JamesTaylor

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SHORT TITLE FOR SUGGESTION/BUG/ENHANCEMENT REQUEST
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XREF Materials


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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF YOUR REQUEST
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The ability to "XREF" materials into a scene from a central library, so that when a material is updated the update appears in the material across multiple files rather than only in the current file.

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WHY THIS REQUEST IS IMPORTANT TO YOU
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in situations such as creating images for housing estates, where up to 20 different images need to be generated, scenes can end up being very large with many polys in one file which can drastically slow certain processes down such as panning and rotating viewports. On the flip side having the entire estate and all house types in one file allows a single material to be created per brick type for example. If this material is updated in the material editor it is reflected across each piece of geometry it is applied to.

If a material could be "XREFed" into a scene, large scene could be broken down into smaller files that are easier to manage, whilst still allowing a "master material" to be used in each individual file for repetitive elements such as bricktypes that will be the same across the entire set of images.

sergo

XRef material already exists in max8 and in higher version too.
May be I didn't understand you good enough...

JamesTaylor

ok, its not a feature i've found, although Viz 2007 is our core app at work so it may yet have to work its way into the release.

where can the feature be found within max? i'll have to have a closer look!

sergo

In the material editor click "get material" button and in the opened material browser select Xref Material. Browser should be in new material mode, of course. Material has two parameter - file name, object name from which material will be xref-ed.