This is a short guide describing how to use the materials downloaded from our resources section in 3ds Max.
For a guide on using the Corona Material Library, see: how to use the Corona Material Library?
Content of the Archive
Each archive downloaded from our website contains the following folders and files:
- Renders - .jpg files with the previews of the downloaded materials
- Textures - bitmap files used in the materials, if any bitmap is missing, please see the info.txt or !!!MISSING_TEXTURES.txt file
- info.txt or !!!MISSING_TEXTURES.txt - additional information, and short note where and why the missing textures need to be downloaded
- .mat file - 3ds Max material library - this file can be opened in 3ds Max Material/Map browser, however due to the way 3ds Max handles .mat file opening, some material properties may be incorrect (for example absorption distance) if you are using different scene units that the original file creator
- .max files - scene files containing simple objects with the materials applied, they are saved in various 3ds Max version formats. Objects from this .max file can be merged into your scene, and the material properties will be correct, provided that during merging "Rescale Objects to System Unit Scale" is enabled (it is enabled by default).
Opening Material Libraries
The .mat material libraries are usually created using the newest version of 3ds Max available at that time. If you are running the same version of 3ds Max which was used to save the .mat file, you should be able to simply open it in the Material/Map browser:
But sometimes you may see this error:
If your 3ds Max version is older than the one which was used to create the .mat file, you will need to use one of the below methods:
A. Open the appropriate .max file and pick the materials from the sample objects. You can also merge them into your scene.
B. Open the provided .max files as material libraries:
1. Go to "Open Material Library..." as usual:
2. Select "3ds Max file (*.max)" from the dropdown list:
3. Select the appropriate .max file corresponding to your installed 3ds Max version:
4. The .max file will be loaded just like a .mat file:
If you are still having troubles with opening the material libraries, or you have found a mistake, please don't hesitate to contact us.