Documentation



Menu

Using Materials

Materials in Iray for 3ds Max are integrated directly in the 3ds Max Slate and Compact Material Editors, with a large, high quality library of example materials to give you a reference point to create virtually any material. If you prefer to start from scratch, Iray+ base components give total freedom over material creation.

Material structure in Iray+

Material structure in Iray+

✱  Note: for accurate materials in Iray, please ensure that the Use Real-World Texture Coordinates checkbox is ticked on the Customize > Preferences… > General tab.

Iray in the Material Editor

When you use or create a new Iray+ material, you have the ability to add optional Decal, Coating, and Surface layers to the Base and Geometry layers.

Adding Layers & Import/Export of MDL in the 3ds Max Material Editor

You can add these layers in the Material Detail panel in any combination or number. You can move each layer up or down in the material’s structure, or delete it, as required:

Moving Components within a material's structure

To import MDL materials from other MDL-enabled applications or to export Iray+ materials for use externally, see Using MDL.

In the Slate Material Editor, Iray+ Materials show each layer and its available map locations as input sockets:

The Slate Material Editor

As you add or remove layers, the material nodes will update.

View more information on using the Slate Material Editor’s material nodes here.

Using an existing material

The quickest way to get started with materials in Iray for 3ds Max is by choosing an example from the supplied Iray+ Materials Library. You can then adapt this to suit your own requirements.

  1. If the LwIrayPlusMaterials.mat library is not loaded in the 3ds Max Material Editor, click the dropdown arrow at the top of the Material/Map Browser and choose Open Material Library...
    2. The Iray+ Material Library

  2. Navigate to C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3dsMax20**\materiallibraries* and choose the LwIrayPlusMaterials.mat file.
  3. Inside you'll find a selection of example materials to use and adapt.

Creating a new material

When creating a material from scratch, you'll start by basing it on one of the supplied Iray+ Material Components.

Example

In this example we will work with an Iray+ Material component to create a multi-layered car paint.

An Iray+ Material Example
  1. Create a simple studio environment and add a 10m³ object such as a ChamferBox.
  2. Apply a UVW map modifier and set Box as the mapping type.
  3. Open an ActiveShade Mode window to view the changes to materials as you add layers.
  4. In the 3ds Max Material Editor, from the Material/Map Browser, choose Materials > Iray+ > Iray+ Material, and apply this to the object that you created. Select the following parameters to create the basis of the material:
    • Base
      • Base Preset: Matte
      • Colour: RGB 0, 35, 4
      • Roughness: 0.05
  5. To add some paint flakes, select a Coating layer from Iray+ Material > Coating and apply the following parameters:
    • Coating Preset: Flakes
    • FlakeColour: RGB 124, 251, 0
    • FlakeRoughness: 0.2
    • Weight: 0.15
    • FlakeSize: 0.05
    • FlakeAmount: 0.5
    • FlakeBumpiness: 0.5
  6. Next, add some finish to the material, with another Coating layer from Iray+ Material > Coating and apply the following parameters:
    • Coating Preset: ClearCoat (Remove the Iray+ Perlin Noise map attached to the Normal parameter.)
    • DiffuseColour: RGB 7, 10, 28
    • Roughness: 0.2
    • ReflectedColour: RGB 255, 255, 255
    • Exponent: 4.0
    • NormalReflectivity: 0.2
    • GrazingReflectivity: 1.0
    • UseIOR: Off
    • Weight: 1.0
  7. Finally, add a Surface layer from Iray+ Material > Surface and apply the RadialScratches2 preset.

You should now have a material similar to the one shown above.

▲

See Also:

* If you are using 3ds Max 2024, navigate to: C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3dsMax2024\materiallibraries; if you are using 3ds Max 2025, navigate to C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3dsMax2025\materiallibraries, etc.

Last edited: