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Chapter 17: Adding Material Details with Maps

Max file, you can use the Instance Duplicate Maps utility to find all the common maps and make them
instances automatically.
Access this utility from the Utilities menu in the Material Editor or from the Utilities panel. Both commands
open the same dialog box, shown in Figure 17.38. From this dialog box, you can select which maps to
make instances or click Instance All to consolidate all the found maps into instances.

FIGURE 17.38
The Instance Duplicate Maps dialog box lets you consolidate maps into a single instance.

Creating Textures with External Tools

Several external tools can be valuable when you create material textures. These tools can include an image-
editing program like Photoshop, a digital camera or camcorder, and a scanner. With these tools, you can
create or capture images that can be applied as maps to a material using the map channels.
After the image is created or captured, you can apply it to a material by clicking a map shortcut button or
by selecting a map in the Maps rollout. This opens the Material/Map Browser, where you can select the
Bitmap map type and load the image file from the file dialog box that appears.
Creating material textures using Photoshop
When you begin creating texture images, Photoshop becomes your best friend. Using Photoshop’s filters
enables you to quickly create a huge variety of textures that add life and realism to your textures.
Table 17.2 is a recipe book of several common textures that you can create in Photoshop. The table pro-
vides only a quick sampling of some simple textures. Many other features and effects are possible with
Photoshop.

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