Unlock Unlimited Material Slots in 3D Studio Max

[@iresolvers]

it stupid that max can't show more than 24 materials why can't they just have a button to open up all the materials in a separate window!

[@ProvVFX]

Lazy corporate programming. It shouldn't be difficult to add 100, or 1000 materials in the compact material editor. I think Lightwave had one of the best material editors out there. Nodal and regular modes. Easy to access and intuitive for newcomers.

[@penguinactually]

Much appreciated. A lot better than the autodesk forums just saying "You don't use more that 24" and then explain nothing.

[@RichardBlumenstein]

PenguinActually Thanks. It's limitless as long as your PC can handle it

[@RichardBlumenstein]

You can change the amount of materials shown to get a larger view of the material by right clicking. You can choose 2x3 and 5x3 which both have the slider bars active.

[@mariobianchi1909]

thank you soooo helpful!

[@RichardBlumenstein]

You're welcome

[@SchneiderRafaela]

Thank you, I've been wrecking my head around the 24 slots only materials for a couple of days. It's 2020 and they still have this limit thing going on...

[@tburns7912]

Thanks so much for this VERY clear tutorial, Richard! 40 000 Quatloos to you, sir.

[@Retr0_]

I know this was 9 years ago, but thank you for explaining this! :D

[@santanubose9338]

very helpful without wasting time. perfectly to d point and summarized. thanks sir

[@RichardBlumenstein]

santanu bose thanks I try

[@MoonYoohyeon]

you sir can have 8 fingers and 2 thumbs up. I'm new to 3ds max and rendering as a whole, and this has been bugging me for the last 2 days

[@beanonstop]

Thank you so much for making this tutorial! I was stuck in some materials, and i had to replace some of them to create new ones :'(

[@sebasrojas00]

Still works in version 2022 !

[@RichardBlumenstein]

yep !

[@mask69venom]

I kind of think the title is a little misleading. It's not really showing how to get more than 24 slots, just how to have more than 24 materials and reuse slots. As GraveUypo mentions, the panning bars really seem wasted if you can't pan to see more slots.

[@RichardBlumenstein]

The panning bars are really for large 3x4 size materials. The materials that you have applied stay applied and you can retrieve them at any point in time. I didn't design the program, just explaining how to use it.

[@ProvVFX]

You posted this nine years ago. Currently at 100k views. That's aprox 100k people, give or take a few thousands due to revisits. 100.000 Max users who want to have more than 24 slots. Yet Autosteak has not changed a thing about it since the early days of Max back in the 1940s. 100k! You could fill an entire stadium with Max artists. Think about that for a moment. Yes, there's the nodal editor, but many of us want to have this option as well. In the future when 3dsmax 2039 v2.24 comes out, the editor will have 24 slots still. C'mon Autosteak give us a patch!!

[@RichardBlumenstein]

I didn't think of it that way at all lol

[@ProvVFX]

@@RichardBlumenstein That's a heck of a lot Max users out there. Time for a career change lol

[@RichardBlumenstein]

@@ProvVFX lol trying.. I'm trying

[@ProvVFX]

@@RichardBlumenstein 😁

[@chakotay02]

Great video! It was always one of my main problems with 3ds max.

[@joelsalscheider1205]

Thanks for the video! I was getting really frustrated not being able to work with more materials, but now I feel limitless!!! (slight exaggeration) Thanks again :)

[@Richard-jm5ni]

Thank you so much!

[@bluegiant13]

thanks,just needed this right now

[@kenans.1950]

Thank you soo much! I was stuck at some point thinking I was limited ;( but ur a savior! :]

[@karleclaire]

Hahaha! I thought that I was limited to only a few materials. This is gold, thanks a lot for this!

[@Wildanrhn]

Thank you so much

[@1618bheeshma]

Dear Richard, thanks for the wonderful, informative video.

[@faresklr4369]

thank you so much

[@InVisionFuture]

thank you, that little move can help me . ty

[@sungerbob1786]

i wonder why just 24 slots selectible in the material editor. why we cant use that slider in the right which is inactive.. i understand we can reset whole slots but why cant be there lets say 56 slots.. like maya's hypershade...

[@ramirogomezp]

I have the same question, did you resolve it?

[@sungerbob1786]

@@ramirogomezp haha dude, no.. this is long time ago. i quit messing with max anyway. maya is the way to go..

[@SanctuaryOfTheHeart]

Thanks Rich, this was helpful.

