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ManualsBrandsAutodesk ManualsApplications3ds Max

1261

Applying a Material to an Object 1249

In this case, only the first map encountered will

appear in the scene.

Navigating the M ater ial/Map Tree

When you build a material of any complexity,

you are building a material/map tree. The root

ofthetreeisthematerialitself. Thebranches

arethemapsyouhaveassignedtothematerial’s

components. Some maps can themselves contain

maps, as in a map applied to one color of a

Checker

material (p age 2–1447)

,sothetreecanbemore

than two levels deep, and can actually be as deep

as you need it to be.

The

Material/Map Navigator (page 2–1291)

is a dialog that displays the tree for the current

material. It is useful for finding a map and

displaying its parameters. Click the map to display

itsrolloutsintheMaterialEditor.Tocopyamap

to a different component of the same material, you

can also drag the map’s name from the Navigator

to a map button in the Material Editor.

The Go Forward To Sibling and Go

To Parent buttons also navigate the map tree. Go

Forward To Sibling moves laterally in the map tree,

while Go To Parent moves up the tree. (To move

downthetree,clickamapbuttonthathasamap

assigned to it.) Another way to move between

parents and children in the tree is to drop down

the

material name field (page 2–1292)

and click

the name of a map or material.

App ly i ng a M ateri a l t o an Obj ect

Therearetwowaystoapplyamaterialtoanobject:

• If the sample slot is active and the object is

already selected, click

Assign Material To

Selection (page 2–1285)

• Drag from the sample slot to the object.

As you drag, a tooltip appears over each object

beneath the mouse, showing the object’s name.

You can apply the material w hether the object

isselectedornot.Releasethemousetoapply

the material.

Applying a material overr ides any previous

material assignment the object might have had.

Once the material is applied, w hile the sample

slot is active, the material is "hot" and changes

you make to it affect the object automatically. See

Sample Slots (p age 2–1264)

for more about hot

andcoldmaterials.

The

Undo command (page 1–93)

works for

mate rial assignment.

You can apply only one material to an object. To

overcome this restriction, use a

Multi/Sub-Object

material (page 2–1403)

.Thisisacontainerfor

various sub-materials that correspond to specified

sub-objectssuchasdifferentfacesinamesh,

NURBS surfaces in a NURBS mo del, and so on.

You can apply the same material to multiple

objects in the scene.