Self-Illumination Map

You can use a bitmap file or procedural map to control the self-illumination value. This makes portions of an object appear to glow. White areas of the map render as fully self illuminating. Black areas render with no self-illumination. Gray areas render as partially self illuminating, depending on the grayscale value.

Click the Material Editor icon on the Main toolbar or press M. Click and hold the icon to show the flyout.

• Material Editor > Standard Material > Maps rollout > Self-Illumination button
• Material Editor > Raytrace Material > Maps rollout > Luminosity button
• Material Editor > Arch & Design Material > Special Purpose Maps rollout > Self Illumination Color button
• Material Editor > Other materials that have a Self-Illumination or Luminosity component

Using a Self-illumination map

Self-illumination means that the glowing area is not affected by lights in the scene (its ambient color component goes away), and does not receive shadows.

Procedures

To use a Self-illumination map:

1. Click the map button for Self-Illumination.

   3ds Max opens the Material/Map Browser.

2. Choose from the list of map types, and then click OK.

   (If you choose Bitmap as the map type, 3ds Max opens a file dialog that lets you choose the image file.)

3. Use the map controls to set up the map.

Alternatively, you can use the Slate Material Editor to wire a map node to the Self Illumination component.