Can someone tell me how to “Make Unique” a material in the new SME?  I looked in the help files, but the SME information is fairly limited.  I know I can drag a node to a new “View” & then drag it into the new view where I get the option to “Instance” or “Copy”, but what if I wanted to make materials unique within the same view tab, how would this be done?  An example would be something like this:  I have two black powder coat materials under a view labeled “Powder Coat”, & I want a different variation of my black powder coat for whatever reason, so I take my primary black powder coat & “Shift” drag a copy with the same view; automatically it is an “Instance”, so how do I make it unique without putting it into a new view?

Also, is it annoying to anyone else to have to double click a material in the SME to get the material parameters to open?  I keep a material preview window open in the upper right hand corner of the SME, & I keep it set to “Follow Current Selection”; therefore, when I single click on a material it changes.  The down side is I find myself sometimes editing the wrong material parameters because I did not double click the material.  Ultimately I know this is just one of those things that one has to pay attention to, but to me it just does not seem really intuitive. 

Basically I’m saying that if a single click will follow current material preview, shouldn’t a single click allow for the material parameters to display too?  A required double click would be fine, but if that is to be the case the follow current material preview should operate on that same principle as well, or so I think anyway.  Is there a way to set this up so that the material preview (follow current)will sync up with the material parameters?

Chris Robinson
http://www.supercoonstudios.com (Under Development)
3ds Max 2011
Dell Precision 690, Intel Xeon Dual Quads @ 2.66 GHz, Dual NVIDIA Quadro FX4500s, 12 GB RAM, Windonws 7 x64

Hi Chris,
Don’t know much about Slate editor, because actually I don’t use it that much,
but if you drag the output of a material into a sample slot you get the opportunity to create a copy or an instance. (See attachment) Is this an option for you?

ivan

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Thanks Ivan.  I did not think of that.  Truly, I fond it odd that the “make unique” button does not exist anymore.

Chris Robinson
http://www.supercoonstudios.com (Under Development)
3ds Max 2011
Dell Precision 690, Intel Xeon Dual Quads @ 2.66 GHz, Dual NVIDIA Quadro FX4500s, 12 GB RAM, Windonws 7 x64

This method works ok, but is there not another solution for the “make unique” button.  Does anyone else have any other suggestions?

Chris Robinson
http://www.supercoonstudios.com (Under Development)
3ds Max 2011
Dell Precision 690, Intel Xeon Dual Quads @ 2.66 GHz, Dual NVIDIA Quadro FX4500s, 12 GB RAM, Windonws 7 x64

I don’t get it, or I misunderstand your problem. When you Shift Drag a material in SME to make a copy it is not an instnace, but a copy. If you change parameters on the copy, the original does not alter. Maps that are inputted to the material are instances, but the material it’s self is not.
Instances in SME are when a single node has more than one output going into different inputs. To make them unique, shift drag a copy, then wire it’s output to the correct input replacing the instance’s input.

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Yes that is what I thought too, & I’m sure you are correct in what you say.  Basically, I did the shift drag on a material the other day & every time I changed a parameter in one it changed in the other; however, now that I think about it these materials were from an older file that use to use the “Compact Material Editor”, & in that editor they were instances.  Ultimately though, I don’t think that should matter.  For whatever reason, it only seems to do it in that file, & I’m sure it may do it in some of my other older files too.  For now I will be patient, & see what happens.

Chris Robinson
http://www.supercoonstudios.com (Under Development)
3ds Max 2011
Dell Precision 690, Intel Xeon Dual Quads @ 2.66 GHz, Dual NVIDIA Quadro FX4500s, 12 GB RAM, Windonws 7 x64