At the top you have the Title bar which contains the preview, the material name and the material type. The simple drag and drop interface makes it a delight to use Material/Map interfaceĪ material is made up of a collection of items which we'll explore now. Personally, I use the first option the majority of the time just because I find it quicker and more intuitive. The other way of doing it is to right-click in the node viewport and to navigate to your desired material or map. Doing this is quick and the Material/Map Browser is fairly logically laid out. The first is to drag and drop the material or map from the left hand side into your middle viewport. The clean, spacious and tidy interface is a breath of fresh air compared to the old compact material editor Setting up your first material And the third pane is the Parameter editor which displays the parameters for the material that you have selected in the node interface. The second pane in the middle is the Active View which is a node based interface and we'll look at that more shortly. This list is dependent on the renderer that you have selected in your render settings. The first on the left is your Material/Map Browser which will display all the materials and maps that you can use. The slate material editor gives you not only more room and flexibility, but primarily it enables you to see the entirety of your materials. A new shiny world with many possibilities. You will notice a whole new world open up in front of you. With your compact material editor open, go to the Modes menu at the top-left and select Slate material editor. Even the fact that it's called ‘compact' leaves me disappointed and constrained! I just have that urge to break out.
The first step to freedom is committing to leaving the compact material editor behind. There was no way to see your materials in their entirety instead you had to laboriously navigate through levels of maps and settings, never quite sure how it all fitted together! In this tutorial I will give you the building blocks to enable you to build the bridge between the old compact editor and the slate editor. Top 10 interface secrets Better modeling workflow Handling massive scenes 3ds Max animation tools Organic placement using MassFx An introduction to Particle Flow Adding natural movement with the Flex modifier Before the release of 3ds Max 2010, users were restricted to a material editor which did indeed enable you to edit materials but it was cumbersome to navigate around. Improving your 3ds Max workflow – previous chapters:
Want to master Microsoft Excel and take your work-from-home job prospects to the next level? Jump-start your career with our Premium A-to-Z Microsoft Excel Training Bundle from the new Gadget Hacks Shop and get lifetime access to more than 40 hours of Basic to Advanced instruction on functions, formula, tools, and more.Paul Hatton shows you how to take advantage of the node-based slate material editor to create complex materials quickly and clearly in 3ds Max. Join two polygons with the bridge tool in 3ds MaxĬlick through to watch this video on
There is no sound, so you'll need to watch the pop-up directions.
Make sure to hit "play tutorial" in the top left corner of the video to start the video. Basically, this bridge tool lets you join two polygons. In this 3d Max video tutorial you will learn how to do this using the polygon bridge weld too. 3ds Max lets you use 2D shapes as the cross sections of 3D models.