Part 5 – The Material Library

Set Render Engine to Mental Ray

1. Press F10 to bring up the render dialog
2. Under the Common tab, scroll down to and expand the Assign Render section
3. Select the browse (…) button across from the Production text box and select Mental Ray then close the Render dialog box.
4. You have to set the renderer to mental ray to unlock the awesome mental ray materials.

Create a Material Library and Apply Materials

You will more than likely be using the same materials across multiple .max files.  So now is a great time to create a material library you can use in every file.

1. Press “m” to open the slate material editor
2. Right click on the white arrow next to “Search by Name”
3. Choose “Create Material Library” and give it a name.  I am calling mine “Plant3D”

1. Right click in the View1 area
2. Select Materials > mental ray > Arch and Design

1. Double click on the new material
2. In the material settings dialog, change the values of the material to the settings as you see fit.

1. Select and drag the Steel_Red material’s node handle and drop it above the Plant3D material library we created earlier.

Do this for each material you will need to use and adjust the settings appropriately.  It should be quick and easy as you have already consulted with the client on what each objects material will look like, right?

Create an Ambient Occlusion material

1. Right click in the material view > Materials > mental ray > mental ray
2. Name Material “AO”
3. Left Click and drag the Surface Shader node on the AO material so that you see the connecting wire and release the mouse button.
4. A menu should pop up, choose mental ray > Ambient/Reflective Occlusion and change the following values
   1. Samples: 64
   2. Max Distance: 75
   3. Drag the AO material’s node handle into your material Plant3D material library
   4. Save the Plant3D material library

Here are some of the materials I created for this class.

 

 

Apply materials to your models

Select each scene object and apply the appropriate materials to them.

1. You will need to choose the appropriate method for applying materials to your models. Here are a few selection methods.
   1. Select each object individually.
   2. Select by layers. Press the   button in the toolbar.   Select the layer you want and right click > select. This will select every object on the selected layer.
   3. Select by selection sets (pre-defined objects)
2. You can either:
   1. Drag the material from the Plant3D material library and drop it over your object
   2. Drag the material from the Plant3D material library into the slate editor.  With the scene object and material selected, press the Assign to Selected button 
3. Open each scene, and start applying materials, saving each scene as you go.  Try to think of ways to speed up the process…and then tell me about them!

• Part 1 - Asking the Right Questions
• Part 2 - Grate Expectations
• Part 3 - Exporting and Importing to 3DS Max
• Part 4 - Delete AutoCAD block objects in 3DS Max
• Part 5 - The Material Library
• Part 6 - The 3DS Max Daylight System
• Part 7 - Viewport Lighting