[@LightShadow]

Actually there is a script ( As far as I can remember it is free) that adds more than 24 slots. search in scriptspot.com

[@Dd3dHr3Dvisualization]

It's been 9 years since, but they still haven't give option to have more slots; and ironic is that they have SLIDERS on side of materials view window that have no purpose!! Why they don't give option to have more materials and actually USE those sliders to they already have in their UI (and they are still there in max ver. 2022 and still have no purpose )

[@RichardBlumenstein]

The sliders are for when you change the size of the material swatch. The switched over to the slate editor instead of investing more dev time into the compact editor

[@MHVuze]

Thanks for the quick and on-spot tip!

[@szocsgeza]

Thank you sir, you solved a real mistery. I cannot refrain myself from saying: this is one of the lousiest things I've ever seen in 3dMax. What a stupid way to get more slots. Very cumbersome. Why can't they simply make them scroll further down the list??? Anyhow, not your fault. Thanks for explaining! :)

[@KaiserWilhelmthe3rd]

This is excellent and very helpful! Thanks very much.

[@sunusatriyowaskito9918]

Thank you Sooo much... Thats what i need... Your my Hero...

[@RichardBlumenstein]

Glad I could help

[@dombashaunthesheep]

Thanks you sir

[@RichardBlumenstein]

no worries 👍

[@farasapt6579]

Ok thanks for telling me this, but why did the software think showing 24 material was good to begin with? Sheesh.

[@adefabrisio8576]

helpeeddd so wellll.... thanks alooot......... really really helpful cos iv been struggling

[@izvarzone]

I wish there was easier way. I'm trying to make map for CS:GO in 3ds Max and there are far more than 24 textures, I found one way though: you can drag-drop texture files from Total Commander either directly on model, or on material slot.

[@cgimadesimple]

nice

[@manuladijakarta]

Thanksssss :D this was a puzzle for me

[@latefa21]

helped a lot, thank you

[@Violinoknight]

Thank you very much sir!

[@yourneighbour5738]

Thanks very straight to the point

[@varnalichakarborty9223]

Very useful and nicely sir you have explained.

[@RichardBlumenstein]

Thanks

[@JeSsSe66]

Thanks for the vid!

[@MaxPSVR]

big help thanks. was wondering about this for a long time

[@RichardBlumenstein]

Sorry about the crazy late reply, I recently became aware that KZbin was holding all my comments as a Held for review, but anyway you are welcome :)

[@MaxPSVR]

@@RichardBlumenstein lol no worries. I get that too sometimes

[@dalgoojjang4438]

Thanks Richard! that is exactly what i was looking for

[@RichardBlumenstein]

No problem :)

[@mediahighspirits8694]

its awesome and realy helpful

[@SMEConsultancy5721]

thank you for best info!

[@Miguel-ly9mj]

Thanks :)

[@RichardBlumenstein]

No problem

[@zdaylanproductions]

Thanks a lot!

[@zOkann]

Thanks man, great helpful video....

[@juljusz]

I suggest changing the title. I was hoping to see how to get more than 24 slots in the material editor... some sort of a code/script hack or something. Instead I saw an explanation of some basic features of 3dsmax material editor.

[@kirsten_ariana]

THANK YOU

[@prangalanga]

Excellent thanks

[@RichardBlumenstein]

+Keith Langlois Thanks

[@jasminwagner8808]

Thank you so much for your helpful tutorial :-)

[@jokezspeedruns9679]

Still useful! ty!

[@RichardBlumenstein]

Yeah I still get students asking for it :)

[@emanalmallahi4552]

thanks

[@GraveUypo]

what are those greyed-out slider bars doing there if you can't scroll up and down for more materials?

[@Streamcatcher]

That sure helped me, thanks!

[@RichardBlumenstein]

+Sebastian Stevens You're welcome

[@albiegamingvideos]

Great video, thanks a lot for this one! :D

[@farukkaragulle6866]

thankss

[@carolinafarinagarcia4316]

Thanks, you help me with this tutorial!!!!

[@phoenix-mods]

Thanks.. That was a big help!

[@RichardBlumenstein]

You're welcome

[@ilyasqureshi]

thanks a million sir great help

[@ilyasqureshi]

WAITED 8 YEARS FOR IT LOL

[@KiranZCreativeFlow]

very helpful thankyou

[@jontaylor5828]

Thanks so much. Pretty useful. 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾

[@heenazaveri743]

Thank You.... it helped a lot

[@My2Cents1]

Yes it did help, thank you very much. :)

[@noblejack9882]

thanks man

[@RichardBlumenstein]

No problem :)

[@msipro764]

Thank you soo much Your Great

[@RichardBlumenstein]

You're most welcome

[@alibaloush4825]

ya that helped a lot thank you ✔

[@Arne1998]

Thanks!

