Autodesk Materials

Autodesk Materials are materials that model materials commonly used in construction, design, and the environment. They correspond to Autodesk Revit materials, as well as materials in AutoCAD and Autodesk Inventor, so they provide a way to share surface and material information if you also use those applications.

A scene using Autodesk Materials

Autodesk Materials are based on the Arch & Design material. Similarly, they work best when used with physically accurate (photometric) lights, and geometry that is modeled in real-world units. On the other hand, the interface of each Autodesk Material is much simpler than the Arch & Design material interface, and lets you achieve realistic, physically correct results with comparatively little effort.

The Autodesk Material Library is a set of material libraries based on manufacturing-supplied data and professional images. This includes building and design materials such as professional wall paint with glossy or matte finishes, solid glass, and concrete. These materials provide a convenient way of creating realistic textures.

Note: The materials available depend on the active renderer.

Autodesk Bitmap

Many Autodesk Material types have one or more Autodesk Bitmaps. To change the default bitmap assignment (if there is one), view the parameters for either the Autodesk Bitmap itself, or the parent material, and then click the map button. 3ds Max opens a file dialog so you can specify an image file. On the Parameters rollout for the Autodesk Bitmap type, the button is labeled Source; in the settings for the parent material, usually the button is labeled Image.

Warning: 3ds Max allows you to disconnect a bitmap from an Autodesk Material, or to replace it with some other kind of map. However, if you do that other Autodesk applications such as AutoCAD won’t be able to read the Autodesk Material, so we recommend that you always leave the Autodesk Material bitmap nodes as they are. You can change the texture file that they call, or adjust their settings, but don’t disconnect them or replace them with a map type that is supported only by 3ds Max.

Uninstalling Autodesk Materials

Warning: If you uninstall or remove an Autodesk Material library, the library is no longer available to other Autodesk products such as AutoCAD, Autodesk Revit, or Autodesk Inventor. Uninstalling also means you will be unable to view or render 3ds Max scenes that have Autodesk Materials currently in them.

For detailed information about installing or uninstalling Autodesk Material libraries, and how to reinstall them, see the section “Installing Autodesk Material Libraries” in the Installation Guide.