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1328 Chapter 16: Material Editor, Materials, and Maps
To u nlock two color components:
• Click the lock button to turn it off.
Thetwocolorsremainthesameuntilyou
change one of them, or both.
Inter face
Ambient—Controls the ambient color (page
3–1002)
. The ambient color is the color in shadow
(indirect light).
Diff use—Controls the diffuse color (page 3–1023) .
The diffuse color is the color in direct light.
Specular—Controls the specular color (page
3–1108)
. The specular color is the color of the
high light on a shiny object. You can control
thesizeandshapeofhighlightsintheSpecular
Highlights group, described below.
Copy ing and L ock i ng Color Components
For convenience in changing color components,
the Material Editor lets you copy one color
component to another by dragging, and to lock
two color components together with the lock
buttons to the left of the Ambient and Diffuse, and
Diffuse and Specular color swatches.
When you drag and drop a color swatch, the
Copy
or Swap Colors dialog (page 2–1295)
asks if you
want to copy the color or swap the two colors.
In general, materials with two identical color
components do not look realistic, and except for
materials that are close to solid black, you should
avoid using copied or locked color components in
materials you use in a scene. Color copying and
locking are best used as conveniences w hen you
design a n ew basic material.
Shortcut M ap B uttons
The small buttons to the right of the color swatches
access the
Material/Map Browser (page 2–1291) ,
where you select a map for that component.
Thesebuttonsareshortcuts:youcanalsousethe
corresponding buttons in the
Maps rollout (page
2–1315)
If you have assigned a map to one of these
color components, the button displays the letter
M. An uppercase M means that the corresponding
map is assigned and active. A lowercase m means
that the map is assigned and inactive (turned off).
The lock button to the right of the Diffuse
map button locks Ambient mapping to Diffuse
mapping. It is on by default. Usual ly it makes
sense to use the same map for the ambient and
diffusecomponents. Tousedifferentmapsfor
ambient and diffuse, turn off the lock button. A
mapshortcutbuttonforAmbientappears.
Self-Illumination Setting
Material Editor > Standard material > Anisotrop ic, Blinn,
Metal, Multi-Layer, Oren-Nayar-Blinn, or Phon g Basic
Parameters rollout > Self-Illuminatio n group
These controls make the material self il luminated
(page 3–1103)
.Self-illuminationcreatesthe
illusion of incandescence by replacing shadows on
the surface with the diffuse color. As you incre ase
self-illumination, the self-illumination color takes
over from the ambient color. At a setting of 100,
the m aterial shows no shaded areas, although it
can show specular hig h lights.
The self-illumination color appears in viewports.
(In releases prior to 3ds Max 5,,viewportsshowed
the s elf-illumination va lue but not the color.)
Note: The Strauss shader (page 2–1324) does not
have self-illumination.