3ds Max 2012 Bible - Kelly L. Murdock [228]
Cross-Reference
You can learn more about modeling with patches in Chapter 13, “Modeling with Polygons.” •
To create a quilt using patches, follow these steps:
1. Open the Patch quilt.max file from the Chap 18 directory on the DVD.
This file contains a quilt made of patch objects that have been combined into one object.
2. Open the Material Editor by choosing Rendering⇒Material Editor⇒Slate Material Editor (or press M), and double-click on the Multi/Sub-Object material in the Material/Map Browser panel.
The Multi/Sub-Object material node loads into the Node View, double-click the new node to make the Multi/Sub-Object Basic Parameters rollout appear in the Parameter Editor panel. Click the Set Number button and enter the value of 10.
3. Double-click the Standard material in the Material/Map Browser to create a separate node for each materials included in the Multi/Sub-Object material. Then drag from the output socket of each Standard material node to the input socket in the Multi/Sub-Object node for each of the sub-materials.
4. In the Multi/Sub-Object Basic Parameters rollout, click the color swatches to the right of the Material button to open the Color Selector. Select different colors for each of the first ten material ID slots.
5. Drag the Multi/Sub-Object material node's output socket and drop it onto the patch object in the viewports. Close the Material Editor.
6. In the Modify panel, select the Patch subobject and scroll to the bottom of the Modify panel to the Surface Properties rollout.
7. Assign each patch a separate material ID by clicking a patch and changing the ID number in the rollout field.
Figure 18.4 shows the finished quilt. Because it's a patch, you can drape it over objects easily.
FIGURE 18.4
A quilt composed of patches and colored using the Multi/Sub-Object material
Morpher
The Morpher material type works with the Morpher modifier to change materials as an object morphs. For example, you can associate a blushing effect with light red applied to the cheeks of a facial expression to show embarrassment. You can use this material only on an object that has the Morpher modifier in its Stack. The Morpher modifier includes a button called Assign New Material in the Global Parameters rollout for loading the Material Editor with the Morpher material type.
Cross-Reference
Discover more about the Morpher modifier in Chapter 35, “Using Animation Layers, Modifiers, and Complex Controllers.” •
For the Morpher material, the Choose Morph Object button in the Morpher Basic Parameters rollout lets you pick a morpher object in the viewports and then open a dialog box used to bind the Morpher material to an object with the Morpher modifier applied. The Refresh button updates all the channels. The base material is the material used before any channel effects are used.
The Morpher material includes 100 channels that correlate to the channels included in the Morpher modifier. Each channel can be turned on and off. At the bottom of the parameters rollout are three Mixing Calculation options that can be used to determine how often the blending is calculated. The Always setting can consume lots of memory and can slow down the system. Other options are When Rendering and Never Calculate.
Shell
The Shell Material consists of an original material and a baked material. For each of these materials, you can specify which appear in the viewport and which are rendered.
Cross-Reference
More on baked materials is found in Chapter 34, “Creating Baked Textures and Normal Maps.” •
Shellac
The Shellac material is added on top of the Base material. The Shellac Basic Parameters rollout includes only two buttons for each material, along with a Color Blend value. The Blend value has