3ds max connect 2 materials?

blackdragonstory

Hi,
When modeling I usually create a material called working which is a dark grey material that has animated opacity so that I can see the references better.

After I did like 70% of a model I put on a wip material close to the colors that what I am modeling should be.

Sometimes I would like to make changes instantly without having to go back to the opacity material.

Is it possible to connect the materials in a way that each material I connect to working material gains the animation of it while keeping color.
Basicly linking the materials.

I know I can use Alt + x but that is too grey and cant see that well.
If I could edit the value of opacity that shortcut gives that could also solve my problem.

Any ideas?(3ds max 2016)

doolally66

Just so I'm clear, are you wanting to keep you WIP/colour material, but make the mesh partially transparent?

If that is the case, there's 3 methods I can think of that could work.
You can manually edit the opacity by selecting the object mesh - right click - object properties - General Tab. The non the lower right there is 'Rendering Control' with a roller next to 'Visibility'. Alt + X, I think, uses 0.3 on it, but you can change it to what you prefer.

Or, you can put an all white material into the opacity channel in your material editor and then use the roller on there to control how strong it is.

Finally, there's wireframe mode (Shortcut = F3). But I know some people don't really like working in this mode. The benefit of wireframe is that you can jump back and forth by pressing F3.

blackdragonstory

doolally66 wrote: »

Just so I'm clear, are you wanting to keep you WIP/colour material, but make the mesh partially transparent?

If that is the case, there's 3 methods I can think of that could work.
You can manually edit the opacity by selecting the object mesh - right click - object properties - General Tab. The non the lower right there is 'Rendering Control' with a roller next to 'Visibility'. Alt + X, I think, uses 0.3 on it, but you can change it to what you prefer.

Or, you can put an all white material into the opacity channel in your material editor and then use the roller on there to control how strong it is.

Finally, there's wireframe mode (Shortcut = F3). But I know some people don't really like working in this mode. The benefit of wireframe is that you can jump back and forth by pressing F3.

Yes.
Knowing how to change Alt + x 0.3 to 0 would help with my problem.
How do you edit that?

Viking

You can always animate your materials to your needs. Then set the active animation range to 0-1. With the Home and End keys you can switch back and forth.

doolally66

I'm looking at a script for you, but it's not quite there yet. I'm not great at MaxScript. If I manage to get something working I'll send it across to you.

For the time being if you select the object mesh - right click - choose object properties - General Tab. On the lower right there is 'Rendering Control' with a roller/box which has 1.0 in it. It's next to 'Visibility'. set that to 0.0 or whatever you wish. Then press ok.

This is an alternative to Alt + X but it will keep the colour and still make it transparent.

monster

I already had this tool created for someone here at work. Paste this into a new script window and go to Tools > Evaluate All. Then you can look in the Customize menu for "Toggle Visibility"

You can change the visValue near the top to whatever you want before you evaluate.

macroScript PlayfulToggleVis
	category:"Playful Tools"
	buttonText:"Toggle Vis"
	toolTip:"Toggle Visibility"
(
	--TOOL TO TOGGLE THE VIS ON THE SELECTION
	--SAVE THE CURRENT SELECTION
	sel = getCurrentSelection()

	visValue = 0.3

	--CHECK IF THE VIS HAS ALREADY BEEN TOGGLED
	for obj in sel do
	(
		if getVisController obj != undefined do
		(
			if obj.visibility.controller.value != 1.0 then
			(
				visValue = 1.0
			)

			exit
		)
	)

	--SET THE VIS TOGGLE
	for obj in sel do
	(
		if getVisController obj == undefined do obj.visibility = bezier_float()
		--obj.visibility.controller.value = if obj.visibility.controller.value != 1.0 then 1.0 else 0.2
		obj.visibility.controller.value = visValue
	)

	--RESELECT TO REDRAW THE VIEWPORT
	select sel
)