[3dsmax] Many material variations on the same complex model in one scene.

OccultMonk

What would be the best, most durable way to have many versions of assigned materials in one scene, so that I can easily switch between a version of the vehicle with green paint with white plastic and the same model with metal and dark plastic. Making it extra complex is the fact that not all materials will be assigned precisely at the same location/subobjects.

Example: A vehicle (same model) with many colors/material variations, where for example in one version some parts are of a painted material and in another version some parts are plastic or metal. (And then with about 50 materials on thousands of objects) How would you manage that on complex scenes? None of the solutions I found is flexible enough:

• Splitting the scene in multiple 3dsmax scenes (The Problem with this is that if the model changes you have to import it in all scenes).

• Using multiple 'containing' scenes with the material variations and only import objects as XREF objects and re-auto assign the materials from that scene to the XREF objects. So the material variations/assignments exist in the 'containing scene' but the models in the xref file. (I have not gotten this to work properly because when I (re)import the Xref objects materials are not automatically assigned.

• Only importing materials from an external file or material library and merging that file with the scene each time I want to change the materials, overwriting the existing materials. In that case, I would have multiple scenes containing only the assigned materials that I can use to overwrite the materials. But the slate material editor with all my tabs and material node trees assignments will not stay ordered.

• Using multi/subobject ID materials and creating one (or more) for each material combination. Then assigning that to the objects all at once for each color/material variation of the objects. the disadvantage is that when I assign a new material to certain (sub)objects I have to update all those subobject materials. 

• Using State Sets: This records material assignment (but I do not want to reassign each material like that). That would take too long. Also, state sets is not always that stable in my experience and hard to use with a recording states / making scene wide changes. Therefore state sets are better suited for batch rendering in my opinion. 

• Using Scene states: Not good to use for assigning materials. Because of recording states interferes with modeling.

Pac_187

You could check if SmartRefs works out for you: http://smartrefs.com/

I haven't used it my self, but it looks very promising and far more advanced than xref.

OccultMonk

Thanks, I will check it out. But it's not entirely clear to me if it is suited for easy material assignment for multiple versions. Also introducing an external plugin always has the problem of no future support. If it isn't recompiled for a new 3ds max version I could essentially not open/work with older scenes. I would like to solve it without problems.

Eric Chadwick

Is this for rendering inside 3ds Max? Or is it going to exported to a game engine?

I'd suggest using an Excel spreadsheet for keeping track of which items get which materials, and coding up a Maxscript to assign them. 

http://www.scriptspot.com/search/apachesolr_search/material assign

http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/spreadsheet-editor

OccultMonk

Thanks, but It's only for rendering with Corona in 3ds max, not for assigning materials in low poly. 

musashidan

@occultmonk it certainly looks like you've tested a lot of workflows. Unfortunately, there's nothing out of the box. There are some scripts on scriptspot that might make your life easier.

http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/selectionsetmaterial-0
http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/swapmaterials
http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/matidtools

Multiple MatID materials is probably the way I'd go myself. Then I'd save out all the materials to specific material libraries(a multi-matID file for each variation) and use the Asset Browser(or Project Manager) and Slate to quickly swap out materials.

The Corona Material Library will have the ability to save custom materials in a future release, which will be very useful.

Apart from that, it's custom scripting(something I know very little about)

poopipe

Multi sub materials work fine for this in most cases. I use them all the time. 

You can assign IDs using a modifier (which can be instanced) as well as per face.  I do that a lot because it means you can make large sweeping changes to material assignments your scene very quickly. 

OccultMonk

musashidan Thanks for the detailed answer! I also thought that Multi sub material would be best. I will check out the scripts.

poopipe  Thanks, I know that workflow (more or less) but now I am more certain it is probably the best direction to take.

OccultMonk

poopipe How do you use the material modifier per face? Make a subobject selection with Poly Select modifier? So modifier stack:

2) Material ID Modifier
2) Poly Select
1) Material ID Modifier
1) Poly Select

poopipe

That should work.