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# 1 29-04-2012 , 10:12 PM
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Using Imported and downloaded materials and textures in Maya

Hello!

First of all i must say that i am quite new using Maya. I need help on how to import materials into Maya. My problem is that i downloaded some materials/shaders and their textures from the internet. When i go to the hypershade window i import the material (which is concrete) and it appears correctly in the hypershade window but, when i add the material to my object it turns it black and when i render it shows the object black with a very reflective surface! And all of us know that that is not even close to representing realistic concrete. So that's my problem. Someone already told me that i needed to download the textures for that specific material and i already did. In the hypershade window, in the materials tab, the material appears, as well as the textures in the textures tab. If it's any help, i downloaded the material and texture from mrmaterials.com.

So, can anyone help me and tell the step by step on how to get the realistic concrete material on my object from the one that i downloaded?


Thanks in advance!

# 2 30-04-2012 , 04:20 AM
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Is the texture actually plugged into the shader?


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# 3 30-04-2012 , 06:28 AM
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The material swatches may have been baked. Go into it's file node, and make sure they're pointing to the right location.


Imagination is more important than knowledge.
# 4 30-04-2012 , 04:55 PM
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Hello! Thanks for the responses!

I am not sure if the textures are actually plugged in the shader. As i mentioned, I'm quite new using maya. I can tell you guys that the file that i downloaded has two documents, one says "Arroway_Concrete-46.ma" and the other says "Arroway_Concrete-46.ma.swatch". When i import the first one it appears in my materials tab in the Hypershade window. I have attached an image of what appears in my work area when i graph this material, what i believe to be the network and node connections (correct me if I'm wrong).

I also have attached an image of the textures file that i downloaded separately from the material one. I know for sure that these textures are specifically for this material.

I don't know what you mean with "material swatches may have been baked". Sorry for being kind of clumsy, I have just started using Maya.

Thanks!

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# 5 30-04-2012 , 06:46 PM
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Ahhh... The red means that it's trying to use a plugin node that isn't loaded. Go into your plugin manager, and turn on mayatomr.


Imagination is more important than knowledge.
# 6 30-04-2012 , 06:57 PM
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The textures are plugged into the shader, however, it seems like you'll have to get into each file texture and browse to the appropriate image. And the red bar running across the hypershade swatch means you're not using Mental Ray, if its even loaded in the first place.


- Genny
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# 7 30-04-2012 , 07:31 PM
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THANK YOU BOTH!!!! I'm completely grateful to you both.

It seems that both of you were right! ... I needed to load the mayatomr. and to get into each file and browse to the appropriate image.

Thanks!... really thanks!

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