3ds max material editor

The Material Editor

The Material Editor provides functions to create and edit materials and maps. A material is data that you assign to the surface or faces of an object so that it appears a certain way when rendered. Materials affect the colour of objects, their glossiness, their opacity, and so on. The images or procedural effects you assign to materials are called maps. Commonly used maps for landscape work include standard bitmaps (such as .bmp, .jpg, or .tga files) and procedural (meaning they are computer generated) maps, such as Brick or Noise.You can assign maps to most of the components that make up a material. Materials that contain one or more images or procedural maps are called mapped materials

For many map types, the Renderer needs instructions telling it where the map should appear on the geometry. These instructions are called mapping coordinates and are most often handled (apart from loft mapping) by the use of map modifiers. Map coordinates can also be edited in the Material Editor acting on the material itself and most standard primitives have the option of applying map coordinates when the object is created (although these usually need modifying)

Materials create greater realism in a scene. A material describes how an object reflects or transmits light and material properties work hand-in-hand with light properties; rendering combines the two, simulating how the object would look in a real-world setting

This tutorial explores the interface and basic functionality of the Material Editor at the ‘Material Level’. This is before adding extra effects with computer generated (procedural) or image maps. The extra effects added at the ‘Map’ level/s’ will be dealt with later

Download Sample Data

The Interface and basic functionality at the ‘Material’ level

• Open kf404_01.max. This scene contains some pre-configured materials with which to explore the basic functionality of the Material Editor. Open the Material Editor. The image below shows the mainly used parts of the top interface:

Sample slots

Sample Type

• Select a sample slot by left clicking over it. When the sample slot is current (ie you can edit the material) it shows a white border. Change the Sphere to a Box by clicking the Sample Type Button flyout and choosing the Box Type

Background

• Toggle this button on or off to display a chequered background. This is useful to view how transparent a material is (a glass material for example)

Sample Slot Number

• Right click over any slot to change the number of available slots

Sample Slot Border

The border to each sample slot shows the status of the materials in the editor thus:

— White border means the sample slot is current ie the material can be edited
— White triangles not filled means the material exists in the scene (assigned to an object) but no objects with that material are selected
— White triangles filled means the material in the slot is assigned to a selected object

Toolbar

• Press Get Material. This opens the Material/Map Browser. This is where you manage material and map resources in and out of the scene

• Select the Box and in the Material Editor select the Brick material sample slot. Press Assign Material to Selection. Notice in the viewport the box is assigned the brick material

• Press Show Map in Viewport. This shows the brick map which is part of the Brick material in the viewport or not. Toggle this on and off and notice the bricks on the box are shown or not shown

• Press Put to Library. This opens a dialog box for saving the current material to a material library. Close the box as this is explained later

• Go to Parent is used when you are at the ‘Map’ level (accessed through pressing one of the Map buttons — explained later) to return to the next level up in the material. This is greyed out if no Maps are used in the material

TIP: You can remove a materiall completely from an object in the scene by dragging the NONE item from the Material / Map Browser over to the object

• Select an empty sample slot and press Pick Material from Object. This is a quick way to select a material in the scene for editing purposes

Material Name

Type the name of the current material in this text box

Material Type

The Material Type is at the top of the hierarchy when you create or edit materials. Standard is the default material type in MAX and Architectural is the default material in Autodesk VIZ (this has been changed to Standard for this exercise)

• Press this button (in MAX) or the button displaying ‘Architectural’ (in VIZ) to open the Material/Map Browser and to pick from a selection of Material Types. The most common for landscape use are Standard (most materials including none mapped and mapped materials — procedural maps and image maps), Double Sided (contains two standard materials for the front and back of a road sign for example) and Multi > Sub-Object (for use on any objects that contain a number of elements needing different materials assigned to each element — a seat with painted legs and wood slats for example)
• If you are using VIZ select Standard and press Ok as we are going to explore the use of Standard materials

• The next step is to look at the shader type thus:

Shader Parameters

• Select a new sample slot
• Change the shader type to Anisotropic — this together with Metal are well used in landscape work. Shaders give different basic settings for materials. Explore the other shaders using the MAX/VIZ help system. The most useful settings for the Anisotropic shader are shown above
• Name the material ‘Practice‘
• Select the sphere and Assign Material to Selection. This assigns a Standard, unedited material using the Anisotropic shader

Shader Basic Parameters rollout

These settings apply to any shader

• Check Wire and toggle this on and off to display the sphere in wireframe. If you change the amount of segments in the sphere the wires change as well. Uncheck this before proceeding

