Command entry:Main toolbar Material Editor flyout (Material Editor): Compact

Command entry:Main toolbar Material Editor flyout (Material Editor): Slate

Command entry:Rendering menu Material Editor Compact Material Editor

Command entry:Rendering menu Material Editor Slate Material Editor

Command entry:Keyboard M displays the version of the Material Editor (Compact or Slate) that you last opened.

The Material Editor provides functions to create and edit materials and maps.

Materials create greater realism in a scene. A material describes how an object reflects or transmits light. Material properties work hand-in-hand with light properties; shading or rendering combine the two, simulating how the object would look in a real-world setting.

You apply materials to individual objects or selection sets; a single scene can contain many different materials.

There are two interfaces to the Material Editor:

• Compact Material Editor:If you have used 3ds Max prior to the release of 3ds Max 2011, the Compact Material Editor is the interface you are familiar with. It is a comparitively small dialog with quick previews of various materials. If you are assigning materials that have already been designed, the Compact Material Editor is still a convenient interface.
• Slate Material Editor:The Slate Material Editor is a larger dialog in which materials and maps appear as nodes that you can wire together to create material trees, including phenomena built out of MetaSL shaders. If you are designing new materials, the Slate Material Editor is especially powerful, and it includes search tools to help you manage scenes that have a large number of materials.