Using your own textures in 3d Studio Max

Ok, we've learned how to use the textures included in Max but what if you want to add your own texture to an object? We'll work with the same mesh as in Part 1. So I don't have to repeat myself, do everything in the previous tutorial until you get to the part where we're going to add our texture to the seat cushion.

So your chair should be loaded, the lights deleted and the cushion selected. Now that that's done, go to RENDERING, MATERIALS EDITOR and click on the first sphere. Now in this window, I want you to click your mouse anywhere at the bottom of the screen and while holding it in, scroll up so you see further down on the menu. Here's a picture of what you should see. If you don't see it while scrolling down look for a heading called MAPS and click the plus sign next to it.

Now click where it says NONE next to Diffuse Color and another menu will pop up. Click on BITMAP and navigate to where your textures folder is and click on the texture you want to use. Now click on that second icon under the spheres (the one that looks like a sphere pointing to a cube) to apply the texture to the selected object. Close the material editor window.

Now you have to add a UV coordinate to the material in order for it to show up when you render it. To do this, click on MODIFIERS, then UV COORDINATES, then UVW MAP. Now a new menu appears on the right side of your screen as pictured below. Now depending upon the shape of the object you're using, you would choose one of the choices (planar, cylindrical, spherical, etc.) For this chair, click the BOX option. If you were making something else, say that is rounded, you would want to use one of the other options. You can experiment with each option to see how they change the layout of the texture. You don't need to go to the material editor, just click on each of the options and render to see its effect.

Now render your object and you'll see your texture is now added to the chair. If you want to add your own wood, you would do the same steps using the second sphere under your materials editor. Here is a picture of my chair using my own texture for both the seat cushion and the wood.

Have fun creating! You are only limited to your imagination.