• Checking 2-Sided forces the material to become 2-sided. This is the third (apart fronm the Viewport Configuration and Render Scene dialogs) place you can make an object 2-sided

Anisotropic Basic Parameters rollout

• Click the colour swatch to the right of Diffuse to change the colour of the sphere

NOTE: The Ambient swatch changes as well as the Diffuse swatch. This can be unlocked by pressing the lock button to the left of the Diffuse and Ambient swatches. The Ambient light can then be changed independantly

• Change the Specular Level to 75 and Glossiness to 50. This gives the material a look of gloss paint or plastic. You could name this ‘Blue Paint’ for example and save the material for use in many scenes (explained later)
• Change the Diffuse colour to light yellow and the Self-illumination to 80. This simulates a lamp and will show as illuminated in a night scene. A light would be placed in the lamp. Change back to 0 before proceeding
• Change Opacity to 40. This makes the sphere translucent. Used in conjunction with the other settings (especially Specular Level and Glossiness) a simple glass material can be created. Look at the settings in the Glass material for reference

As you can hopefully envisage, many materials can be created by simply using the basic shader parameters

NOTE: Assigning a material to an object removes any existing material assigned to the object and replaces it. Also, a material can be quickly assigned to an object by dragging it from the sample slot to the object in the viewport

Extended Parameters rollout

• With Wire selected in Basic Shader Parameters change the size of the wire on this rollout

SuperSampling rollout

This is not covered in Key Fundamentals, but for information this allows more sampling of any images in the material at render time. It stops any ‘shimmering, or distortion throughout animation sequences, and gives better quality renders for still images. Because the render time is greater a good handle of the supersampling settings is needed to obtain an optimum balance between quality and render time. Settings can be changed in both the material and on the Render Scene dialog

Maps rollout

This is where various maps can be applied to the material. In landscape work the most used maps are applied to the Diffuse Level (all landscape materials) plus perhaps Opacity (for masking buildings, signs, vegetation etc images) and > or Bump (for giving relief to walls and paving)

• Press the Map Button showing ‘None’ to the right of any of these Map types to open the Material/Map Browser. For now, just have a look at the types of maps available

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3ds Max — Jak nałożyć teksturę i określić jej rozmiar — Tutorial, poradnik

W tym tutorialu pokażę wam w jaki sposób przypisać konkretny materiał do obiektu i określić wielkość tekstury na nim. Nie jest to nic trudnego, ale jeśli dopiero zaczynamy naukę 3ds Maxa może nie być to takie oczywiste i proste.

Na początek potrzebujemy stworzyć materiał, który będziemy nakładać na nasz obiekt. Tutaj warto od razu wyjaśnić różnicę między materiałem a teksturą, ponieważ dla wielu osób, szczególnie początkujących może być to mylące.

Teksturą jest grafika rastrowa np. w formacie JPG, TIF, PNG lub inna. Na jeden materiał może się składać wiele tekstur np. określających Diffuse (kolor), Reflaction (odbicia), Bump (nierówności). Każda z nich może wyglądać trochę inaczej w zależności od tego jaki efekt chcemy uzyskać.

Warto również dodać, że do materiału nie muszą być przypisane tekstury. Np. takie materiały jak szkło, chrom, plastik zyskują swoje właściwości dzięki odpowiednim ustawieniom parametrów, a nie np. teksturze szkła ponieważ taka nie istnieje. Oczywiście możemy również do takich materiałów dodać tekstury w celu np. uzyskania dodatkowych detali jak zabrudzenia, zarysowania, ale jeśli zależy nam na np. idealnym szkle to nie ma takiej potrzeby.

Istnieje wiele różnych materiałów w zależności od tego jakiego silnika renderującego używamy, zasada jednak pozostaje ta sama. My skupimy się w tym tutorialu na przykładzie standardowego materiału V-ray.

Aby go stworzyć musimy najpierw włączyć Material Editor klikając M.

Osobiście do dziś korzystam z Compact Material Editora. To już chyba kwestia przyzwyczajenia :). Jeśli w waszych 3ds Maxach ustawiony Slate Material Editor, to dla wygody na potrzeby przerabiania tego tutorialu możecie również ustawić sobie Compact.

Następnie klikamy w miejscu przycisku Standard(czasami może być napisane coś innego w zależności od obecnego materiału, który jest w tym miejscu). Po kliknięciu powinno wyskoczyć nam nowe okno Material/Map Browser. Wybieramy w nim VRayMtl.

