8

1260 Chapter 16: Material Editor, Materials, and Maps
This button is available only when the Browser is
viewing a librar y.
Delete from Librar y—Removes the selected
mater ial or map from the library display. The
library on disk is not affected until you save it.
Use Open to reload the original library f rom disk.
This button is only active when you select a named
material that exists in the current l ibrary.
This button is available only when the Browser is
viewing a librar y.
Clear Ma ter ia l Libr a r y —Removes all mater ials
fromthelibrarydisplay.Thelibraryondiskisnot
affected until you save it. Use Open to reload the
original library from disk.
This button is available only when the Browser is
viewing a librar y.
Browse From group
The controls in this group choose the source of the
materials displayed in the material/map list.
Mater ial Library—Displays the contents of a
material library fi le from disk. When you set this
option, the buttons under File become active (see
below).
Yo u c a n a l s o l o a d a l i b r a r y f r o m a M A X f i l e .
When browsing from the Material Library in the
Material/Map Browser, choose Open, and then
choose 3ds Max (*
.max ) from Files of type. Select
andloada
.max file. All materials assigned in t hat
scene are listed in the Browser. To convert the
collection of materials to a library file, click Save,
and save it as a M AT (
.mat )file.
Mater ial Editor—Displays the contents of the
sample slots.
Active S lot—Displays the contents of the currently
active sample slot.
This option is unavailable in the modal version of
the Browser.
When you choose this mode, all check boxes in
theShowgroupboxaremadeavailable.Theentire
material and m ap t ree of the active material is
displayed, regardless of the state of these check
boxes in other Browse From modes.
YoucanalsouseActiveSlotmodetonavigatethe
hierarchy of the active material. When Active Slot
is chosen, clicking an item in the material/map list
moves Material Editor cont rols to that level of the
material.
Selected—Displays the material applied to the
selected objects.
Scene—Displays all materials applied to objects
in the scene.
All maps assigned to the scene, including
Environment Background or spotlight projector
maps, are displayed in t he Browser list.
New—Displays the set of material/map types for
you to create a new material.
Show group
These options fi lter what is displayed in the list.
EitherMaterialsorMapsisalwayson,andboth
canbeonatthesametime.Thefirsttwooptions
can be unavailable, depending on the active
Browse From and View sett ings.
Materials—Turns display of materials and
sub-materials on or off.