Tips for Working with a combustion Map in 3ds max

If you have a dual-screen configuration, you can set it up so you can see both the 3ds max and the combustion windows at the same time. Otherwise, press Alt+Tab to switch between the two windows.

To work with combustion, the 3ds max object must have mapping coordinates. Primitive objects have a Generate Mapping Coordinates toggle, which is automatically enabled when you assign a mapped material to the object. Some objects, such as editable meshes, do not have a Generate Mapping Coordinates toggle. For these kinds of objects, go to the Modify panel and apply a UVW Map modifier.

Sometimes it can be hard to see how the combustion operator is oriented to the 3ds max object's mapping coordinates. It can help to paint some temporary strokes in combustion to see how they are aligned in 3ds max viewports. Displaying the mapping coordinates in combustion can help. See Displaying an Unwrapped Mesh of the 3D Object. It can also help to paint directly on the object in a 3ds max viewport. See Painting Directly on the 3D Object.

To apply an operator to an object in 3ds max (for example, to paint on an object in 3ds max), the operator must be the active operator in combustion.

To make the combustion operator active from the Material Editor:

1. Click Operator in the Live Edit section of the Material Editor.



2. Select the combustion operator you want to use from the Select Operator to Render dialog.

The Paint operator is used as an example in the following illustration.



Note: There must be an operator in the workspace in order to select it.

3. Click OK.

Note: To view the results of the combustion operator on the 3ds max object, you need to switch back to 3ds max.

Windows NT and Windows 2000 behave differently after you select the operator. In Windows NT, combustion remains in front of the other applications. In Windows 2000, 3ds max remains in front of the other applications, so you need to switch back to combustion.