A safer method for sharing?

[Taoizm]

Polys : check and make sure they didn't hide the polys in the subobject. Other wise I've never run across that problem.

Texture maps: They use a local machine path. Ex: c:\3dsmax\maps if you're running MAX on your D: and don't have it set to find those maps then you'll have to add it to your maps path. (I do remember someone saying that MAX might look in subfolders from the loaded MAX file for maps. I don't remember if it worked or not)

so, no bugs, and no "saftey toggle" if you plan on sharing files keep it organized. :)

[spacefrog]

Max always searches for maps in a subfolder of your current Max-File's Folder.
The SubFolder it searches is simply called "Maps".
So i always share my projects with this directory structure and collect all the projects maps in this local Map folder.
If you do quick adjustments to your textures you sure don't
want to change the orginal files...

Max searches this folder by default, so no MapPath-entry needed

;-)

[EricChadwick]

Help file...


When you load an image or photometric file, the software saves the full path name of the file. When the software needs to reload the file, it searches for it in the following order:

1. The full path saved with the file

2. The directory of the current scene

3. All subdirectories below the current scene

4. The paths listed in the Bitmaps/Photometrics panel, starting at the top of the list

The default Bitmap/Photometric path is called Maps. If you save image or photometric files in directories other than Maps, add a path to the Bitmaps path list.


The Maps path refers to \3dsmax5\Maps, not your local \Maps subdirectory, although that will work too according to #3.

If you want to share your textures, render the scene first... max will let you know if any are missing. Then use the Resource Collector (in the Utility panel) to zip up the scene and bitmaps together.

[TheWriter]

Ok thanks guys. I got those max files to work better now. I also think I know why I had missing materials so much. If people MERGE objects into one scene, then the materials from the merge do not show up in the material editor. So when I get the .max after that I can't view the material, though the models are textured alright. Any simple method to automaticaly display all these hidden materials besides using the eye droper tool and doing a re-verse engineering... so to speak?

[EricChadwick]

Do you mean you want all the materials in the scene to be loaded onto the preview samples in the Material Editor?

I actually clear my Editor out all the time, it loads so slow when I have a ton of materials showing, with all their associated bitmaps. I prefer to only show the one or two materials I need to edit.

But if you want to, use the Get Material button, choose From Scene, you get a list of them all. Then you can select a sample ball and double-click a material to put it in the sample ball.

There's probably a script to auto-grab all the materials from a scene, stick them on those balls. Search scriptspot?

[chach]

bad file preparation is the only time i see the problems you mention from others. a nice catch-all is the 'archive' feature, which automatically gathers all texturemaps and preserves their paths within a zip file along with the .max.

[chach]

also, this diagnosis is incorrect:"If people MERGE objects into one scene, then the materials from the merge do not show up in the material editor. So when I get the .max after that I can't view the material, though the models are textured alright."
Just because the materials are not displayed in the material editor does not mean that they have been purged from the scene. You just have to load them into the material editor from the scene, as posm described.

[Aearon]

i think the problem is that you misunderstood the whole concept of the material editor... it's just a place to temporarily store your materials for editing...

use posm method to view a list of all materials in the scene (i think this is what you wanted)

also, to permanently store your materials you'd better use material libraries. if you don't have a certain material in a medit slot or saved in a library it's easy to loose it, so be careful :wip:

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