jivefincher
03-26-2010, 06:21 PM
Hello, everyone.
I'm working on trying to learn some more complex material usage in MAX after doing mostly texture painting in Photoshop. I'm running into some serious problems when using Composite Materials and I'm hoping someone could either help me solve the problem or possibly suggest a better way for me to do it.
I'm trying to overlay a logo/decal ontop of a plastic A&D material in Max Design 2009. I created a material structure like the following:
- Multisub Material
--(id1) A&D White Plastic Material **Assigned to "plastic" polygons with no logos** --(id2) Composite Material **Assigned to the "plastic" polygons that require the addition of logo
--- (base) A&D White Plastic Material **Copy of the first plastic**
--- (mat1) Standard
---- *.png image in the Diffuse slot of the logo
---- *.png mask image in the Opacity slot
**I have also tried a variation where I will substitute in a second copy of the plastic material for the standard (mat1) slot and place the mask image in the Cutout slot, though it yeilds the same results.
In a default-lit scene everything looks just fine with MR rendering. Even if I drop in a single omni light with Raytraced shadows, the material looks perfect on the model. However, the second I drop the model into a full lit scene (very large area on the magnitude of 30k square feet and many omni lights to light the building), the polygons that I picked to show the decals are either miscolored and/or the shadows are completely out of control. I think I fixed the out of control shadows, but the polygons with decals are a light grey with no reflection/gloss. The odd part is that there are polygons with decals near the top of the model that work just fine.
I have to admit, lighting isn't my strong suit either - I'm mainly an animator/modeler and I'm trying to learn more about complex texture/materials and lighting - so perhaps there is an issue there instead. It seems that the farther away from the light source the object is and the larger my Far Attenuation goes on the lights, the more strange the affect on the model with the Composite Material - trying to find an even balance there so the scene isn't blown out has been a chore.
Are my problems coming from an issue with Composite Materials and MR, a lighting issue, or both? Also, can anyone suggest a better way of approaching this idea? I've searched the forums and found similar threads though none of the suggestions were solutions to my problem - such as using *.png rather than *.tif or *.jpg mask images.
I'm really pulling out my hair with this because I've tried everything I can think of and nothing seems to make any sense. I've tried different light types, different approaches to material useage, assuming it was just strange reflections (which didn't make any sense since some polygons work fine and others don't, even if I move the model to a different location), everything.
In all of the following images the front bottom polygon has the Composite material applied and it's twin on the backside has the plain white plastic applied for comparison sake. The polygons with the Composite materials applied are the two flat white planes near the bottom of the model with the small logo, the silver vertical planes on the side with the black 'V' logo and then the white face at the top with the company name which, interestingly, looks fine.
I'm working on trying to learn some more complex material usage in MAX after doing mostly texture painting in Photoshop. I'm running into some serious problems when using Composite Materials and I'm hoping someone could either help me solve the problem or possibly suggest a better way for me to do it.
I'm trying to overlay a logo/decal ontop of a plastic A&D material in Max Design 2009. I created a material structure like the following:
- Multisub Material
--(id1) A&D White Plastic Material **Assigned to "plastic" polygons with no logos** --(id2) Composite Material **Assigned to the "plastic" polygons that require the addition of logo
--- (base) A&D White Plastic Material **Copy of the first plastic**
--- (mat1) Standard
---- *.png image in the Diffuse slot of the logo
---- *.png mask image in the Opacity slot
**I have also tried a variation where I will substitute in a second copy of the plastic material for the standard (mat1) slot and place the mask image in the Cutout slot, though it yeilds the same results.
In a default-lit scene everything looks just fine with MR rendering. Even if I drop in a single omni light with Raytraced shadows, the material looks perfect on the model. However, the second I drop the model into a full lit scene (very large area on the magnitude of 30k square feet and many omni lights to light the building), the polygons that I picked to show the decals are either miscolored and/or the shadows are completely out of control. I think I fixed the out of control shadows, but the polygons with decals are a light grey with no reflection/gloss. The odd part is that there are polygons with decals near the top of the model that work just fine.
I have to admit, lighting isn't my strong suit either - I'm mainly an animator/modeler and I'm trying to learn more about complex texture/materials and lighting - so perhaps there is an issue there instead. It seems that the farther away from the light source the object is and the larger my Far Attenuation goes on the lights, the more strange the affect on the model with the Composite Material - trying to find an even balance there so the scene isn't blown out has been a chore.
Are my problems coming from an issue with Composite Materials and MR, a lighting issue, or both? Also, can anyone suggest a better way of approaching this idea? I've searched the forums and found similar threads though none of the suggestions were solutions to my problem - such as using *.png rather than *.tif or *.jpg mask images.
I'm really pulling out my hair with this because I've tried everything I can think of and nothing seems to make any sense. I've tried different light types, different approaches to material useage, assuming it was just strange reflections (which didn't make any sense since some polygons work fine and others don't, even if I move the model to a different location), everything.
In all of the following images the front bottom polygon has the Composite material applied and it's twin on the backside has the plain white plastic applied for comparison sake. The polygons with the Composite materials applied are the two flat white planes near the bottom of the model with the small logo, the silver vertical planes on the side with the black 'V' logo and then the white face at the top with the company name which, interestingly, looks fine.