Hey guys,
I’ve had some great experience with getting answers here so I thought I might repost a question I posted at CG talk
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?p=6389188#post6389188
"Hi everyone,
I have a question regarding material libraries (.mat) which is causing me some serious grief with a script that I am writing.
It was my understanding that material libraries would save the material, fx file, and bitmap references of any number of materials for later use.
For example, I believed that I could create a new standard material, call it “wall” and assign it a bitmap (bricks.bmp) then save the material library for later use. (Put to library, material map browser - Save as)
I was under the assumption that If I closed 3dsMax, re-opened it and loaded the material library, that the bitmap reference would already be set up in the “wall” material. My assumption has so far proved to be incorrect.
After a max reload, all my materials from the material library have no paths in the bitmap fields, it only says. BMP FILE, or JPG FILE. All .fx file references are lost and replaced with 3dsmax default.fx.
It seems that the only way a bitmap reference is maintained, is if I use the material library in the same session as the one in which I created the reference. i.e. If I close/reopen max the bitmap references are lost from the material file.
In short. Do material library (.mat) files hold bitmap, and .fx file references?
If they do, what would cause the problems I am having above?
If they don’t, is there any way to hold multiple materials with multiple bitmap references for later use?
Thanks for any help I get on this one, I’ve already wasted >8 hours on this one.
edit:
I’ve done some further experimentation and found some .mat files that come along with 3dsMax.
When I loaded these up they DO have bitmap references in them. Even when I make sure the bitmaps are missing the file reference remains. So it looks like the problem might be in the way that I create my material library.
What would cause a material library that I am creating to have no bitmap references after quit, restart of max?