Texturing the Walls, Floor, and Ceiling

Set up the scene:

• Continue from your previous scene, or go to the \designviz\vizwalkthrough folder and open the file wt_floor.max.

Make mental ray the active renderer:

For the walls, ceiling, and floor, you will use a mental ray material, Arch & Design, and for this, first you need to make mental ray the active renderer.

1. On the main toolbar, click the Render Scene Dialog Toggle (or press F10).

   The Render Scene dialog appears.

2. On the common panel, scroll down till you see the Assign Renderer rollout. Click its title bar to open it.

3. In the Assign Renderer rollout, click the button labeled “...” to the right of the Production label.

   A Choose Renderer dialog appears.

   

4. In the list, click mental ray Renderer to highlight it, and then click OK.

   Now Autodesk VIZ will use the mental ray renderer for production renderings. The mental ray renderer has its own set of controls, many of which are different from the default scanline renderer controls.

Create a material for the walls and ceiling:

1. On the main toolbar, click the Material Editor button, or press M.

   The Material Editor opens. At the top of this dialog are six preview windows known as “sample slots.”

2. Click the second sample slot to make it active.

   The border of the slot turns white.

3. Change the name of the material from “02 - Default” to Wall Ceiling Material.

   The material name field is between the color picker button and the Material Type button (which shows “Architectural”).

4. Click the Material Type button that shows “Architectural.”

   A Material/Map Browser appears.

   

5. In the Browser, make sure that Renderer is chosen in the Compatible With group. In the list, click Arch & Design (mi) to highlight it, and then click OK.

6. You will use a template to create the floor material. Templates help speed up material creation. On the Templates rollout, choose Matte Finish from the drop-down list.

   

7. On the Main Material Parameters rollout, click the color swatch in the Diffuse group.

   A Color Selector appears.

   A surface's diffuse color is the color it reveals under pure white light.

8. In the Color Selector, assign these values to the color:

   • Hue: 0.19

   • Sat (saturation): 0.2

   • Value: 1.0

   Now the paint color is a pale yellow.

9. Close the Color Selector.

Apply the material to the walls and ceiling:

1. Press H to display a Select Objects dialog. In the list, choose the walls and ceiling, and then click Select.

2. In the Material Editor, click Apply Material To Selection.

   Autodesk VIZ applies the material to the selected objects.

   Note: The sample slot that displays the material now shows white triangles in each corner: these indicate that the material is being used in the scene.

Create a material for the floor:

The floor material is slightly more complex: you will use a map to display a wooden floor effect.

1. Click the third sample slot to make it active.

2. Change the name of this material to Floor Material.

3. Click the Material Type button, and use the Material/Map Browser to choose the material Arch & Design (mi) once again.

4. On the Templates rollout, choose Glossy Finish.

5. On the Main Material Parameters rollout, in the Diffuse group, click the gray map button to the right of the color swatch.

   A Material/Map Browser appears.

6. In the Browser, click Bitmap in the list to highlight this kind of map, and then click OK.

   A Select Bitmap Image File dialog appears.

7. In the file dialog, choose cherry.jpg, and then click Open.

   First, you might have to navigate to the folder where your tutorial scene and image files are stored.

   After you assign cherry.jpg, the sample slot shows this bitmap's wood-grain pattern.

Apply the material to the floor:

1. Press H to display a Select Objects dialog. Choose the floor object in the list, and then click Select.

2. In the Material Editor, click Assign Material To Selection.

3. Make a camera (CameraDen) viewport active, and then press F9 for Quick Render.

   Autodesk VIZ displays a warning that the floor doesn't have map coordinates. Click Cancel to stop the rendering.

   The floor is an Editable Poly object. By default, object primitives have mapping coordinates assigned to them, but editable surfaces do not.

4. Go to the Modify panel. Choose UVW Map from the modifier list.

   Autodesk VIZ applies mapping coordinates to the floor.

5. In the Parameters rollout > Mapping group, make sure that Planar is chosen, turn off Real-World Map Size, and then press F9 once again.

   Autodesk VIZ renders the scene with painted walls and a wood-grain floor. (The lighting is uninteresting, but you'll fix that in a later lesson.)

6. In the Material Editor, turn on Show Map In Viewport so you can see the wood-grain map in shaded views.

   

7. Close the Material Editor.

Save your scene:

• Choose File > Save As, and save your scene as wt_material.max.