Gdy nasz materiał został już dodany możemy przypisać do niego teksturę. Możemy użyć dowolnej. Ja osobiście skorzystam z drewnianych desek. Aby przypisać teksturę wystarczy, że znajdziecie interesujący was plik na dysku i przeciągniecie go w miejsce kwadratu po prawej stronie od napisu Diffuse.

Ok nasz bardzo prosty materiał jest już gotowy. Następnie potrzebujemy obiektów, do których chcemy go przypisać. W tym tutorialu rozpatrzymy dwa proste, ale i najczęściej występujące przypadki — zwykły Box oraz Plane. Aby przypisać materiał wystarczy, że przeciągniemy kulkę z materiałem na obiekt i upuścimy. Ewentualnie można zaznaczyć obiekty i kliknąć ikonkę Assign Material to Selection.

Na pewno część z was zaniepokoił właśnie fakt, że nie widać tekstury drewna w podglądzie, a jedynie szary kolor. Nie martwcie się jednak, to normalne. Aby tekstury wyświetlały się poprawnie w Viewporcie musimy dodatkowo przy materiale kliknąć ikonkę Show Shaded Material in Viewport.

Jak widzimy nasza tekstura w końcu jest widoczna na obiektach. Co jednak zrobić jeśli zależy nam na konkretnym rozmiarze tekstury? Np. jeśli chcemy, aby deski w naszej teksturze miały rozmiar np. 10 centymetrów? Musimy w takim wypadku spojrzeć na teksturę, którą wykorzystaliśmy i policzyć ile desek mieści się na szerokość naszej tekstury. W tym konkretnym wypadku mieści się 25 desek czyli jeśli chcemy, aby jedna deska miała 10 centymetrów to musimy ustawić mapowanie na 250 cm.

Aby to zrobić musimy zaznaczyć nasz obiekt, niech na początek będzie to Box, a następnie przypisać mu modyfikator w panelu po prawej UVW Map.

Następnie w oknie Mapping wybieramy Box, a w parametrach poniżej ustawiamy wartość 250 cm, 250 cm, 250 cm.

Nasz box jest dość duży i deski wydają się na nim drobne, ale mają teraz oczekiwany przez nas wymiar 10 cm szerokości pojedynczej deski.

Podobne korki możemy wykonać teksturując Plane’a. Dodajemy modyfikator — UVW Map, ale tym razem możemy w opcji Mapping zostawić — Planar. W takim wypadku tekstura rzutowana jest tylko w jednym kierunku, co w wypadku podłogi jest wystarczające. Jeśli np. w tym wypadku chcemy by pojedyncza deska nie miała już 10 cm tylko 20 cm wystarczy, że ustawimy szerokość i długość na 500 cm.

I to tak naprawdę tyle. Tym jednym modyfikatorem możemy naprawdę oteksturować 90% obiektów w naszych scenach. Oczywiście pojawiają się problemy w sytuacji, gdy obiekty są zaokrąglone i nieregularne, ale jeśli tekstura jest drobna jak np. tkanina czy skóra, to miejsca łączeń tekstury mogą nie być zauważalne.

W tym tutorialu z 3ds Maxa to byłoby na tyle. Jeśli macie jakieś uwagi czy sugestie co do kolejnych poradników, to piszcie śmiało w komentarzach poniżej.

Zachęcamy również do zapoznania się z naszymi kursami online — 3ds Max. Znajdziecie w nich wiele różnych materiałów od podstaw, poprzez bardziej zaawansowane rzeczy.

Mateusz Ciećwierz Architekt, grafik 3d

Absolwent Wydziału Architektury Politechniki Warszawskiej. Założyciel serwisu CG Wisdom. Autor ponad 25 kursów z oprogramowania 3ds Max i V-ray. Fan gier, komiksów i starych samochodów.

3ds max material editor

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How to Use our Bitmap Materials in 3DS Max

3DS MAX is an autodesk program for modelling that is widely used in the industry today.

Materials can be created inside of it.

Selecting and Creating the Initial Material:

Open your material editor from the toolbar or use the hotkey ‘M’. If you are in slate material editor, you can easily switch to compact mode (as seen) by going to Modes > Compact Material Editor. Change the base material from Standard to Physical Material.

Assigning the Base Color Map:

Select the Base color and then the bitmap needed.

Assigning the Roughness Map:

Select the Roughness and then the bitmap needed.

Note: The roughness will need to be inverted.

Assigning the Metallic Map:

Select the Metallic and then the bitmap needed.

Assigning the Normal Map:

Select the Normal and then the bitmap needed.

Assigning the Height Map:

Select the Height and then the bitmap needed.

The newly created material can be applied to your mesh at this point:

Last updated on February 3, 2023

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