Improve your 3ds Max workflow: Getting the most out of the slate material editor
Paul Hatton shows you how to take advantage of the node-based slate material editor to create complex materials quickly and clearly in 3ds Max...
Improving your 3ds Max workflow – previous chapters:
Top 10 interface secrets
Better modeling workflow
Handling massive scenes
3ds Max animation tools
Organic placement using MassFx
An introduction to Particle Flow
Adding natural movement with the Flex modifier
Before the release of 3ds Max 2010, users were restricted to a material editor which did indeed enable you to edit materials but it was cumbersome to navigate around. There was no way to see your materials in their entirety; instead you had to laboriously navigate through levels of maps and settings, never quite sure how it all fitted together! In this tutorial I will give you the building blocks to enable you to build the bridge between the old compact editor and the slate editor. Let's dive in.
Make the switch, go on!
The first step to freedom is committing to leaving the compact material editor behind. Even the fact that it's called ‘compact' leaves me disappointed and constrained! I just have that urge to break out. With your compact material editor open, go to the Modes menu at the top-left and select Slate material editor. You will notice a whole new world open up in front of you. A new shiny world with many possibilities. Just bask in it for a while.
The interface
It's split up into 3 primary panes. The first on the left is your Material/Map Browser which will display all the materials and maps that you can use. This list is dependent on the renderer that you have selected in your render settings. The second pane in the middle is the Active View which is a node based interface and we'll look at that more shortly. And the third pane is the Parameter editor which displays the parameters for the material that you have selected in the node interface.
Setting up your first material
There are a couple of ways to do this. The first is to drag and drop the material or map from the left hand side into your middle viewport. Doing this is quick and the Material/Map Browser is fairly logically laid out. The other way of doing it is to right-click in the node viewport and to navigate to your desired material or map. Personally, I use the first option the majority of the time just because I find it quicker and more intuitive.
Material/Map interface
A material is made up of a collection of items which we'll explore now. At the top you have the Title bar which contains the preview, the material name and the material type. Underneath that you have a series of slots that show the components which make up your material. Helpfully the editor will only display the slots that are available for that particular material or map. The circular nodes to the left are used for inputting items into the material and the node to the right is used for outputting to an object.
Using the nodes
Now that we know some of the terminology of the slate material editor and how it is all set up, let's start linking nodes together. Let's start by adding some maps to our material (V-Ray in this example). Drag and drop a Bitmap map from the Map Browser into the Active View. Connect your two items by clicking and dragging from the output connection of the bitmap over to the input connection of the Diffuse Map. Then add a Noise map to the Active View and connect it to the Bump map slot. Hopefully you can see how quick it is to set your materials up.
Changing parameters
In reality this is very similar to the compact material editor. The interface is identical so it'll hopefully be familiar to you. The right hand side Parameter editor displays the parameters of the material or map that you have selected in the Active View. An active selection is made by double-clicking on a material or map. The thing I love about the slate editor is that everything is clearly laid out so that you can edit parameters at the same time as seeing your material and maps, all in one place.
Keeping things organized in views
One of the other major benefits in the slate material editors is that you can keep your materials organized in something called Views. No longer are you limited to 24 sample slots but now the world is your oyster. You can set up views for exterior materials, interior materials or break it down by room for example. At the top of the Active View you'll see View 1. To create a new view simply right-click on this and click Create New View. You can also rename and delete views from this menu.
Moving node trees to other views
Now that we know about views you may at times find it helpful to move whole tree nodes over to another view. In the early days of the slate editor I found options like this a right pain to find, but as with a lot of things in the slate editor, it can be found by right-clicking on the material. Towards the bottom you'll notice an option for Move Tree to View and then a list of the views that exist in your scene.
Get all scene materials
The material picker tool is brilliant but there are times when you want to pick all of the materials in your scene and display them in the slate material editor. To do this simple go to the Materials drop-down and select Get all scene materials. This will display all the materials and maps that are active in your scene. You are then free to make any edits you need to.
Customize your interface
As with most parts of 3ds Max, they do give you the opportunity to fine tune and customize the interface. You can do this by going to Options and Preferences. In there it gives you the option to reverse the Node Layout Direction as well as a handy compatibility display mode if you're having problems with older graphic card drivers.
Top tip: Really complex materials
At times you may find the slate material becoming a bit slow. I know that Grant Warwick has reported this with some of his really complex materials. At those times you may find it easier to move over to the compact editor but that can make it more challenging to navigate around your material.
Improving your 3ds Max workflow – previous chapters:
Top 10 interface secrets
Better modeling workflow
Handling massive scenes
3ds Max animation tools
Organic placement using MassFx
An introduction to Particle Flow
Adding natural movement with the Flex modifier
Related links
Check out Paul Hatton's personal site
Are you a 3ds Max user, or looking to start? You could try our collection of 3ds Max eBooks or purchase our books, 3ds Max Projects and Photoshop for 3D Artists
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