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Show Map in Viewport 1445
Show Map in V iewpor t
Material Editor > Show Map in Viewport
Material Editor menu > Material menu > Show Map in
Viewport
Left:Mapshownonsamplecube
Right: Map shown in a viewport
Show Map In View por t displays mapped materials
on the surfaces of objects in viewports with the
interactive renderer (page 3–1030).
The following conditions must be met for mapped
materials to display in the v iewport:
• Mapping coordinates (page 3–967) must be
applied to t he object. This is already the c ase
with most primitive objects, which by default
have Generate Mapping Coords on at creation.
If an object doesn ’t have mapping coordinates,
you can turn this on, or apply a mapped
material to the object (if it has a Generate
Mapping Coords check box), or apply a UVW
Map modifier (page 1–922) or an Unwrap UVW
modifier (page 1–878).
•Amappedmaterialmustbeappliedtothe
object.
•ShowMapInViewportmustbeon,eitherat
thelevelofthematerialthatcontainsthemap
(page 3–968),oratthetoplevelofthematerial.
Tip: Display ing mapped materials in a viewport
can slow performance. If you don’t need to
view the map, turn off its viewport d isplay.
Note: With the software display driver (page
3–840), viewports don’t accurately display a
map with transparency that has UV tiling or
mirroring. Also, this driver cannot display a
map on a faceted material.
The st ate of this button is saved with the material
in the library. When you apply a mapped material
while Show Map In Viewp ort is active, the object’s
Generate Mapping Coords. check b ox is turned
on. This means that you can drag mapp ed
materials from the Material Library in the Browser
over objects in your scene, and have the mapped
material appear in the viewports.
Tip: Yo u c a n t u r n S h o w M a p I n V i e w p o r t o n o r
off for all materials by choosing Views menu >
Activate/Deactivate All Maps.
Note: In the Mater ial/Map Browser (page 2–1412)
and Material/Map Navigator (page 2–1447),icons
of materials and maps for w hich Show Map in
Viewport is on are red, as shown in the following
example:
3D M aps in Viewport s
Show Map In Viewport works for 3D procedural
maps as well as 2D maps.
3D map display in viewports is not necessarily
accurate. To improve the 3D preview, you can use
the Material Editor Options dialog (page 2–1436)
to set the 3D Map Sample Scale to equal a main
dimension of the object you are applying the map
to. For example, if you want to use the planet map