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Material Editor > Material Editor Options > Material Editor Options dialog
Material Editor menu > Options menu > Options
The Material Editor Options dialog controls how materials and maps are displayed in the sample slots.
Manual Update—When on, the sample slots don't update their contents until you click them. This option affects only the updating of the sample slots; it doesn't affect the icon displays in the Browser. Default=off.
Don't Animate—When on, animated maps are not updated in the sample slots while you play an animation or drag the time slider. However, the animation is updated to the current frame when you stop the animation or release the time slider. An animated map can use an AVI file or IFL file as a source. Default=off.
Animate Active Only—When on, only the active sample slot is animated when you play an animation or drag the time slider. This option is good for situations where you have multiple animated materials in the Material Editor, but you only need to see one at a time. This check box is unavailable when Don’t Animate is turned on. Default=off.
Update Active Only—When on, sample slots do not load or generate maps until you make one sample slot active. This can save time while you use the Material Editor, especially when your scene uses a lot of materials with maps. Default=off.
Anti-alias—Turns on antialiasing in the sample slots. Default=off.
Progressive Refinement—Turns on progressive refinement in the sample slots. When on, samples are rendered quickly, with large pixels, then rendered a second time in greater detail. Default=off.
Simple Multi Display Below Top Level—When on, the sample sphere for a multi/sub-object material displays the multiple patches only at the top level of the multi/sub-object material. The sub-materials are displayed over the entire sphere. When you use nested multi/sub-object materials, the multiple patches again appear at the top level of the nested multi/sub-object material, but the sample sphere is again whole when displaying any of the sub-materials. Default=on.
Display Maps as 2D—When on, sample slots display maps, including standalone maps, in 2D. The map fills the entire slot. When off, maps are displayed on the sample object, as materials are. Default=on.
Custom Background—Lets you specify a custom background for the sample slots, instead of the default checkers background. Click the file-assignment button to display a file dialog from which you can select the custom background. This can be any bitmap format supported by 3ds max. Turn on the Custom Background check box to use the new background in place of the checkered background. The custom background is stored in the 3dsmax.ini file, so it is available from session to session. Default=off.
Controls in this group let you specify which renderer the sample slots use.
Scanline—(Default.) Renders the samples with the full scanline renderer.
Current—Renders samples with the currently active production renderer. The name of the current renderer is displayed in the text field. You assign the current renderer using the Rendering tab of the Preferences dialog. If you want to use the scanline renderer for samples, no matter which renderer is currently assigned for the scene, use the Scanline option.
Top Light color and Back Light color—Adjust the two lights used in the sample slots. Click the color swatch to alter the color of either light. Adjust the Multiplier spinners to multiply the values (intensity) of the lights.
Use the Default buttons to return to the initial settings.
(In earlier releases, these lights were labeled Light #1 and Light #2.)
Ambient Light Intensity—Sets the ambient light intensity in the sample slots. The range is from 0 to 1. Default=0.197.
Use the Default button to return to the initial setting.
Background Intensity—Sets the background intensity in the sample slots. The range is from 0 (black) to 1 (white). Default=0.2.
Use the Default button to return to the initial setting.
3D Map Sample Scale—Sets the scale of the sample sphere to any size, making it consistent with the object or objects in the scene that have the texture on them. (This option changes the scale of all the sample slots.) It allows you to preview the scale of 3D procedural maps, such as Noise, without having to render. For example, if you have an object that is about 50 units across, set this parameter to 50 to see the noise map correctly scaled on the sample sphere. Default=100.
Use the Default button to return to the initial setting.
Controls in this group let you specify a custom sample object to use in the sample slots.
File Name—Selects the MAX scene file.
The scene should contain a single unlinked object that fits in an imaginary cube 100 units on a side. The object must be either a primitive with a Generate Mapping Coords. check box, or have a UVW Map modifier applied to it. The scene can contain a camera and lights.
Load Camera and/or Lights—Turn on to have sample slots use the camera and lights in the scene, instead of the default sample slot lighting.
These options let you choose how many sample slots to display at a time.
The Material Editor always has 24 sample slots available. You can choose to display fewer sample slots at a larger size. When you do, scroll bars let you move around among the sample slots.
3 X 2—Specifies a 3 x 2 array of sample slots. (The default: 6 windows.)
5 X 3—Specifies a 5 X 3 array of sample slots. (15 windows.)
6 X 4—Specifies a 6 X 4 array of sample slots. (24 windows.)
Apply—Applies the current settings, except for changes to the Slots group, without leaving the Material Editor Options dialog. This is useful when you adjust lighting values for the sample slots.
OK—Closes the dialog and applies any changes you made.
Cancel—Closes the dialog and cancels any changes you made, including changes you applied with the Apply button.
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