textures arent loaded with OBJ files.

[RadioRahim]

i have a folder full of OBJ files & MTL files that go hand in hand. Normally when I want to import a bunch of the OBJ files with textures applied I place the texture files inside the same folder of teh OBJ files i am importing and 3Ds max simply loads the textures fine, but today for some reason 3DS max stopped doing that. 

I can see the names of the textures in the Asset Tracking window, however there are no materials in the Material Editor when i bring it up. 

How can i get my textures to import alongside the OBJ files they are linked to ?

[RadioRahim]

Import Materials

When on, imports materials from the MTL file associated with the OBJ file. Default=on.

this option has always been selected so m not sure what to do /

[Alfred.DeFlaminis · Accepted solution]

Hello @RadioRahim,

Please try this for me.  Open up the .mtl file in notepad and check that the paths and file names of the textures are correct.  The .mtl is really just a pointer to those files. 

When you import the object it doesn't populate the material editor with the material on the object.  Use the material picker to put it into an empty material editor slot.  

Best Regards,

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @RadioRahim,

I just wanted to follow up here, any thoughts on my previous post? Thanks for the update!

Best Regards,

[RadioRahim]

for some reason the problem went away but is back again (cant seem to find consistent behavior with the app)..a nyways.. im back to having all my models knowing which materials they need. If i use teh picker it loads up teh material fine in teh editor, but the materials are not shown on the models in the viewport. Viewport settings are set to Facets or default shading. objects are all set to 'by object' and layer is set viewport. 

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @RadioRahim,

More than likely the material setting for showing maps in the viewport is off by default on those objs when imported.  You should be able to just tick the box after picking the material and be fine.  Or use the viewport material switch.  (Shown below.)  The paths to the textures need to be correct in the .mtl file as well, or the maps relinked when imported.  Does that make sense?  If you want I can check your file personally to tell you what is wrong...

Best Regards,

[RadioRahim]

Hello Alfred.. I am having the same issue again. I dont know how it was ever solved the first time.

Again, I have a similar situation where I have imported an OBJ file with many layers. The MTL file is in the same folder as the OBJ file on import, along with all the textures in the same folder. There are no DIR paths in the MTL file, simply the texture names.

I was able to create materials for all the layers with 'gather all materials' function but they are still not connected o the OBJ layers as the objects in the window are simply multi-colored without textures applied. 

In that photo on the left you provided I am not sure that menu that is so I am unable to try that fix. I tired all the other options shown in the 'Standard' sub-menus (that you showed on the right of that photo) without any success. 

Any help is appreciated. 
Thanks!

[ecziko]

Hello, I am having the same issue. Anytime I download some kind of object with OBJ (or FBX) and MTL files I cant get the texture from them. I am sure the files which I downloaded are correct but whenever I import the OBJ file I only get the object without any texture. I tried all kind of methods and options like show maps in the viewport but without any solution. Please let me know what could cause this issue. I am using V-Ray and 3ds MAX 2017. 

I will leave some screenshots in the attachement.  

[Anonymous]

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@ecziko wrote:

Hello, I am having the same issue. Anytime I download some kind of object with OBJ (or FBX) and MTL files I cant get the texture from them. I am sure the files which I downloaded are correct but whenever I import the OBJ file I only get the object without any texture. I tried all kind of methods and options like show maps in the viewport but without any solution. Please let me know what could cause this issue. I am using V-Ray and 3ds MAX 2017. 

I will leave some screenshots in the attachment.  

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I have spent several days running tests and the conclusion is that the export from 3ds Max to OBJ and FBX is flaky.

See this post:

Trying to achieve a Full Export from 3ds Max to OBJ (or FBX) 

Just found one interesting case. My two computers are running Windows 10 and the exact version of 3ds Max. During OBJ export, both create the requested folder and copy the texture file into it. However, when I double click on the *.obj files, one shows the textures, the other does not.

I reported this as a bug to the Autodesk folks.

-Ramon