I’m relatively new to max, but i’m not bad with it.
I am trying to model a gun i drew a while ago in max, but when i try to put a material (in this case the picture of the gun drawing) on to a reference plane, the whole thing just turns Grey.  I have all the settings at default and if i render the image, the render comes out with the image on in perfect place, but in order to model the gun, i need it to show in the view port. I really need help with this.
I’m attaching a couple of pictures to show what i mean.

P.S. is there an other way to have a reference image in the program?

thank you.

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Select the viewport in which you need a background, hit ALT-B, choose the file you need to display, then tick “match bitmap”, “display background” and “lock zoom/pan"*.

*If you have more than one background dimension, you’ll need to move backgrounds with the camera controls to make them fit the other backgrounds. After that, enable the lock.

Windows 7 32-bit
AMD Phenom II x2 550 @ x4 3200mhz
NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT
2GB DDR3 Memory
Autodesk 3dsMax (200)9 32-bit

After first applying a material with a bitmap set to show in viewport, I’ve had to toggle the Show Map in Viewport off and on to get it to appear.  Have you tried that?  Also, make sure the bitmap isn’t too large to be displayed.  Check the Video settings in the driver Max is using and make sure the checkbox is checked for Match Bitmap Size as Closely as Possible.

3DS Max Design 2011 64-bit - Advantage Pack
Dell Precision T5500, Dual Six Core Xeon X5650 @ 2.67GHz, nVidia Quadro 5000, 24 GB RAM, Win 7 Enterprise 64-bit
Minneapolis, MN, USA

You can try to apply a Normal (flip) modifyer to the plane. It may have defaulted the normal to the other side, and might not show up in the viewport on both sides, but would render correctly if you had the material as 2-sided and the render common setting to force 2-sided.
You can also try putting a UVW map on it. Sometimes that helps.

Hi everyone!
I’ve got a relevant (probably) question:
I’ve applied a bitmap material to an object (to a box). When i render the image it shows properly, but it does not appear in the viewports. How can i make it appear in the viewports?

(I am using 3d max 6 in case it makes any difference)

I’ve put it as background at the viewport and it shows properly; i just need it on an object for what i am making..

Thank you very much!

Natassa

natassa - please refrain from posting the same question multiple times and in other peoples threads - it fragments any replies you may receive, and it breaks the forum rules. Your other post (attached to a thread about Normal Mapping) has been removed.

Look up “show map in viewport” in the Max help - that is probably what you need.

Max 4.2 through 2013.
XP-64 (SP2)
NVidia 9800GTX-512 (Driver 266.58).
Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX9.0c.

Thanks a lot!

Sorry for placing it twice.. (i didn’t realise it had gone through the 1st time; i’m still beginner with forums)

Many thanks for the advice- your forum is extremely helpful!

Press F1 to open the Help menu.  Make sure you are on the Index tab, and start typing “Show map”.  It will bring you to Show Map in Viewports, doulbe-click the topic, and it will explain how to do it.

3DS Max Design 2011 64-bit - Advantage Pack
Dell Precision T5500, Dual Six Core Xeon X5650 @ 2.67GHz, nVidia Quadro 5000, 24 GB RAM, Win 7 Enterprise 64-bit
Minneapolis, MN, USA

Chris - I moved your reply from the (duplicate) thread to this one (in case you wonder what heppened ;-) ).

Max 4.2 through 2013.
XP-64 (SP2)
NVidia 9800GTX-512 (Driver 266.58).
Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX9.0c.

I wonder Steve, whether you are able to remove a intriguing post about shoes in the 2010 forum?

ivan :coolsmile:

Edit:Sorry didn’t want to hijack the topic.

Edit:Fab186,
zip the file and post it here if you are still having the issue, although the matter is about weapons It seems not to be a kind of classified stuff, I think. :-)

Done - not sure how I missed that. Thanks for the heads-up. :)

Max 4.2 through 2013.
XP-64 (SP2)
NVidia 9800GTX-512 (Driver 266.58).
Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX9.0c.