Max 2021: Default Material Swatches

[kosso_olli]

Hey guys, is there a way to permanently replace the physical materials with Vray materials in the material editor? Right now when I open Max, I get the whole editor populated with physical materials. Even when I save it as maxstart.max

[Morne]

yes,
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMax\20 21 - 64bit\ENU\en-US\defaults\MAX\Medit.mat

Replace that file with a version you like and it will start with that when you start max

(assuming you didnt use the custom user default switcher)

[joconnell]

Thanks for that Morne!

[glorybound]

Isn't that in the customize pulldown by default?

[kosso_olli]

yes,
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMax\20 21 - 64bit\ENU\en-US\defaults\MAX\Medit.mat

Replace that file with a version you like and it will start with that when you start max

(assuming you didnt use the custom user default switcher)

Thanks, worked like a charm!

[Joelaff]

Will that get me VRayMtls when I add a new layer to Multi-Sub ?

I don't get anything in the Mat Editor by default, but I only use Slate. I do get PhysicalMaterials when I add layers to Multi-Subs and a few other things that auto-create a material for no reason. Honestly, I'd rather they not create any materials, just make the new layer unconnected.

[kosso_olli]

Strangely, when resetting the material editor slots under Utilities->Reset Material Editor Slots, I still get Physical Materials. When I reset the whole scene though, I get V-Ray mats as wanted. Weird!

[3d-laboratory]

In an older post from 2014 (making material samples default to vray material) Deflaminis suggested, to create a MaxStart.max with the needed configuration of the material editor and to store it in the .\scenes folder. Sadly this doesn´t work with Max2021. After the start of Max2021 the scene seems to be loaded from that file, but when I bring up the material editor it is filled with the physical materials. When I start MAX by doubleclicking on the MaxStart.max file in the explorer the old material editor comes up with the VRay materials I defined in that scene. So I searched a while and found an timeconsuming walkthrough by AutoDESK on this page:
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/suppo...g-3ds-Max.html
They to explain, what they have changed in version 2021 regarding the material editor. I went through the first chapter of this article before I saw this article here with the method Morne mentioned above. But it works and if somebody find it useful I attached the clean material library made by the process (please change the extension to *.mat). But of course it is better to populate the material editor file with often used materials, especially if someone does´nt use an project manager like the one from KStudio, which I highly recommend here.
Update some hours later: Because of poor viewport performance I installed Max2021.3, The weird thing was that after this the good old material editor stertet with the VRayMtls as we know it from older version, with the spheres in different colors. Ok, wasted some time...(bad viewport performance seems to be a driver problem with my SpaceMouse Enterprise from 3dxconnection, bad also the change between each material in the material editor lasts about half a second until the settings window of the material is completely shown. In Max 2019 and Windows 7 is was immediately visible)

[gandhics]

You can just use vray market default?

[rusteberg]

well.... that's a horse of a different color