no texture preview in material editor

[RadioRahim]

for some reason i cant see textures previewed in the material editor anymore. Pre existing textures are there, but new ones wont show:

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

In the slate-materialeditor-window, there is a button on the lower left corner with a teapot-icon. Is this active? If not, press it - it will prerender the maps and samplespheres for preview-reasons!

Greetings,

Martin

[RadioRahim]

worked like a charm!

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

I cant see materials on Compact aterial Editor, all my materials are black

Can You help?

[10DSpace]

@Anonymous 

I cant see materials on Compact aterial Editor, all my materials are black

This can happen if you have materials in the compact material editor that are not correctly recognized by thcurrent render engine that you have selected.  What type of material is appearing black in the Material Editor and what render engine (hit F10 to display the render Setup dialogue) do you have selected? 

[Anonymous]

Both PhysicalMaterial and VrayMtl are black and the renderer is Vray Edu Next.

[10DSpace]

@Anonymous 

Both PhysicalMaterial and VrayMtl are black and the renderer is Vray Edu Next

Sorry, but I have no experience with VRay EDU.  If when you switch to Scanline, Arnold or ART the Physical Material show properly in Material Editor, then perhaps there is either a special setting or limitation of VRAY EDU?   

[10DSpace]

I just remembered that the Material editor does have a separate setting for the Renderer although it is usually locked by default to the selected Renderer.  Check Render Setup Dialogue >Assign Renderer  for what renderer is set for the Material Editor.  It is all the way at the bottom of the Render Setup Dialogue. 

[Anonymous]

I wonder why this is even an option... really gets beginners.

[uplink3d]

Hi, I just wanted to add an update to this for Max 2024. I rarely use Slate editor, prefer to stay in Compact. Since upgrading to 2024, all new materials have been showing up as teapots in material/map browser (saved libraries And scene materials). Old materials still have their previews. I was initially confused by the answer here, since like I said I'm in Compact mode... but I switched to Slate, found the teapot in low left, clicked it, went back to Compact and everything has a preview now!

Sure seems like there should be a setting for this in the browser options, but I don't see anything.