• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 1966 0

dialog box lists all the nodes that use the selected map. The Copy Files button opens a File dialog box in which you can select a location to which to copy the selected map. The Select Missing Files button selects any maps in the list that can't be located. The Find Files button lists the maps in the current selection that can be located and the number that are missing. Stripping paths removes the path information and leaves only the map name. The New Path field lets you enter the path information to apply to the selected maps. The button with three dots to the right of the New Path field lets you browse for a path, and the Set Path button applies the path designated in the New Path field to the selected maps.

FIGURE 17.37

The Bitmap/Photometric Path Editor window lets you alter map paths.

Using Map Instances

Using the same bitmap for many different map channels is common. For example, you may use the same bitmap for the Diffuse and Bump map channels. If a file includes the same bitmaps over and over, the file size can increase, and replacing a bitmap when you make changes can become difficult. This potential problem can be fixed easily by making the maps into instances instead of copies. If you have an existing Max file, you can use the Instance Duplicate Maps utility to find all the common maps and make them instances automatically.

Access this utility from the Utilities menu in the Material Editor or from the Utilities panel. Both commands open the same dialog box, shown in Figure 17.38. From this dialog box, you can select which maps to make instances or click Instance All to consolidate all the found maps into instances.

FIGURE 17.38

The Instance Duplicate Maps dialog box lets you consolidate maps into a single instance.

Creating Textures with External Tools

Several external tools can be valuable when you create material textures. These tools can include an image-editing program like Photoshop, a digital camera or camcorder, and a scanner. With these tools, you can create or capture images that can be applied as maps to a material using the map channels.

After the image is created or captured, you can apply it to a material by clicking a map shortcut button or by selecting a map in the Maps rollout. This opens the Material/Map Browser, where you can select the Bitmap map type and load the image file from the File dialog box that appears.

Creating material textures using Photoshop

When you begin creating texture images, Photoshop becomes your best friend. Using Photoshop's filters enables you to quickly create a huge variety of textures that add life and realism to your textures.

Table 17.2 is a recipe book of several common textures that you can create in Photoshop. The table provides only a quick sampling of some simple textures. Many other features and effects are possible with Photoshop.

Capturing digital images

Digital cameras and camcorders are inexpensive enough that they really are necessary items when creating material textures. Although Photoshop can be used to create many unique and interesting textures, a digital image of riverbed stones is much more realistic than anything that can be created with Photoshop. The world is full of interesting textures that can be used when creating images.

Avoiding specular highlights

Nothing can ruin a good texture taken with a digital camera faster than the camera's flash. Taking a picture of a highly reflective surface like the surface of a table can reflect back to the camera, thereby ruining the texture.

You can counter this several ways. One technique is to block the flash and make sure that you have enough ambient light to capture the texture. Taking pictures outside can help with this because they don't need the flash. Another technique is to take the image at an angle, but this might skew the texture. A third technique is to take the image and then crop away the unwanted highlights.

Tip

The best time to take outdoor photos that are to be used for materials is on an overcast day. This eliminates the direct shadows from the sun, which