Material Browser panel

Browsing your local folder (Local tab)

This panel provides a way to browse the Maxwell materials available on your system. For every MXM file found in the material database, the material browser shows a small preview of the material. Within the Maxwell installation folder there is a material database that you can browse. If you have set a material folder in your Studio preferences (Edit> Preferences> Paths), the Material Browser will open in that folder.

The Material Browser panel

 
Assigning/adding materials from the browser to you objects is done by drag and drop, in one of three ways:

1. Drag and drop a material from the Material Browser onto a selected object or group of triangles in the 3D/ 2D viewport. This action will add the material to the current scene and assign it to the object/ triangles.
2. Drag and drop a material from the Material Browser onto the Materials List (from the browser in Studio or from the browser in MXED). The material is added to the list, but not assigned to any object.
3. Drag and drop a material from the Material Browser into the Material Editor over another material you are currently editing. It allows you to embed the new material in another layer to mix or combine them.

A material can also be dragged from the Materials List into the Material Browser, which is an easy way of creating your own material libraries. It is also possible to select several materials at once and drag them to the Material Browser.

Browsing the MXM Gallery (Web tab)

The Web tab allows you to search for a material in the entire online MXM Gallery database, from within Maxwell Studio. This gives you access to thousands of free materials, just a few clicks away, ready to be used in your scenes.

Use the Search field to type in a material name and the results of your search will be displayed in the window below. Use the Advanced Search to specify keywords, search by color, and specify a category or displaying options. The window below will show you the materials that match your searching criteria, their thumbnails, and some specific data such as rating, the creator’s name and the upload date. Sort them by rate to easily get the more valued ones.

Click on the thumbnail to display a bigger version. Drag the desired material to the Materials List or Material Editor, and the material will be downloaded automatically, unzipped, and added to your scene. You can also drag it over an object or triangles group to automatically assign it to your objects.

Searching for a material with displacement on the MXM Gallery with Studio

 
To be able to browse and download materials you have to be registered and logged in to the MXM Gallery. Once registered, you have to set your username and password in the Studio Preferences to be automatically logged in each time you open Studio. If you use MXED instead of Studio for material editing, you need to change the preferences in MXED instead.

Go to Edit>Preferences>Materials>MXM Gallery section, and must set your MXM Gallery user account and specify the folder where these materials are going to be stored. By ticking the “Download files in project folder” option the materials will be downloaded to the same folder where the MXS file is located.

Setting your MXM Gallery username and password in the Studio Preferences panel

 
If you are connecting to the internet through a Proxy, you must set the proxy Host Name, Port, Username and Password on this same panel.