If you are stuck on what any of the buttons in the tool do they are all documented in this wiki, or alternatively click the question mark in the top right and this will let you click a button and it will tell you what that button does

The tool comes with 3 default windows:

• Material ID
• Bake
• Settings

There is a section below explaining what each one of these windows is for.

Material ID

The material ID window holds the main functionality for the tool and is where you set the material IDs, and their colours.

Mode

The mode drop down has three options:

• Set ID
• Set material color
• Fill Object

Set ID - in this mode the buttons will set the Material ID of the selected face / element to the corresponding colour.

Set material color - in this mode the buttons will open a colour dialog allowing you to set the colour of the material ID

Fill Object - In this mode the buttons will fill the entire object with that material ID, this is useful for props with lots of sub objects that need to be the same colour.

the + and - buttons will add and remove materials ID from the multisub material and create buttons for them. Note that these buttons will not be saved when the tool is closed.

If you wish to save the buttons that you have created you will need to set them up in the settings window.

The Apply Material button duplicates and collapses the object you are working with, this keeps the workflow from being destructive. It also adds "_ID" to the name to make it clear which object the tool is working with. It will then apply the multi sub material to the object and set the selection type to faces.

Baking

The baking window is where you can bake out an ID map in your chosen file size and format. This is basically a condensed version of the Render to Texture feature built into max.

Texture Size This dropdown allows you to set the texture size for the Baked Map

File Format This dropdown allows you to set the file format for the Baked Map

Export Path This text field allows you to input the filepath to export the tecture to alternatively you can click the ... button next to it to open a file browser and select the folder yourself.

Bake Texture This will bake a color ID map using the file format and texture size to the export path supplied.

Settings

The settings window is where you can create the default settings for the tool. These are saved as a .json file and can be located at: C:\Autodesk\3ds Max 2019\scripts this means if you have settings that you use often you can save them as defaults in the tool

Default texture size this sets the default texture size that the tool will set when it is opened Default texture format this sets the default texture format that the tool will set when it is opened

Color Buttons these work in the same way as they do in the Set material color mode in the Material ID Window. when you click on them a color dialog opens allowing you to set the colour. you can create more buttons by clicking the + button or remove buttons by clicking the - button.

Save Defaults this will overwrite the defaults file in the scripts folder with whatever settings you have in the settings window window

Note: for the buttons to show up in the Material ID window you will need to restart the tool.

Restore Original Defaults This button restores the tool to its inital deployment state and overwrites any user determined settings. This basically creates a fresh settings file for the tool

Final Note:

If you have any feedback or suggestions for the tool please send them to me via email at: [email protected]

thanks!