[@khurramsa5133]

if i say that in my file there are approx 24 materials already get filled in my 3d objects ,and after reset material slots and applied the new materials on different objects in the same scean then does the previous materials can be effected ones after saving the max file and re-open it in other time?

[@waxx37]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! Oh yeah.......THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!

[@alima34]

Thank you much. I was confused coz my 3ds max tutor told me its limited only to 24 slots maximum and that i have to use multi sub materials. I feel like am paying the wrong tutor.

[@RichardBlumenstein]

Lol, well if you want help you can get a hold of me directly :)

[@alima34]

@@RichardBlumenstein thanks a lot sir.

[@RichardBlumenstein]

@@alima34 No problem :) skype : skuatmraa

[@redixproduction2851]

really helpful

[@RichardBlumenstein]

No problem

[@redixproduction2851]

​@@RichardBlumenstein this is the fastest replied i ever got :D

[@RichardBlumenstein]

@@redixproduction2851 Yeah, I know, I realized that KZbin was hiding 90% of my messages and now I have a huge list of then that I am trying to go through. my ocd won't let me ignore them

[@ffrankwestt]

tank u

[@RH3D]

Thanks, that helped - But I dont want a load of unused material nodes in my scene - how can I delete all unused materials? Thanks

[@RichardBlumenstein]

In Material editor > Utilities > There is a reset and condense options

[@HikikomoriDev]

So what was the decision by Autodesk to limit the slot editor down to 24? Memory issues?

[@RichardBlumenstein]

They have unlimited number of materials. They only show you 24 at a time. I would think it a memory saver since it does deal with more than 24

[@12hips]

i want to export to ue4 though, and i still only have 24 slots to edit with when it goes in

[@RichardBlumenstein]

Tommy the Hat The number of slots for UE4 is irrelevent, since you can build your own materials in UE4

[@12hips]

Richard Blumenstein not quite, i can build materials in ue4 for different elements of a mesh... but it needs to know what the elements are, which is done by importing the different material slots from 3ds max. i can make a single material for an unwrapped mesh but i dont have the experience to do that yet

[@RichardBlumenstein]

Tommy the Hat Once you apply a material, it stays applied, so if your exporting to UE4 as long as the material is applied to the object, when you export your fbx the material goes with, slots have nothing to do with UE4

[@KwlEnn]

Thanks

[@khairulishra1475]

Thanks a lot

[@gundar95]

thank you for this explanation :D

[@RichardBlumenstein]

+Tend 1 You're welcome

[@jeffongsp]

Thank you so much, God bless your soul :D

[@Elsa.Rs.Mersand]

thank youuuuu!!

[@RichardBlumenstein]

Your welcome.

[@irinaistratuc1236]

thank you! your video really saved me )

[@RichardBlumenstein]

+Irina Istratuc No problem

[@cjcreations5964]

thank a lot

[@user-fd6zj6gm8q]

or just use slate editor

[@RichardBlumenstein]

Sorry about the crazy late reply, I recently became aware that KZbin was holding all my comments as a Held for review. Even though I use the slate editor a lot, sometimes I like using the original method to keep track of mats easier. I wish they had grouping in the slate editor.

[@negingh4046]

Thanks😭

[@mubasharSays]

can we increase the material slots from 24 ?

[@RichardBlumenstein]

24 is the limit on what you can view at one time. Unless your using the slate editor.

[@alejandrapraeli4096]

thanks

[@yellowtooth7730]

Great 👍🏼

[@RichardBlumenstein]

Thanks

[@doguberkaksakall7789]

i have lost these balls. can't see anything only a black squares. can you help?

[@RichardBlumenstein]

Sorry about the crazy late reply, I recently became aware that KZbin was holding all my comments as a Held for review, but the black squares is usually a video card issue, try updating the drivers.

[@doguberkaksakall7789]

@@RichardBlumenstein 😁 I don't remember what i were doing 5 years ago but thank you for your response. You are a benevolent person.

[@sanders296]

Is there any way to get MORE slots ?

[@RichardBlumenstein]

In classic view 24 slots is as much as you can go.

[@chinkahyee5655]

thank a lot >

[@hamart5975]

Thank you so much

[@RichardBlumenstein]

No problem

[@MobileJokes]

thanks man

[@RichardBlumenstein]

Welcome

[@prydama]

thanks

[@CGDmurun]

Thank you so much