topic Re: Materials not showing in viewport and render in 3ds Max Forum

Materials not showing in viewport and render

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 17:19:50 GMT

Hi guys, my 3ds doesn't show the material texture and reflections in viewport and render mode, i've already enabled "show realistic material in viewport" and "realistic material with maps" with no luck. I've this problem both on my notebook (geforce 920mx) and my desktop pc (amd 270x).

I'mm following this tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDeBgjsW3J4&list=PLnKw1txyYzRkDT7ZH-2Mzd4hwZ_zjY_jt&index=15 since i'm pretty new to this software.

I attach a screenshot so you can have a better idea of the issue.

Do you have any tips to solve and fix this? Thanks!

Re: Materials not showing in viewport and render

hagen.deloss — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 21:27:20 GMT

Hello @Anonymous

Thanks for bringing your question to the forums, it looks like you are visiting as a new member to the 3DS Max forum. I want to extend a warm welcome to the Autodesk Community!

In regards to your question, it may be that the object has nothing to reflect, and that it's a cube without a lot of geometric complexity. I would suggest first making a flat plane primitive object, and a sphere next to the cube, then applying your material to the sphere object, you should get some more results after that.

Let me know if I can help walk through any specific tools in that process, or if those steps don't get you the results you want!

Talk to you soon 😄

Please select the Accept as Solution button if a post solves your issue or answers your question.

Re: Materials not showing in viewport and render

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Aug 2018 07:15:13 GMT

Hi @hagen.deloss, unfortunately that is not solving the problem, since i apply a glossy material there should be a reflection on it, at least is what i see in the tutorials. You can try replicating my box and applying the same material (check the screenshot) and let me know what you see. I searched the web for the issue and it seems to be a very common problem.

Re: Materials not showing in viewport and render

hagen.deloss — Wed, 08 Aug 2018 17:57:22 GMT

Hi @Anonymous

Great to hear back from you! I am curious to see if you encounter this issue with the test scene that I have attached. Here is a screenshot of a material with the same basic settings as the one you sent a screenshot of, and I have applied the material to some more complex geometry. You can see that the specular settings start to come through! The box surface, at least with the scanline renderer, just doesn't have enough geometric complexity to retain a reflection. Here is an article breaking down how materials and light interact within a 3D environment.

If you start rendering with Arnold, Mental ray, or Vray, you will get different results with your reflection settings for sure, as those rendering engines are more powerful.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you encounter different results, or if you have any more questions.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if a post solves your issue or answers your question.

Re: Materials not showing in viewport and render

hagen.deloss — Fri, 10 Aug 2018 16:57:05 GMT

@Anonymous

Hello, I wanted to check back and see if a post helped you with your problem. It would be super helpful if you could add a post with how you decide to proceed, and your results. That way other Community members can benefit from your process 😄

Please select the Accept as Solution button if a post solves your issue or answers your question.

Re: Materials not showing in viewport and render

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Feb 2019 17:25:49 GMT

I had a similar problem. In the end I discovered that a bunch of material boxes (including Top/Bottom) let you apply a material, but doesn't let you "Show Shaded Material in Viewport" (it is greyed out on the Material Editor).

To get it to work for "Top/Bottom" you need to select the feeder material box, and then "Show Shaded Material in Viewport" on that material.

Weird behaviour, and it is a tiny little icon on the top of the toolbar in the Material Editor window, so hard to find if you don't know to look for it. And forums recommend reinstalls or changing drivers which is crazy!!

Re: Materials not showing in viewport and render

hagen.deloss — Fri, 15 Feb 2019 17:49:31 GMT

Hi @Anonymous

You are right, the first thing anyone should check is if the [Show Shaded Material in Viewport] is checked. Here is an example of that for others experiencing this issue.

But there are a few other reasons a material wouldn't be appearing in the viewport, one would be the material type not being compatible with the assigned renderer, here is an article explaining this further.

Are you still having an issue with the top/bottom material in 3ds Max? What render engine are you using? it looks like you have to select [Show Shaded Material in Viewport] for both instances of the material mapped.

Lastly, sometimes the material library and UI can become corrupted, and in those cases, as a "last case", re-installing 3ds Max can resolve issues with UI corruption...but that is only after troubleshooting the other possible causes.

Let me know if I can help further!

Please select the Accept as Solution button if a post solves your issue or answers your question.

Re: Materials not showing in viewport and render

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 12:06:02 GMT

Hi!

I'm having the same issue. All the other materials are showing correctly both in the viewport and the renders but my floor doesn't have the parquet pattern, just the colour. And I can see the colour and pattern correctly in the Material Editor.

What could be the issue?

Thank you in advance!

Anna

Re: Materials not showing in viewport and render

hagen.deloss — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 22:25:26 GMT

Hi @Anonymous

Thanks for bringing your question to the forums, it looks like you are visiting as a new member to the 3DS Max forum. I want to extend a warm welcome to the Autodesk Community!

I'm wondering if you could provide a screenshot of the material (and its settings), or attach the file for me to look at?

A few general questions that can help us narrow down a cause are below.

What version of 3ds Max are you using?
What render engine are you using?
What kind of material are you using?
Are you using any texture maps that are on a network drive?
Is the parquet pattern being generated, or is it using a bitmap file?

I hope I can help narrow down the cause to your issue 😄

Re: Materials not showing in viewport and render

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 14:16:49 GMT

Thank you for your reply!

What version of 3ds Max are you using? 2019
What render engine are you using? V-Ray
What kind of material are you using? V-Ray material I got from a friend
Are you using any texture maps that are on a network drive? I don't think so. I've got the files on the same folder as the 3Ds max file on my computer
Is the parquet pattern being generated, or is it using a bitmap file? I think bitmap

And here's a screenshot of the Material Editor

Thank you again!

Anna

Re: Materials not showing in viewport and render

hagen.deloss — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 16:25:51 GMT

@Anonymous

Thanks for the thorough response, I really appreciate it! There are a few possible issues that I can think of, with the information you provided.

In the V-Ray tab within your render setup window, check to make sure that the Maps option is checked, under the Global Switches dropdown. Here is a forums thread that has a screenshot of this.

Have you unwrapped the model that this material is applied to? It could be a scaling issue with the texture map. I would make sure to check your tiling settings on the material, you could also look into applying a unwrap UVW modifier to the object.

If you are still encountering issue, feel free to send more screenshots! I don't have access to V-Ray, or I would offer to look at your scene file.

There is a slight chance this is a V-Ray specific issue, and if that's the case, you would get better support on the Chaosgroup forums here (the creators of V-Ray).

I look forward to hearing from you 😄

Re: Materials not showing in viewport and render

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Jul 2019 12:41:30 GMT

Thank you for the tips! Was able to fix the issue and learnt a lot going through the options you gave me 🙂

Anna

Re: Materials not showing in viewport and render

hagen.deloss — Thu, 18 Jul 2019 20:21:31 GMT

@Anonymous

Happy that helped.

Feel free to drop by the forums again if you have any questions, or any projects you would like to share with folks 😄

Re: Materials not showing in viewport and render

a_misic — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 14:12:34 GMT

Hi,

I have an issue with materials in library, as they dissapear after a while, during a work, in attachment screenshot.

Somebody has a similiar experience? Its very frustrating.

Thank you,

Andy