i apply the material, it does it to the whole box, and not just the face.

 

Hmm, applying a Multi/Sub-object material to a Box will work automatically because a box already has six Material ID's assigned.

 

You are on the right track, but what are you using to assign the Material ID# to the face? And, have you applied the Multi/Sub-object material to the box?

 

In my tutorial I use the Material modifier above the MeshSelect after highlighting the face/polygon in red. Then assign another MeshSelect/Material combo to the next set of faces.

 

Make sure you are not trying to use the Material ID numbers within the MeshSelect. That will only allow you to select faces that already have ID's assigned. You need the extra Material modifier.

 

I'll be around most of the day...US Eastern Time zone.

 

Ted

[salf]

Well, in that exampple i didnt used a Multi/sub object material, since it was just a fast test, all i did was to create a box and in the material editor i just turn the first sample sphere to yellow on the second sample sphere to blue, so i could assign blue to one box face and yellow to the other, i didnt messed around iwth multi materials at that time.

 

We're on the same time zone, 11:20 am right now, gotta finish some office work first, then lunch, and try again around 1 pm, thanks fo rall your help Ted, really appreciated.

[Ted Boardman]

>>in that exampple i didnt used a Multi/sub object material

 

It has to be a Multi/Sub-object or it won't work, Salf. That's the principle behind the process.

 

The faces with the Matierial ID number get the sub material in that order, i.e. all faces with 5 get the 5th material from the top.

 

Ted

[Vince Paske]

One thing to consider, and this depends upon the environment in which you work, is that performing an edit mesh, or poly-edit may produce unexpected results if you change the model in Autocad and re-link it back into Viz or Max. Several people collaborationg in a design environemt, modelling in Autocad with one or two people doing the renderings becomes a logistics and communication issue. This is further compounded when someone makes changes in the geometry of the base Autocad model in Viz/Max. Not to say the methods that Ted recomends are hardly wrong (they're really valuable skills to learn), it's good to take into account all the facets in a design environment, especially if more than one person is modelling/rendering.

[Brian Cassil]

I have to agree with calvino. The multi-sub object aproach is great if you are the only one who is ever going to work with that model. I recently had to take someone else's project over who modeled everything in autocad (shich I personally never do actually) and had used multi-sub object materials everywhere! It was a nightmare adjusting everything because I had to dig into some very poorly organized materials. If they were organized better the process would have been much easier I'm sure but still more work than simply using the select by material function and adjusting things that way.

[salf]

errrr.....guys...thanks everybody so far, and i feel kinda dumb for keep on asking about something that apparently looks pretty easy, but now i have a new problem:

 

"I cant make a multi/suboject material"

 

Check the screenshot, theres 3 steps in there:

 

1- multi/suboject material created

 

2- trying to edit the second material on the multi/suboject list

 

3- once i successfully change edited the material i want, the MULTISUBOJECT material dissapears

[salf]

 

let me explain a little bit more.

 

As you can see on the image, in the step 2 im going to edit the material #78, which is the second material on the M/Subobject materials list, and i can still see the previous material name (brick wall), if i click on it, i go back to the m/suboject materials list, also i have available the GO TO PARENT button, which lets me go back, so far so good.

 

On the step 3 i already edited the material #78 to some other Brick Texture form the mat. lib, but as soon as i do that i lose the Multisuboject material list, as you can see theres no option to go back to the list again, and the GO TO PARENT button is no longer available.

 

Why that happens?

 

[ February 20, 2004, 05:32 AM: Message edited by: salf ]

[salf]

anyone?

[Iain Denby]

Bring your other brick tecture into a different slot. Then drag and copy this onto id 2 in your muli sub material.

[Ted Boardman]

>>anyone?

 

Did you get it to work, Salf? I'm back in the office.

 

Ted

[IC]

Is it just me or is the material editor in max/viz overly complex and non-intuitive?

This is one of the reasons I've resisted going to max or Viz, but I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet soon.

Some basic tutorials(and I mean basic) would be a big benefit to a lot of people here, I think.

Anyone know of a good starting point?

BTW Ted, I was browsing through your Max 5 book at the weekend. Looked excellent but it's still £40!(don't know what that is in $)

[vizwhiz]

hi There IC

 

here is a Link to a List of Links, for VIZ Tutorials:

 

Viz-Link:

 

http://www.viz2000.com/html/link/viz-link.html

 

GetSetGo! = getting started:

 

http://www.viz2000.com/html/link/viz-linkstrt.html

 

LinkQuiK:

 

http://www.viz2000.com/html/link/viz-linkquik.html

 

Modeling:

 

http://www.viz2000.com/html/link/viz-linkmode.html

 

Materials:

 

http://www.viz2000.com/html/link/viz-linkmtrl.html

 

Lighting:

 

http://www.viz2000.com/html/link/viz-linklgts.html

 

Rendering:

 

http://www.viz2000.com/html/link/viz-linkrend.html

 

****

 

i hope This helps, keep asking Ted for direct advice,

That is the fastest way to get accurate feedback.

 

hey Ted also Teaches Max/VIZ classes, too. get some class.

 

Thanks

 

Randy

 

****

"Those who can, Teach. Those who can't, have to work at It."

 

[ February 24, 2004, 01:18 PM: Message edited by: vizwhiz ]

[kingeldar]

many dead links on viz 2000 web pages....

[IC]

Thanks Randy,

That's very helpful.

Iain

[Ted Boardman]

>>BTW Ted, I was browsing through your Max 5 book at the weekend. Looked excellent but it's still £40!(don't know what that is in $)

 

No kidding, Iain, I would think the price would have dropped by now.

 

There are cheaper ones available on the US Amazon site, nothing in Scotland. BTW, the dollar is not worth much against the Euro but I haven't followed the Pound, you'd think that would lower the prices.

 

Materials in max/viz are complex at first, but powerful because of it. If you start slowly and build up materials layer by layer you can work into the complexity.

 

The big issue is that materials are very dependent on lighting and whether the surface is flat or curved, so the materials and lighting have to be adjusted together for best results.

 

Good luck.

 

Thanks for the ad, Randy!

 

Ted