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CHAPTER

Using the Slate

Material Editor

aterials are used to dress, color, and paint objects. Just as materials in real
life can be described as scaly, soft, smooth, opaque, or blue, materials IN THIS CHAPTER
Mapplied to 3D objects can mimic properties such as color, texture, trans-
parency, shininess, and so on. In this chapter, you learn the basics of working with Understanding Material
materials and all the features of the Material Editor and the Material Explorer. properties
Working with the Slate
Material Editor
Understanding Material Properties
Using the Material/Map
Before jumping into the Material Editor, let’s take a close look at the type of Browser
material properties that you will deal with. Understanding these properties will Working with libraries of
help you as you begin to create new materials.
materials
Up until now, the only material property that has been applied to an object has
been the default object color, randomly assigned by Max. The Material Editor can Using the Material Explorer
add a whole new level of realism using materials that simulate many different
types of physical properties.

Note
Many of these material properties are not visible until the scene is rendered. n

Colors
Color is probably the simplest material property and the easiest to identify.
However, unlike the object color defined in the Create and Modify panels, there
isn’t a single color swatch that controls an object’s color.
Consider a basket of shiny, red apples. When you shine a bright blue spotlight
on them, all the apples turn purple because the blue highlights from the light
mix with the red of the apple’s surface. So, even if the apples are assigned a red
material, the final color in the image might be very different because the light
makes the color change.

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