Are Preloaded Material Libraries Useful?

[Professor]

Just beginning to learn 3ds Max and was wondering if the preloaded material libraries that come with Max Design (Architectural; ProMaterials; Design-Architectural) are worth learning? I am especially interested in hearing from veteran users. I would appreciate any discussion on this or a link to another thread if this has been discussed before.

 

Thanks,

 

Scott

[frank1331]

I think as a strating point that, yes they are good. But I would take the time to understand how to create, and modify materials on your own. Ypu are always going to run into the situation that the pre-loaded materials are not going to cover.

[Peter M. Gruhn]

I find them pretty nice for getting a start on a polished work or for being done or close to it for work I do for design studio where it doesn't have to look amazing, just feel kinda right.

 

I do dislike the too fast repeats on the textures.

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

For the most part, I haven't used them in years. Sometimes the quality does surprise me though when I see others use them. However, with a little practice it is not difficult to build textures that are superior to the ones that are included. But it does take time to build up a decent library. Often I bring the included maps into Photoshop as a base to build the map I need for the job.

 

All that said, I would advise against using the materials that are in the material editor when you are using one of the design viz profiles and MR together.