Tutorial : Introduction to Materials and Mapping

Materials are like paint. With materials, you make apples red and oranges orange. You put the shine in chrome and the polish on glass. By applying maps, you can add images, patterns, and even surface texture to objects. Materials are what make your scenes look real.

Mapping is a method of projecting pictorial information (materials) onto surfaces. It is a lot like wrapping a present with wrapping paper, except the pattern is projected mathematically, with modifiers, rather than being taped to the surface.

This tutorial introduces the Material Editor, the master design studio for materials and maps. In the following lessons, you will learn how to assign materials to objects, how to create basic materials, and how to create several kinds of advanced materials.

Skill level: Basic to intermediate

Time to complete: 90 minutes




Files for this tutorial are in the \tutorials\intro_to_materials folder.

Note: All the necessary files to do the tutorials can be found on the Tutorial And Sample Files CD, the third CD that ships with 3ds max 6. Before doing the tutorials, copy the \tutorials directory from the CD to your \3dsmax6 local installation.