3ds Max 2012 Bible - Kelly L. Murdock [343]
FIGURE 31.4
Substance textures can be made to appear different by changing the Random Seed value.
Tutorial: Applying Substance textures to a scene
The Substance textures are especially good at creating worn, old-looking textures. It is easy to add the randomness of rust and corrosion to surfaces, so we use several Substance textures to create an abandoned city scene.
To create a scene using Substance textures, follow these steps:
1. Open the Wall and crates.max file from the Chap 31 directory on the CD.
This file contains several primitive shapes positioned to create a simple scene.
2. Select the plane object in front that represents the ground, and open the Slate Material Editor by choosing Rendering⇒Material Editor⇒Slate Material Editor (or by pressing the M key).
3. Double-click the Standard material in the Material/Map Browser, and then locate and double-click the Substance and Normal Bump maps in the Maps folder. Double-click the Substance node in the Node View pane, and click the Load Substance button. Select and load the Dry Ground 02 option from the file dialog box.
4. Connect the Diffuse channels from the Substance node to the Standard node, and then connect the Normal channel of the Substance node to the Normal Bump map and the output of the Normal Bump map node to the Bump mode of the Standard node. Between nodes, a Map Output node is automatically created. Double-click the Standard material node in the Node View, and click the Assign Material to Selection button in the Material Editor to apply the selected material.
5. Select the background wall object in the viewport, and repeat Steps 3 and 4, applying the Brick Wall 03 Substance texture.
6. Select the top crate object, and repeat Steps 3 and 4 to apply the Aircraft Metal Substance texture.
7. Select all the crate objects in the viewport, and apply the Aircraft Metal Substance texture to it using the method in Steps 3 and 4.
Figure 31.5 shows the resulting scene.
FIGURE 31.5
Substance textures can add lots of detail to a scene.
Summary
This chapter covered the basics of using the Substance map node to create highly detailed textures without the file size overhead. Textures created with Substance can be exported to a game engine using a plug-in tool that is available from Allegorithmic.
In this chapter, you accomplished the following:
• Selecting and applying Substance materials to objects
• Randomizing Substance textures using the Parameter values
The next chapter covers the Viewport Canvas, which lets you paint directly on objects. It also presents a feature for rendering surface maps.
Chapter 32: Painting in the Viewport Canvas and Rendering Surface Maps
IN THIS CHAPTER
Using the Viewport Canvas
Using the Vertex Paint modifier
Rendering surface maps
Max is a 3D tool, and creating scenes with Max is quite a bit different from the traditional painting programs. Sometimes when you're working on a scene, especially when applying textures, you'll ache to return to those simple, older painting programs of yesteryear. Happily, Max includes a mode that lets you simply throw paint around just like those old paint programs.
This paint mode is called the Viewport Canvas, and it turns the entire active viewport into a 2D surface; even better, when you are finished painting, your masterpiece is automatically transferred to the current object as a texture map.
If the ability to paint directly in the viewport doesn't interest you, then you'll be happy to know that you can use Max to render out a surface map that you can load into Photoshop or your favorite image-editing package and use as a template for your textures.
Using the Viewport Canvas
The Viewport Canvas lets you easily apply a painted texture to the selected object. It also has a feature that lets you choose the type of brush you paint with. The Canvas also includes a standard paint brush that is configurable and