3ds max 2024 New Slate Material Editor bug

[krll_3dsmax]

The "Show material in the viewport" button on the SME Main ToolBar does not work, there are no Realistic and Shaded display modes

[altshift.de]

I totally get your guys point on the insulting behavior of that other dude
here.
But please don't be so arrogant to decide which feature is vital and
important for which user.
I am not lying when I say, that this feature is vital for my team and me in
architectural visualization.
So please be so kind and don't just tell people: "Hey, other things work
good, so be happy."
Also super uncool behavior.
Really wishing for a hotfix though.

[infoTP6WE]

"This one is not critical to functionality"

yes it is. everybody use it, every day, every hour. as a developer, you only have one thing to do with working features: don't screw it up.

at the moment, with every update, every start, you have to fear whether it will work like it did yesterday.
this is a known problem for a long time, and even with version .2 they couldn't fix it, or they didn't want to. I don't know which is worse. (let's not even mention corona color picker, I know it's not Autodesk, but it works with plain 2024, but not after that...)

and now it's just "we'll fix it in a later version". so thank you 😄

[fixonu4]

Is this a joke? 2024.3/2024.2.1 or 2025?

[alex.cyxou]

Just imagine if it will be even worse in hotfix)))

[simon.kotowiczN3URV]

I have this same problem, "Show Material In Viewport" not working.
Except, I've found a way to get it working for me.  Not ideal, but it works:

When rendering in Arnold, using Physical Material, the "Show Material In Viewport" doesn't work when I use the Arnold "Image" node to choose the texture maps.  The material fails to show in viewport even with only a single bitmap loaded into Basecolour/Diffuse, or whatever we're calling it this year.

However, when I tried the old-fashioned and original "Bitmap" node from the general category the materials show up in the viewport.
So, for mission-critical textures that need to be seen in the viewport I have two materials, one setup with Bitmap node for viewport viewing and a correct material setup with the Arnold Image nodes for rendering.

Also, the tip about using Compact editor doesn't work if using Arnold "Image" for the texture maps.

[kamilLPV75]

I have the same issue. It's happening when it is multi/sub-object material or corona/vray blend material. Totally dissapointed

[objectdreams]

Hello, developers from the Autodesk team! I definitely appreciate your labor and your projects. BUT. When I've read this chat-box I was wicked! Some of you allows himself to tell like a cattle here (please check chat-box). I've been paying for the 3d max almost 300 $ each month and anyway I can not use this normal way. Why can not you fix "show shaded material" for viewports? Why are you pretty rude to your customers ? I am ask the director of Autodesk to fire a few developers immediately! 

I am talking again, I've always loved your team. But you collected lazy fools in your team recently

[mounker654]

The problem is Importing the materials of the old version, which is not displayed on the model.

Solution:
1. Rendering > Scene Converter.
2. Select the Vray rendering engine (as in the picture).
3. Click Convert Scene.

and everything works as it should in the whole scene 🙂

[RobH2]

Thanks for the workaround and your great explanation. Maybe that's just the way things work now and we have to make sure to use 'Scene Converter.' If not, and incase it's a bug, make sure you you report it. As users, we can't fix bugs. If it is truly a bug we can hope it will be addressed in Max 2025. 

Bug Reports:
https://www.autodesk.com/company/contact-us/product-feedback

[fixonu4]

The problem is not only with old materials. Read the thread and you will understand everything.

[objectdreams]

Yes, it is true. It doesn't work with new materials too

[giuseppe.schiralli]

An update on this problem.

It happens when a bitmap is assigned to multiple materials. When clicking on the button, the menu does not appear thus it's not possible to continue. When single-assigned, this menu is not displayed and the functionality is correct.
We have a fix that will be released in a future Max version.

Regards,

Giuseppe

[RobH2]

Thank you for the update Giuseppe. 

[alex.cyxou]

new update no fix -_- sad....

[CoOpArchviz]

This is an URGENT issue. Sad to see update 2024.2.1 did NOT fix it.
We need to be able to show specific maps in the viewport, and not just the shaded material. This is essential for material creation workflow - we need to be able to preview masks and how UVWmapping affect different maps on different channels, as an example. There were no issues with this prior to v2024. 

Issues including, but not limited to: 
• Not being able to choose which texture to show in viewport when using Multimap/Multitexture (CoronaMultiMap in my case)
• Same issue when using Composite map

• Sometimes no bitmap at all showing when the same map is applied to different materials (Pre 2024, you could choose which texture to display on which material - that option doesn't exist anymore, and is needed.)
• Incorrect maps showing or incorrect UVW/tiling when using materials other than Max Physical Material (Corona materials for instance.)
• When there is an Output map with Color Map active (it will show the texture with the Color Map applied, but not the base texture. Unless you use an Arnold Standard Surface, in which case Color Map is ignored.)
• No visual feedback is given in the SME about which texture is showing (Previous versions used a red tab to show the map currently showing in viewport.)

There's more... Point is: Everything was fine in Max 2023. Please, please, please release a hotfix that resets the SME back to 2023. Current situation makes material creation almost impossible.

Btw, don't focus so much on trying to render materials in a shaded viewport. All renderers now have real-time feedback, and those are used to actually see what the material looks like. The viewport if only to check UV-mapping and placement of masks etc. 

[RobH2]

@CoOpArchviz
This is a good example of how to convey frustrations with bugs and or function irregularities.

Thank you for keeping this positive and professional. These kinds of issues get people upset and it sometimes comes out as venom. That never gets any traction with the powers-to-be.

The developers of Max are very dedicated and very proud of the work they do in creating it. However, they do have company directives they have to work within and it frustrates them as much as us when they can't just shove out a patch instantly. The developers have their eye on this as you can see and this kind of detailed info is very helpful. It doesn't mean it will be corrected instantly, but it does help to ensure they understand the urgency and being presented professionally will help encourage them to prioritize it .

[CoOpArchviz]

Yes, I have no interest in simply complaining  - I want the product to work! Partly because I paid for it, and want it to deliver as promised; partly because I really like Max when it works.

I also work as an educator, and it's a bit embarrassing tbh having to say "well, this feature used to work in previous versions, but right now it doesn't". It does not look good. Especially since new students always consider going to Blender.

Besides, Autodesk/Max developers should consider having a closer development loop/QA with the teams from ChaosGroup. Vray and Corona are leading withing archviz, and their maps/modifyers must work when a new version is released. 

Idk if this is the best forum to convey info to developers. Since it's a bug that never results in a crash, no info gets sent. Is there a better way to submit bugs?

[RobH2]

I hear you but do be fair to the Max team. All software has bugs. I'm sure there is some feature in Blender that dedicated users are frustrated by that doen't work properly. But I do agree, I'd like to see it fixed as well. I'm not trying to minimize your frustration or the point you are making. 

Yes, there a better way to submit a Bug. It doesn't necessarily start a one-on-one dialog with a develper, but I have on occasion had them reach back out to me to ask question or to ask for a sample file. The URL does sound like just a feedback "catchall" address, but they do look at each one. 

Bug Reports:
https://www.autodesk.com/company/contact-us/product-feedback

[alex.cyxou]

Is that fixed in 2025?

[krll_3dsmax]

Yes, the "Show material in the viewport" button in the new SME 3ds max 2025 works as expected. Congratulations to the autodesk team, this is the first time in 10 years that my bug report has been fixed. As for other problems with the new SME that were discussed in this thread, for example the lack of a visual red flag on material nodes, this was not implemented in 3ds max 2025