Hello Everyone :) I'd like to put together some of my own materials to be applied to objects in a scene...... Can I use parts of an image I created in Photoshop? I know I can use pictures on an object, but that's not the same thing as an actual material is it???? Wondering if anyone had any pointers about creating and using new materials. Thanks very much! John

You sure can, John! In Vue, begin a New material. On the Color tab, set it for "mapped values". The picture button will show up; click the button, then navigate to your Photoshop graphic. Tweak the other settings to your liking, then save the material as a new MAT file. One thing to keep in mind, Vue will remember where you told it to find the image, and it will always look to that location for it the next time you open the material. In other words, if you move the graphic after pointing Vue to it, Vue won't be able to find it after that without you re-editing the material for the new location. What I usually do is move any images I want to use in Vue to a special folder that I've marked for Vue usage. Then I know not to delete or move any graphic from that particular folder. Hope that makes sense. :)

Er...I put the graphics in the special folder before I tell Vue where to find them. :)

"I know I can use pictures on an object, but that's not the same thing as an actual material is it????" Well, technically, it isn't an "actual material" until you save it as such as a Vue .mat file. It's not a "procedural", if that's what you mean, but it's every bit as valid. And of course, that need not be the end of it, because you can mix those image-based materiala with any and all combinations of Vue materials, bumps, functions, filters, etc., etc... My advice: Just experiment with anything and everything! There really is no set way about creating new materials. With practice and experimenting, you will most likely develop your own technique for achieving the effect you want. When I go about making new materials, the first thing I decide is what category the final material will be: Will it be rocky? Soft? Reflective? Will it be an altitude-dependent material? Multiple layers? Transparent? Is it to be applied to a terrain? A rock? Something else? And then I just go off experimenting, and try to remember what it was I did along the way. I always save the good ones. But as Varian said, that image file will never be completely integrated into the resulting .mat. It will always need to be in the same location in your computer, and if you move or delete it, Vue will have no way of accessing it, so that's a good thing to plan ahead of time; where you will be storing your images to use as materilas. I have a subfolder under the Vue "bitmaps" folder, where I keep mine, and there, they're safe from accidental deletion.

Thanks, Varian/Mike...... Wonderful advice... as always!!! John