3dsmax - Maxwell Referenced Material

The Maxwell Referenced Material node allows you to use MXM files directly, without embedding the material settings in the Max scene. This is useful when a material must be shared between multiple scenes.

The Update From File button reloads the swatch image and viewport texture from the MXM file if it has been changed externally. The New button creates a new MXM file and opens MXED to edit it. The Edit button opens MXED to edit the currently selected MXM file. The Library and Gallery buttons allow you to browse the material database and online gallery respectively.

The Embed in MXS setting controls how the material is written in the exported Maxwell scene files. When the embed flag is off, a reference to the file is written, so the material remains an external dependency. When the flag is on, the material settings are written in the exported scene, so that it will work independently of the referenced MXM file.

In textured mode, the material will be displayed using the active texture defined in the MXM file. If no texture is used, it will be drawn in the same color as in shaded mode. To set the active texture, click the checker button over the top left corner of the preview in MXED.

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Hint: to speed up editing of referenced materials, you can save and close the editor without additional prompts by clicking the silver disc icon on the right of the Wizards button.