How-To Make Custom Doormats with Cricut

Animated 3D Materials

Being a seasoned your 3D user, you are well aware of the capability to animate materials. As with anything else in MAX, if it is got a spinner, you can animate it. Furthermore, any animation parameter within the Material editor can use special animation controllers, as well as the new Motion Capture feature.

In Practice – 3D Mapping Coordinates

If you use the UVW map method, you can specify how the Noise map, for example, is applied to the surface of your geometry through Mapping coordinates. This gives you more control over the map, but it also requires you use Mapping coordinates that can often look bad on more complex shapes.

Smoke and Dent 3D Materials

Smoke, like Water, comes from the old IPAS collection of the 3D Studio DOS days. Its intended function is to create the appearance of a smoky-like surface on whatever object you have applied it to.

Cellular As a 3D Map

Cellular is the first runner-up in the map popularity contest. Rather than randomly mixing two colors to produce an effect, Cellular works by producing small, cell-like patterns. The distribution of the pattern is completely procedural, meaning that it is also random. As a result, Cellular works great for creating organic surfaces. As a Diffuse map, it can create a great skin like texture.

Use Procedural Maps For 3D Materials

Procedural maps, as mentioned earlier, are great for building organic surfaces. Why? Procedural maps are, by nature, random in their effect. This means that you can design a great, complex, organic surface without having even a remotely repeating pattern.