Material Labs are our preset scenes provided for your use in testing your materials and providing consistent sample images of that material. Leave the scene as is with the lighting and default camera untouched so that imagery created remains consistent.

Based on the strengths and weaknesses of similar sites, we ask that you work with us and use the naming conventions and process we will outline below:

The next couple of steps are designed to provided an organized and flexible file system compatible with the greatest scenarios. Many people are going to think this naming convention is too difficult and ignore it, we ask that you think of it this way: It is a choice of whether one person takes a few minutes to organize the content OR thousands of people have to deal with it later. If you choose not to follow the exact format, then trying to follow the spirit of our intentions would be greatly appreciated.

Gather your material file and all related texture and data files into it’s own material directory. Name your directory as follows:

Material_BriefDescription_ThreeCharacterInitials_2DigitSuffixRepresentingVersion

Example:

Glass-ObscureWire-RLT-02 would represent my second wired glass material.

Now name all your materials using this convention with a suffix delineating the map or file type that comprises your material. For example:
Glass-ObscureWire-RLT-02Diff
Glass-ObscureWire-RLT-02Spec
Glass-ObscureWire-RLT-02Bump
Glass-ObscureWire-RLT-02Disp

Re-path your material file to the new locations, and zip/rar the material file and the required maps and data files to a file with the same naming convention as your material file. DO NOT INCLUDE THE MATERIAL LAB SCENE FILE.

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Wobi wrote on July 26, 2008

Title: ... Hi, I noticed that in the material descriptions for each material there is a point called "File Version". So in the materials posted by Jeff Patton there its the description of the MAX version used for the material ("File Version: 3ds Max 200. Now in some other materials for example the one called "Glass - Arch - JCA - 01" posted by "Jason Addy" there it says just "File Version: 01". I think this is somewhat inconsistent. Just to let you know... Greetz Wobi report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Russell L Thomas wrote on July 29, 2008

Title: Site Nazi We will tar and feather Jason at our soonest convenience. In truth it will be hard force anyone to follow conventions, all we can do is state what we want and hope the majority of people attempt to match the "spirit" of what we are trying for. We probably need to document more stuff, but then again a lot people don't read what we document so we can't really win. Think of this initial couple of weeks as a shake down run as we figure stuff out, it is the same for users as well. report abuse vote down vote up website Votes: +0

Wobi wrote on July 30, 2008

Title: ... Well, right! Do it! Tar him. Feather him... but be sure to catch all his material libraries before you through him and his computer into the pool. Just kidding guys. The reason I wrote this comment really was just to address the problem that if you want the users to write down the MAX version used for the file... it might be good thing to name that field "MAX version"... RIGHT?! Sry, I got so exited about the site that I couldn't wait to post ANY comment... or something like that *g*. So keep up the work guys, you're doing a great job. (I hate writing it, but if anything I'm saying sounds strange... I'm german so my english is not the best...) report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Russell L Thomas wrote on July 30, 2008

Title: English is Good No Problem, we need to know if somehting isn't working. As for renaming the field, that is problematical because we are supporting Maya and XSI as well, I think people will catch on eventually, but I am working on some documents to hopefully explain every step. report abuse vote down vote up website Votes: +0