3ds Max 2012 Bible - Kelly L. Murdock [230]
2. Open the Material Editor and double-click on the Multi/Sub-Object material from the Material/Map Browser. Then select the material node and name the material Die Faces.
3. In the Multi/Sub-Object Basic Parameters rollout, click the Set Number button and enter a value of 6.
4. Name the first material face 1, and click the material button to the right that is currently labeled None to open the Material/Map Browser. Select the Standard material type and click OK. Then click the material button again to view the material parameter rollouts for the first material. Then click the map button to the right of the Diffuse color swatch to open the Material/Map Browser again, and double-click the Bitmap map type. In the Select Bitmap Image File dialog box, choose the dieface1.tif image from the Chap 18 directory on the DVD and click Open.
5. Back in the Material Editor, return to the Multi/Sub-Object Basic Parameters rollout and repeat Step 4 for each of the die faces.
6. When the Multi/Sub-Object material is defined, select the cube object and click the Assign Material to Selection button.
Note
Because the cube object used in this example is a box primitive, you didn't need to assign the material IDs to different subobject selections. The box primitive automatically assigned a different material ID to each face of the cube. When material IDs do need to be assigned, you can specify them in the Surface Properties rollout for editable meshes. •
Figure 18.6 shows a rendered image of two dice being rolled.
Tip
If you enable the Views⇒Show Materials in Viewports As⇒Standard Display with Maps menu command, then the subobject materials are visible. •
FIGURE 18.6
These dice have different bitmaps applied to each face.
Using the Clean MultiMaterial utility
All compound materials have submaterials that are used to add layers of detail to the material, but if these submaterials aren't used, they can take up memory and disk space. For example, if you have a Multi/Sub-Object material with 10 materials and the scene only uses 3 of the materials, then the other 7 materials aren't needed and can be eliminated.
You can locate and eliminate unused submaterials in the scene using the Clean MultiMaterial utility. This utility can be accessed from the Utility panel in the Command Panel by clicking the More button or from the Utilities menu in the Material Editor.
Clicking the Find All button finds all submaterials that aren't used and presents them in a list where you can select the ones to clean.
Material Modifiers
Of the many available modifiers, most modifiers change the geometry of an object, but several work specifically with materials and maps, including the Material, MaterialByElement, Disp Approx, and Displace Mesh (WSM) modifiers in the Surface category, and the Vertex Paint modifier in the Mesh Editing category. In this section, you get a chance to use several material-specific modifiers.
Material modifier
The Material modifier lets you change the material ID of an object. The only parameter for this modifier is the Material ID. When you select a subobject and apply this modifier, the material ID is applied only to the subobject selection. This modifier is used in conjunction with the Multi/Sub-Object Material type to create a single object with multiple materials.
MaterialByElement modifier
The MaterialByElement modifier enables you to change material IDs randomly. You can apply this modifier to an object with several elements. The object needs to have the Multi/Sub-Object material applied to it.
The parameters for this modifier can be set to assign material IDs randomly with the Random Distribution option or according to a desired Frequency. The ID Count is the minimum number of material IDs to use. You can specify the percentage of each ID to use in the fields under the List Frequency option. The Seed option alters the randomness of the materials.
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