Material/Textures appear in viewport but not rendered

[Anonymous]

So I am putting a wood material onto my floor and it will show up in the viewports and allow me to modify it through UVW Map, but when I go to render it, it only shows up grey. I was working in the beginning doing quick renders i could clearly see the material but I have been working for 8 hours and within that time could have accidentally selected an option to messed with this.

It is not the material because it will apply to other objects, i believe there is an issue with my floor. I have an extruded object underneath my floor that I messed up in SketchUp but figured it wouldnt be an issue in 3DS so i didnt waste time fixing it, but i can see this object when i render, meaning somehow it is rendering my floor as transparent. (i know the extrusion isnt the issue because i have used this model before and didnt have an issue with material rendering to it)

I am so confused and have searched for hours on the internet with no luck.

Using Windows 10, 3DS Max 2017 and mental ray settings with Arch &design materials/bitmapping.

Please help!

[Daf]

Hi,

I don't really understand the extrusion reference but since your texture is showing from underneath I'm thinking it's a normals issue ... try this...

Select your floor, in the modify panel add a normal modifier. Check render and see if the material shows now.

If not just delete or hide the current floor and add a new plane to take it's place.

Failing that post your file here so someone can take a look.

[Anonymous]

Okay thank you for your reply, although im not sure how to add a "normal modifier". Heres what my modify tab looks like if you can tell me where to go/what to click on.

Also i accidentally grouped my floor with my window panel and a shelf some how, if i delete it it will delete those too. Should i just delete anyway and re-import those objects from sketchup? or maybe just add a new floor on top of the existing one?

Thanks

[Daf]

Hi,

First off best to ungroup those objects - that may fix the issue since your UVW map is being used for all. Select that group (Floor, Window, Shelf) and go to Groups (upper menu bar) and "Ungroup" -  if at that point you need to apply UVW maps to each do so and check render. If still not showing material check below to add normal modifier...

In your modifier stack select "Editable Mesh"  for the floor - then in Modifier List find and select/add "Normal"  - check render to see if material now showing correctly.

Upload scene here if still not working.

Daf

[Anonymous]

Okay so i tried to select the floor and ungroup it but that is grey, as in, there is nothing to ungroup which is strange because I can obviously see it is attached with the shelf on the window frame. So im not sure about that

But i attached two photos. In editable mesh, under the selection tab i clicked "show normals" and tried rendering with no luck. Should i be changing the scale under it? it says it is at 20.

Then i saw under "surface properties" it has some options for normals such as: unify, flip, or flip normal mode. Im not sure what any of these do but let me know what i should be clicking on.

I am also attaching the file in case you want to look at it. 

Thank you

[Daf]

Okay - your floor is definitely flipped. Follow instructions below for quick fix...

Select the floor object (with window and shelf still attached)

In the modifier stack select (highlight) :Editable Mesh"

Select Element level ( press 5 or click the cube in the selection rollout)

Now select the floor only - if successfully in element subobject mode only the floor should now be selected

See how the floor is a darker red - that means the normals are facing down

With the floor selected in Element subobject mode - click "Flip" in the surface properties rollout in command panel.

Exit Element mode (click on Editable Mesh again) and give the render a try.

If you need to "ungroup" the floor from window - you may not need to if too complicated at this point:

Go back into Element subobject mode (see above)

Select the Window or floor object and click "Detach" from Edit Geometry rollout on command panel.

You may need to reapply your UVW map to detached object.

Hope all that does the trick.

[Anonymous]

Okay I followed all of the steps and originally it was bright red and when I flipped it, it turned darker red. I went out of it and it still does not work.

I then detached the floor from the shelf/window and that worked but i tried rendering and it still shows up grey/transparent.

[Daf]

I don't have Mental Ray or 2017 any more but try the file I'm attaching here. I made the changes and saved as 2017 - don't save over your original until you know this one works right.

[Anonymous]

Okay it works!! Thank you so much! Is there anyway you could explain a little bit of what you did or what I did wrong so I know how to not cause this issue in the future? And this file is fine to use right everything is all the same except what you fixed?

You have no idea how much I appreciate this!!

[Daf]

Glad to hear it! Basically the problem was that the normals on your floor plane were flipped - the plane was upside down so to speak. Polygons have a top and bottom is one way to look at it. That's why you could see the material on the bottom but not the top. When that happens you can use the normal modifier or in subobject mode the "Flip" button.

The scene I uploaded is good to go - nothing changed but to flip the normals on that plane and add a UVW map on the detached window unit.

Glad it worked! Good luck with the project! 🙂

Daf

[Anonymous]

Okay Ill try to remember that from now on in case it happens again.

Thanks, and thank you so much for taking the time to help me!

[Anonymous]

Hi, I am currently having the same issue but I tried the method you mentioned and it didn't work for me. It would be nice if you could help me with this.

[Anonymous]

Hi, i apologize but i no longer use 3DS Max as a rendering program because of how difficult it was to use. I now use TwinMotion which is the best and easiest rendering program ever. I would try downloading this!