3ds Max 2012 Bible - Kelly L. Murdock [209]
Cross-Reference
Find out more about maps in Chapter 17, “Adding Material Details with Maps.” •
Caution
These dynamic properties are used only with the Dynamic utility. reactor is a more versatile and robust dynamics solution, making these properties obsolete; they are included only for backward compatibility. •
DirectX Manager rollout
The DirectX Manager rollout lets you display the current material in the viewport as a DirectX shader when the DX Display of Standard Material option is enabled. The current material also can be saved as an .fx material file. Many game engines render using DirectX, so this option lets you view your materials in the viewport as they will appear within the game.
Caution
The DirectX Manager rollout isn't available by default. It appears only when the Direct3D display driver is selected. •
At the bottom of the DirectX Manager rollout is a drop-down list for selecting to use the available DirectX shaders. The two available DirectX shaders are LightMap and Metal Bump 9. These shaders are generic, so they can be used on many different types of objects. The Light Map shader includes a parameter for loading a custom light map, and the Metal Bump 9 shader includes parameters for specifying two texture maps; specularity; and normal, bump, and reflection maps.
mental ray connection rollout
The mental ray connection rollout includes options for enabling different properties that are used by the mental ray rendering engine. The properties include Surface and Shadow Shaders, Photon and Photon Volume, and Extended Shaders and Advanced Shaders, including Contour and Light Map.
Cross-Reference
The mental ray rendering engine and its properties are covered in Chapter 47, “Rendering with mental ray and iray.” •
Tutorial: Coloring a dolphin
As a quick example of applying materials, you'll take a dolphin model created by Zygote Media and position it over a watery plane. You then apply custom materials to both objects.
To add materials to a dolphin, follow these steps:
1. Open the Dolphin.max file from the Chap 16 directory on the CD.
This file contains a simple plane object and a dolphin mesh.
2. Open the Material Editor by choosing Rendering⇒Material Editor⇒Slate Material Editor, clicking the Material Editor button on the main toolbar, or pressing the M key.
3. In the Material/Map Browser panel, double-click on the Standard material; select the standard material block and, in the Name field in the Parameter Editor panel, rename the material Dolphin Skin. Click the Diffuse color swatch, and select a light gray color. Then click the Specular color swatch, and select a light yellow color. Click the Close button to exit the Color Selector. In the Specular Highlights section, increase the Specular Level to 45.
4. Double-click on the Standard material in the Material/Map Browser again and name it Ocean Surface. Click the Diffuse color swatch, and select a light blue color. Set the Specular Level and Opacity values to 80. In the Maps rollout, click the None button to the right of the Bump selection. In the Material/Map Browser that opens, double-click the Noise selection in the Maps rollout. Click on the Noise map button to access the Noise parameters, and then enable the Fractal option and set the Size value to 15 in the Noise Parameters rollout.
5. Select the dolphin body in the viewport and, with the Dolphin Skin material selected in the Material Editor, click the Assign Material to Selection button in the Material Editor toolbar. Then do the same for the ocean surface.
Note
This model also includes separate objects for the eyes, mouth, and tongue. These objects could have different materials applied to them, but they are so small in this image that you won't worry about them. •
6. Choose Rendering⇒Environment (keyboard shortcut, 8), click the Background Color swatch, and change it to a light sky blue.
Figure 16.14 shows the resulting image.
FIGURE 16.14
A dolphin over the water with applied materials
Summary
This chapter presented the Standard material and