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CHAPTER

Adding Material

Details with Maps

n addition to using materials, another way to enhance an object is to use a
map—but not a roadmap. In Max, maps are bitmaps, with patterns that can be IN THIS CHAPTER
Iapplied to the surface of an object. Some maps wrap an image onto objects,
but others, such as displacement and bump maps, modify the surface based on the Understanding mapping
map’s intensity. For example, you can use a diffuse map to add a label to a soup Connecting maps to material
can, or a bump map to add some texture to the surface of an orange. nodes
Several external tools can be very helpful when you create texture maps. These
tools include an image-editing package such as Photoshop, a digital camera, and Exploring all the map types
including 2D and 3D maps,
a scanner. With these tools, you can create and capture bitmap images that can
be applied as materials to the surface of the object. compositors, color modifiers,
and others
Applying maps to material
Understanding Maps properties using the Maps
rollout
To understand a material map, think of this example. Cut the label off of a soup
can, scan it into the computer, and save the image as a bitmap. You can then cre- Using the Bitmap Path Editor
ate a cylinder with roughly the same dimensions as the can, load the scanned Creating textures with
label image as a material map, and apply it to the cylinder object to simulate the Photoshop
original soup can.

Different map types
Different types of maps exist. Some maps wrap images about objects, while oth-
ers define areas to be modified by comparing the intensity of the pixels in the
map. An example of this is a bump map. A standard bump map would be a gray-
scale image—when mapped onto an object, lighter-colored sections would be
raised to a maximum of pure white; darker sections would be those regions
where a minimal bump or no bump is applied. This enables you to easily create
surface textures, such as the rivets on the side of machine, without having to
model them.
Still other uses for maps include background images called environment maps and
projection maps that are used with lights.

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