topic Re: How to remove unused maps in 3ds Max Forum

How to remove unused maps

mekene — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 09:41:01 GMT

When I check the Asset Tracking of my scene I see many maps that are no longer used.

This was not a problem until I needed to export an archive of the scene : The ZIP is huge because max includes all those maps.

I looked in materials, environment, background, ... but cannot find where they are used.

What is the workflow to fix such issues. Isn't there a way to determine easily where a given map is used in the scene ? I mean for eg : in the asset tracking, Right-Click a map and give an option to display all objects where this map is being used.

Thank you.

Re: How to remove unused maps

PROH — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 14:59:52 GMT

Hi. When I have experienced this problem, the reason has always been that the unused materials/map still was present in the material editor, and therefore considered as part of the file. To fix it simply reset or condense your material editor slot. In the compact editor, this is done by selecting "utilities" and then select either "Reset Material Editor Slots" or "Condense Material Editor Slots".

Hope it helps

Re: How to remove unused maps

mekene — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 15:08:15 GMT

Thank you PROH
I tried resetting the material editor, then saved and reloaded the scene but that doesn't get rid of those maps.
If there is no way to find where a map is being used with 3ds max standard tools, maybe there are scripts to do this ? Any clue ?

Re: How to remove unused maps

PROH — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 15:43:33 GMT

Sounds odd. Only a few things I can think off right now:

1) Have you tried to use "Reset" (Max) before reloading the file?
2) Have you checked that there isn't any hidden, frozen or "dead" linked objects in you scene using those maps?
3) Are you talking about Vray materials? The only thing I never found a way to remove.

If you've already tried all this, then I think the only way is to merge it all into a new empty file, but this will off course make you loose your environment and render settings.

Hope it helps

Re: How to remove unused maps

mekene — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 08:58:49 GMT

Thank you so much for your time PROH.

So I tried all 3 points :

1-Reset the scene before opening the file : No change

2-I had already checked for hidden and frozen objects. What do you mean by "dead" objects and how do I find them ?

3-Some of these maps are (or should I say WERE) used in vray materials indeed. But not all of them : there are two EXR images that were used for the environment or in a light dome at some point, but that are not used anymore anywhere in the scene.

Edit : I took a look at the Bitmap/Photometric Path Editor but it does not list all of the bitmaps of the scene. Actually some maps that ARE being used in the scene do not appear there ! Is this tool obsolete or somlething ?

Re: How to remove unused maps

PROH — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 10:08:31 GMT

Hi. Well that's pretty much as I thought.

2 - By "dead" linked object I meant objects that comes from a previous linked file (dwg/fbx/rvt) that can not be found, without beeing detached or bound.

3 - Unused maps that previous were used in Vray environment is one thing that I find really hard to get rid of. The solution may depend on if Vray is installed or not. If not, one way to go, it is to merge your file into a new empty one - but this way you may loose some settings. Another way is to use a script. I've used one with succes, but I can't find it at the moment, and can't remember its name. You could try "Cleaner" from Scriptspot.com : http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/cleaner

Regarding the Bitmap/Photometric Path Editor - Don't know. I've never used it. I use the Material/Map Browser to see what maps are used on which objects.

Hope it helps

Re: How to remove unused maps

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 14:20:38 GMT

if you Strip All Paths in Bitmap/Photometric Path Edior

then save out as a archive, open the archive up in Winrar (Extract To/Advanced/ check Do ot extarct paths)

then you can delete all the maps you don't use. max will probably ask for the missing maps when you open the file up on a differnt computer but at least you don't have to include those files

Re: How to remove unused maps

mekene — Thu, 04 Sep 2014 07:53:35 GMT

Ok. It seems there is no easy way to fix this. I think I'll just keep the archive as it is.

I did find that this plugin : http://3d-kstudio.com/product/project-manager/ has an option to "Remove link from scene" for any asset wether it's a map, an object, an IES,... I don't know how it does that under the hood though. And it costs 75$.

Thank you for your help !

Re: How to remove unused maps

Anonymous — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 17:41:04 GMT

In the Material Editor windows select: Mode / Slate Material Editor Delete.. then delete all view that may contain the unused maps.

Re: How to remove unused maps

Diffus3d — Tue, 21 Nov 2017 00:51:55 GMT

Another thing to keep in mind is when you use a map in the unwrapuvw modifier, it'll stick around inside there until you collapse, but not show up in any materials.

Re: How to remove unused maps

CAMedeck — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 16:40:09 GMT

Download and install Colin Senner's Relink Bitmaps script: http://www.colinsenner.com/scripts/relink-bitmaps

Once you run it, you can use it to search for a bitmap in the scene and it can load the map and material(s) into the Compact Material Editor. Try searching for some of your zombie maps and see what it turns up. If anything, you may be able to remove them or at least replace them.

Re: How to remove unused maps

CGI_Stan — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 17:10:27 GMT

BINGO!! Yes! That is what worked for me. The map was still being used by Unwrap UVW. Collapse it in the Modifier stack and voila... no more stubborn map.

Re: How to remove unused maps

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 18:53:06 GMT

Another tip that I just found cleaning files to send people: make sure to remove any bitmaps in the Configure Viewport settings. I had some viewport backgrounds that weren't being used anymore. Stumped me for a while. I always forget cleaning the slate view and Uv unwrap as well!

Re: How to remove unused maps

cmurdo2003 — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 15:47:28 GMT

Also from the Slate Mat Editor-->Material-->Get All Scene Materials

This makes all the materials in the scene appear on Slate, even if there is no asset in the scene that uses these materials. From here you can re-path or replace the texture map.

Re: How to remove unused maps

Anonymous — Mon, 25 Nov 2019 12:25:03 GMT

Thanks! This solve my problem!

Re: How to remove unused maps

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Jan 2020 16:41:14 GMT

This is why my productivity takes a nose dive every time I use 3ds.

I just spent two hours searching all over the internet on how to delete an unused material with no answers only to find out that the UV Unwrap modifier is gripping onto an unused bitmap for no reason.

Download this script. Run this... Run that... Try this utility.

It's all so stupid I hate this software more and more everyday.

Re: How to remove unused maps

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Jan 2020 16:43:54 GMT

I totally agree with you!

Re: How to remove unused maps

BenediZ — Wed, 04 Mar 2020 09:59:44 GMT

That's not really a solution, maybe in certain cases a small help...

In Maya we have "Clean up" or in Hypershade delete unused nodes - several tools with smart custom control...

I have also now wasted many hours. It's not clear what's in my file under the hood..

This really belongs to the essentials of a software.

You should please develope the same for 3dsMax.

Re: How to remove unused maps

Jixal — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 07:20:57 GMT

Still, in 2020 "how can we clean unused material or textures in the scene" and there is no legit answer.

What is going on. Surely this should be a simple gift to the users.

Re: How to remove unused maps

TB_RIO — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 11:12:50 GMT

I'm having trouble with this in 2021 too. Tried everything, scene converter, manually stripping scene assets, copying over MR plugin files from 2019. Still get the mrmaterialattribs.gup custom attribute missing warning!

So annoying