How to map a tire in 3D Studio Max

[TwoOneOne]

ok here is a quick tut on how to map tires.
first assign different material ids to the sidewall polys and to the tread polys




then add a mesh select modifier and select the sidewall polys (id 1 in my case)


add a uvw mapping modifier (planar) set to map channel 1


add another mesh select mod. select polys with id 2


add another uvw mapping mod (cylindrical) set to map channel 2


set up a new multi/sub object mat


set the number of mats to 2
if you apply it now you can see how this assigns different mats to different areas of the object.


now you can assign your textures.
make sure you choose the right map channel

same goes for the sidewall texture but this time we select map channel 1

that´s basicaly it.

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[EquiNOX]

Nice tut, I assume this is for lowpoly cars? Why don't you render and show the result instead of screen capture? That way anyone can know what it looks like after render and determine if they did it right or wrong.

[Dave_3d]

No that method can be used for any level of polys.

That is the standard method for multi-material mapping.

I don't use a bump map for the tread but I have subtle and complicated mappings for the tread area and another complex material with bump mapping for the side wall.

Also, remember that you don't hav eto stop at just using 2 sub-materials

Dave

[TwoOneOne]

ok here is an example of what i did with this method.


you can also use this kind of mapping if a turbosmooth modifier is applied, because the material ids won´t be lost.

[EquiNOX]

Yeah dave... I use same method as to two one one's tutorial but only for mapping the tire sidewall not tread. I could map tread if my computer is suffering with memory issue.. I would be placing tread in displacement slot rather than bump.
Two one one, that's some nice rendering you got there. I assume you used MR? cuz it looks like it...Why don't you share rendering set up, materials, and stuffs? There's MR user that's suffering out there.

[TwoOneOne]

yeah thought already about it. and i think i´m going to do a rendering tut. and perhaps i´ll start a mr resource thread with materials n stuff.
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edit:
@ equinox:
i also used to do my treads with displacement...but that´s so slow!!! so i started modelling my tires.
i´ve attached some wire shots of the tire if you´re interested. the tire btw has 35k polys, so I think that´s allready quite heavy for a tire. But it renders faster than that displacemnet stuff!!

[EquiNOX]

Yup, I can't diagree... displacement sure slow down the rendering time... I guess the way I model on tire kills my computer memory. I model tread by creating plane, and follow the pattern of tread, then use bend modifier at 360 degree.. place it on the tube which creates almost 55k polys.
The way I see you did with wires seem like you have better way on modeling tire tread. How did you accomplish that? I assume you created tube, changing around pattern shapes, extrude and chamfering?? BTW isn't that moon texture you got on tread as bump map?

[TwoOneOne]

i did it the same way you described it above. model one section, copy it something like 20 times, welded it and bent it.
the moon texture is actually a hand painted texture used for the bump and diffuse slot. Which is the key to a good looking tire imo.
In the closeup though it looks like the bump is a bit too much but from a certain distance it looks ok i think.

[Smyken]

Hi there !

I'm just starting out to learn 3Ds Max and tried to use this techniqe but I don't get it:

How can I add a Bitmap as a submaterial ?
When I click on the standard button on the submaterial I cant picka a (Bitmap)

Or are you guys putting the (Bitmap) in the submaterials (Diffuse) Map ?

Tks for any help 8=)

[TwoOneOne]

You already gave the answer yourself.
right. you assign it to the diffuse slot of the submaterial.
you can also use the bitmap in several other slots (specular, bump or even glossiness...) just run some tests to see what it does.
and by clicking on the standard button you´re able to change the materials (standard, raytrace, mentalray and whatnot).

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[Smyken]

Tks friend 8=)

[angad]

thanks mate...:buttrock:

[slavke]

Just to add maybe a little comment on a tutorial. I am pretty sure you don't need to change map channels too to achieve what you want. 2 different mat IDs is all that is needed.