Bitmap 2D Map

A bitmap is an image produced by a fixed matrix of colored pixels, like a mosaic. Bitmaps are useful for creating many kinds of materials, from wood grains and wall surfaces to skin and feathers. You can also use an animation or video file instead of a bitmap to create an animated material.

Bitmaps shown in Material Editor sample slots

When you assign the Bitmap map, the Select Bitmap Image File dialog opens automatically. Use this dialog to specify a file or sequence as the bitmap image. See Image File Formats for a list of the supported bitmap types and their controls.

You can create a Bitmap by dragging a supported bitmap file from Windows Explorer into the Slate Material Editor. 3ds Max creates a Bitmap node with the file loaded into it.

Note: To save loading time, if a map with the same name is in two different locations (in two different paths), 3ds Max loads it only once. This poses a problem only if your scene includes two maps that have different content but the same name. In this case, only the first map encountered will appear in the scene.
Tip: The Viewport Canvas feature lets you create a bitmap for a material on the fly by painting it directly onto an object surface.

Animated Bitmaps

The Bitmap map can synchronize the frames of a bitmap sequence to the age of particles to which the map is applied. With this effect, each particle displays the complete sequence when it is born, starting at the first frame, rather than being assigned whichever frame is current. You accomplish this by doing the following:

For more details and a procedure, see Material Dynamic Operator.

Note: If your scene includes animated bitmaps with materials, projector lights, or environments, the animation file is reloaded once per frame. If your scene uses multiple animations, or if the animations are large files, rendering will be slower.

Procedures

To crop an image:

  1. On the Cropping/Placement group, turn on Apply to see the results of cropping in the material preview (and in shaded viewports, if Show Map In Viewport is active).
  2. Turn on Crop.
  3. Click View Image to display the bitmap.

    A frame window appears, displaying the image surrounded by a region outline (a dashed line at the outer edges of the image, with handles on the sides and corners).

  4. Specify a cropping region by adjusting the spinners at the top of the window, or by dragging the region outline.

To place an image:

  1. In the Cropping/Placement group, turn on Apply to see the results of cropping in the material preview (and in shaded viewports if Show Map In Viewport is active).
  2. Turn on Place.
  3. Click View Image.

    A frame window appears, displaying the image surrounded by a region outline (a dashed line at the outer edges of the image, with handles on the sides and corners).

  4. Move the image by adjusting the spinners at the top of the window, or by dragging the region outline.

    The reduced image becomes a "decal": The Diffuse color is visible around the image.

To use the alpha channel that is part of the bitmap:

  1. Assign the map to the Opacity component.

    (You can assign a copy or instance of this map to other components, such as Diffuse, as well.)

  2. Go to the parameters for the Opacity map.
  3. In the Bitmap Parameters rollout Alpha Source group, choose Image Alpha.

    This option is not available if the bitmap does not have an alpha channel.

  4. In the Bitmap Parameters rollout Mono Channel Output group, choose Alpha.

    This option is not available if the bitmap does not have an alpha channel.

    Now the bitmapped material will have the transparency specified by the alpha channel. This will appear in production renderings. Transparency does not appear in viewports or ActiveShade renderings.

To create an alpha channel based on intensity:

To use a completely opaque bitmap:

Interface

Bitmap Parameters rollout

Bitmap
Selects the bitmap using the standard file browser. After selection, the full path name appears on this button.
Reload
Reloads the bitmap file using the same name and path. You don’t need to use the file browser to reload the bitmap after you've updated it in your paint program.

Clicking reload for any instance of the map updates the map in all sample slots and in the scene.

Filtering group

Filtering options let you select the method of pixel averaging used in antialiasing the bitmap.

  • Pyramidal (The default.) Requires less memory and is adequate for most purposes.
  • Summed Area Requires much more memory, but yields generally superior results.
  • None Turns off filtering.
Mono Channel Output group

Some parameters, such as opacity or specular level, are a single value as opposed to a material's three-value color components. Controls in this group determine the source of the Output mono channel in terms of the input bitmap.

  • RGB Intensity Uses the intensity of the red, green, and blue channels as the map. The color of the pixels is ignored and only the value or luminance of the pixels is used. The colors are computed as gray values in the range between 0 (black) and 255 (white).
  • Alpha Uses the intensity of the alpha channel as the map.
RGB Channel Output group

The RGB Channel Output determines where the output RGB part comes from. The controls in this group affect only maps for material components that display color: Ambient, Diffuse, Specular, Filter Color, Reflection, and Refraction.

  • RGB Displays the full color values of the pixels. (Default)
  • Alpha as Gray Displays tones of gray based on the levels of the alpha channel.
Cropping/Placement group

The controls in this group let you crop the bitmap or reduce its size for custom placement. Cropping a bitmap means to reduce it to a smaller rectangular area than it originally had. Cropping doesn't change the scale of the bitmap.

Placing a bitmap lets you scale the map and place it anywhere within its tile. Placing can change the bitmap's scale, but shows the entire bitmap. The four values that specify the placement and size of the cropping or placement region are all animatable.

Cropping and placement settings affect the bitmap only as it's used for this map and any instances of the map. They have no effect on the bitmap file itself.

Apply
Turn on to use the cropping or placement settings.
View Image
Opens a window that shows the bitmap surrounded by a region outline with handles at its sides and corners. To change the size of the crop area, drag the handles. To move the region, position the mouse cursor inside it and drag.

To see the results of editing the region, turn on Apply (see preceding). This shows changes in the region as you make them.

The bitmap window has U/V and W/H (width/height) controls on its toolbar. Use these to adjust the location and size the image or crop area.

When Place is chosen, dragging the region area handles changes the scale of the bitmap (hold down Ctrl to preserve the bitmap's aspect ratio), and dragging the image changes its location within the tile area.

The UV/XY button at the right of the window toolbar lets you switch between using UV or XY coordinates in the toolbar spinners (Default=UV). .

  • Crop Makes cropping active.
  • Place Makes placement active.
U/V
Adjusts the bitmap location.
W/H
Adjusts the width and height of the bitmap or crop area.
Jitter Placement
Specifies the amount of random offset. At 0, there is no random offset. Range = 0.0 to 1.0

When Place is turned on, the size and position specified by the spinners or editing window are ignored. 3ds Max then chooses a random size and tile position for the image.

Alpha Source group

Controls in this group determine the source of the Output alpha channel in terms of the input bitmap.

  • Image Alpha Uses the image's alpha channel (disabled if the image has no alpha channel).
  • RGB Intensity Converts the colors in the bitmap to grayscale tonal values and uses them for transparency. Black is transparent and white is opaque.
  • None (Opaque) Does not use transparency.
Premultiplied Alpha
Determines how alpha is treated in the bitmap. When turned on, the default, premultiplied alpha is expected in the file. When turned off, the alpha is treated as non-premultiplied, and any RGB values are ignored.
Tip: If you apply an alpha image as a Diffuse map, for example, and it doesn't decal correctly, the bitmap file probably contains non-premultiplied alpha; the RGB values are maintained separately from the alpha values. To correct this, turn off Premultiplied Alpha.

Time rollout

These controls let you change the start time and speed of animation (AVI or MOV) files used as animated texture maps. They make it easier to use sequences of images as maps in scenes, because you can control the timing very precisely

Start Frame

Specifies the frame where the playback of the animated map will begin.

Playback Rate

Lets you speed up and slow down the rate that the animation is applied to the map (for example, 1.0 is normal speed, 2.0 is twice as fast, .333 is 1/3 as fast).

Sync Frames to Particle Age

When on, 3ds Max synchronizes the frames of a bitmap sequence to the age of particles to which the map is applied. With this effect, each particle displays the sequence from the start when it is born, rather than being assigned whichever frame is current. Default=off.

When using Particle Flow, assign the material containing the Bitmap map to a Material Dynamic operator. For more details and a procedure, see Material Dynamic Operator.

Note: This functionality is not supported by the mental ray renderer.
End Condition group

Determines what happens after the last frame of the bitmap animation if the animation is shorter than the scene.

  • Loop Causes the animation to repeat over and over again from the beginning.
  • Ping-Pong Causes the animation to be played forward and then backward repeatedly, making every animated sequence "loop smoothly."
  • Hold Freezes on the last frame of the bitmap animation.
Topics in this section
Parent topic: 2D Maps
Related Information
Coordinates Rollout (2D)
Noise Rollout (2D)
Output Rollout