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Material Editor > Type button > Material/Map Browser > Multi/Sub-Object
Figure mapped using a multi/sub-object material
The Multi/Sub-Object material lets you assign different materials at the sub-object level of your geometry. You create a multi-material, assign it to an object, and then use the Mesh Select modifier to select faces and choose which of the sub-materials in the multi-material are assigned to the selected faces.
If the object is an editable mesh, you can drag and drop materials to different selections of faces, building a multi/sub-object material on the fly. See Drag and Drop Sub-Object Material Assignment.
You can also create a new Multi/Sub-Object material by dragging to faces selected with the Edit Mesh modifier.
Sub-material IDs do not depend on the order of the list, and you can enter new ID values.
The Make Unique button in the Material Editor lets you make an instanced sub-material into a unique copy.
At the multi/sub-object material level, the sample slot's sample object shows a patchwork of the sub-materials. When you edit a sub-material, the sample slot display depends on the setting of the Simple Multi Display Below Top Level toggle in the Material Editor Options dialog.
To create a multi/sub-object material:
Activate a sample slot in the Material Editor.
Click the Type button.
In the Material/Map Browser, choose Multi/Sub-Object and then click OK.
A Replace Map dialog is displayed. This dialog asks whether you want to discard the original material in the slot, or retain it as a sub-material.
The controls for a Multi/Sub-Object material are essentially a list of the sub-materials it contains.
To make one of the sub-materials a solid color:
On the Multi/Sub-Object Basic Parameters rollout, click the color swatch next to the sub-material button.
In the Color Selector, choose a color.
The color swatches for sub-materials are shortcuts. They assign the color you choose to the sub-material's Diffuse component.
To assign one of the sub-materials to a sub-object selection:
Select the object, and assign a multi/sub-object material to it.
In the Modify panel, apply Mesh Select to the object.
Click Sub-Object and choose Face as the sub-object category.
Select the faces to which you will assign a sub-material.
Apply a Material modifier, and set the material ID value to the number of the sub-material you want to assign.
The viewport updates to show the sub-material assigned to the selected faces.
The material ID values in the multi/sub-object material and the material ID numbers in the Select Face rollout correspond. If you set the ID to a number that doesn't correspond to a material contained in the multi/sub-object material, the faces render as black.
Warning: Some geometric primitives do not use 1 as the default material ID, and some, such as hedra or box, have multiple material IDs by default.
Tip: You can also use the Edit Mesh modifier to assign a contained material to selected faces. Apply Edit Mesh to the object, go to the Face sub-object level, and select the faces to assign. Then on the Edit Surface rollout, set the material ID value to the ID of the sub-material. (You can drag and drop a multi/sub-object material to an Edit Mesh modifier as you can to an editable mesh object.)
To remove a sub-material:
Select the sub-material by clicking its small sample sphere in the Multi/Sub-Object Basic Parameters rollout.
The small sample sphere is surrounded by a black and white border to show the sub-material is selected.
If the list of sub-materials is longer than the rollout will hold, you can use the scrollbar at the right to display other parts of the list.
Click Delete.
The sub-material is removed.
Deleting a sub-material is an undoable operation.
Number—This field displays the number of sub-materials contained in the multi/sub-object material.
Set Number—Sets the number of sub-materials make up the material. At the multi/sub-object material level, the sample slot's sample object shows a patchwork of the sub-materials. (When you edit a sub-material, the sample slot display depends on the setting of the Simple Multi Display Below Top Level toggle in the Material Editor Options Dialog.)
Reducing the number of sub-materials removes sub-materials from the end of the list. You can undo Set Number when you have used it to delete materials.
Add—Click to add a new sub-material to the list. By default, the new sub-material's ID number is one greater than the highest material ID already in use.
Delete—Click to delete the currently chosen sub-material from the list. You can undo deleting a sub-material.
These buttons appear above three of the columns in the sub-materials list.
ID—Click to sort the list so it begins with the sub-material that has the lowest material ID, and ends with the sub-material that has the highest material ID.
Name—Click to sort the list by the names you have entered in the Name column.
Sub-Material—Click to sort the list by the sub-material names that appear on the Sub-Material buttons.
Each sub-material has a single entry in this list. The rollout displays up to 10 sub-materials at a time. If the multi/sub-object material contains more than 10 sub-materials, you can scroll the list using the scrollbar at the right.
Each sub-material in the list has the following controls:
Small sample sphere—The small sample sphere is a "mini-preview" of the sub-material. Click it to select this sub-material. You must select a sub-material before you delete it.
ID—Shows the ID number assigned to this sub-material. You can edit this field to change the ID number. If you assign two sub-materials the same ID, a warning message appears at the top of the rollout.
When the multi/sub-object material is applied to an object, faces in the object assigned the same material ID number render with this sub-material.
You can click Sort by ID to sort the sub-material list by this value, from lowest to highest.
Note: Sometimes the Sub-Material button shows a material number. This is not the sub-material ID.
Name—Lets you enter a custom name for the material. A sub-material name appears in the Name field when you're at the level of the sub-material. It also appears in the Browser and the Navigator.
Sub-Material button—Click the sub-material button to create or edit one of the sub-materials. Each of the sub-materials is a complete material in its own right, with as many maps and levels as you want.
By default, each sub-material is a Standard material with Blinn shading.
Color swatch—Click the color swatch to the right of the Sub-Material button to display the Color Selector and choose a diffuse color for the sub-material.
On/Off toggle—Turns the sub-material on or off. When a sub-material is off, it appears black in the sample slot and on objects in the scene. Default=on.
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