Assign Random Material ID to Selection

Written March 12th, 2011
Categories: Articles, Scripting / Programming, Textures / Materials
6 comments

Hey all,

I’ve put together the following short MaxScript to allow you to assign a random material ID to a selection in 3dsMax.  I’ll update it into a full tool if I get enough comments asking for it.

Here’s how you use it

  1. Select an edit_poly object,
  2. Select the polygons you’d like to assign random IDs to,
  3. Copy this script into a maxscript file (MaxScript > New Script…),
  4. Hit Ctrl + E to run the script.
numberOfSubMaterials = 3  -- Set the number of sub-materials here!!
originalSelection = polyop.getFaceSelection $
countOriginalSelection = originalSelection.count

for i=1 to numberOfSubMaterials do
(
	antiArray = #{1..countOriginalSelection}
	for i=1 to antiArray.count do antiArray[i] = (random 0 1) >= 1
	mergedArray = originalSelection * antiArray
	polyop.setFaceMatID $ mergedArray (random 1 numberOfSubMaterials)
)

Also, here’s another that assigns a random material/materialID to a collection of objects.

undo on
(
	newMaterial = multiMaterial numsubs:32
	for i = 1 to 32 do
		newMaterial[i].diffuse = random (color 0 0 0) (color 255 255 255)
	$.material = newMaterial

	for obj in $ do obj.material = newMaterial[random 1 32]
)
Semi-Transparent Layer Rendering in 3dsMaxMaterial Randomizer Script Download

6 Responses to Assign Random Material ID to Selection

  • By MikeZ March 12, 2011 - 10:23 am

    Seems like a good idea for those cases where the MaterialByElement modifier would be overkill.

    Reply
  • By nadjim May 14, 2011 - 2:16 pm

    hi ,

    thanks for the videos monday movie ,the are realy helpfull do you have a dvd with all of them or they are only available on line ,

    i m new user of 3ds max and i have a project to realise and not too much monney to follow a course here in london , the best alternative for me is your video so this is the purpose of my questions , im willing to pay for it .

    let me know

    regards

    nadjim zaidi

    Reply
  • By Pete May 18, 2011 - 11:20 pm

    I hope I don’t sound stupid but do I copy this script to notepad and give it a .ms extension and then put it in my max scripts folder?
    I like the idea of this script and think it will be really helpful.

    Thanks,
    Pete

    Reply
  • By Pete May 18, 2011 - 11:57 pm

    I just figured it out! Sorry about that!

    thanks again,
    Pete

    Reply
  • By Abdullah October 27, 2011 - 5:25 pm

    Great help mate. I could not make it working for the different object collection. But it work like charm when it comes to elements

    Thanks again.

    Reply
  • By Husam May 26, 2012 - 5:58 pm

    Awesome! This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much Bluesummers! It’s much appreciated.

    Reply

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