Panel: Materials

The Materials panel offers two modes, Material Presets and Material Setup.

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The Materials panel.

Subpanel: Material Presets

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The Materials Presets panel.

Button: Import

Imports selected Material Preset, but does not assign it to anything.

Button: Base

Imports and applies the selected Material Preset to material slot 1 of the Mapper_Base object.

Button: Countries

Imports and applies the selected Material Preset to material slot 1 of all objects in the collection M_Countries.

Button: Sides

Imports and applies the selected Material Preset to the sides of extruded country objects.

Tip

This material is not assigned to any objects directly rather it is assigned via the Geometry Node Group M_Objects.

The parameters may be found by accessing the Countries Setup Panel. If nothing happens when assigning a material, check the Material Setup Panel, or make sure that the parameter Use_Side_Material is on.

Button: Text

Imports and applies the selected Material Preset to the text and value labels.

Tip

This material is not assigned to any objects directly rather it is assigned via the Geometry Node Group M_Objects.

The parameters may be found by accessing the Countries Setup Panel. If nothing happens when assigning a material, make sure that the parameter Bypass_Label is off.

Button: Selected

Imports and applies the selected Material Preset to material slot 1 for each object in the current scene selection.

Subpanel: Material Setup

../_images/mapper_panel_m_m_mats_setup.jpg

Button: Create Override

Will create a copy of the current selected material in the dropdown menu.

This can be used to create new Mapper compatible materials in the scene.

After clicking this, a new material with the .001 suffix will be created and selected in the dropdown menu.

Button: Rename

Rename the current selected material.

After clicking, a text box together with Apply and Cancel buttons will be shown. Enter your new name and click on Apply.

Note

The prefix M_ will automatically be added to renamed materials. This allows the dropdown to only display Mapper compatible materials.

Button: Base

Applies the selected Material to material slot 1 of the Mapper_Base object.

Button: Countries

Applies the selected Material to material slot 1 of all objects in the collection M_Countries.

Button: Sides

Applies the selected Material to the sides of extruded country objects.

Tip

This material is not assigned to any objects directly rather it is assigned via the Geometry Node Group M_Objects.

The parameters may be found by accessing the Countries Setup Panel. If nothing happens when assigning a material, check the Material Setup Panel, or make sure that the parameter Use_Side_Material is on.

Button: Text

Applies the selected Material to the text and value labels.

Tip

This material is not assigned to any objects directly rather it is assigned via the Geometry Node Group M_Objects.

The parameters may be found by accessing the Countries Setup Panel. If nothing happens when assigning a material, make sure that the parameter Bypass_Label is off.

Button: Selected

Applies the selected Material to material slot 1 for each object in the current scene selection.

Quick Setup: Selected Material

This section of the panel allows for customising materials further.

Mapper Materials consist of 3 levels.

  1. Material (Shader)

    This is the Material chosen in the Selected Material Dropdown and contains material node groups.

  2. Material Node Groups

    Mapper Materials contain Node Group containers that may be freely added/removed. Some Material Presets contain up to 3 Node Groups, but more may be added. Parameters for the node groups may be accessed in the Group Inputs section below.

  3. Material Node Trees

    These are assigned/linked to Material Node Groups. Only one Node Tree may be assigned to a Node Group.

Button: Mute Toggle

Mute or unmute the selected Node Group.

Button: Remove Duplicate Trees

Adding Node Trees might create duplicates with a .001 suffix to the name. This function relinks the original node tree (without the .001 suffix) and removes all the duplicates from the blend data.

Button: Remove Node Tree (Trash)

Adding Node Trees might create duplicates with a .001 suffix to the name. This function relinks the original node tree (without the .001 suffix) to all node groups that contain a linked duplicate. It then removes all the duplicates from the blend data.

Button: Rename from Tree

Rename the current selected Node Group.

The new name will be that of the linked node tree without the M_Tr_ suffix. For example, in the screenshot above, if Base Group has M_Tr_00_Default assigned then Rename from Tree will result in the Node Group Base Group being renamed to 00_Default.

Button: Rename

Rename the current selected Node Group.

After clicking, a text box together with Apply and Cancel buttons will be shown. Enter your new name and click on Apply.

Button: Replace Selected

Applies the selected Node Tree Preset to the current Node Group Selection.

Note

The input values for the previous linked node tree will be kept when replacing selected.

To reset the inputs to the node tree defaults, hover over a value (in Group Inputs below) and press Backspace, or right click and select Reset to Default Value.

Group Inputs

Displays the input values for all Node Groups in the selected Material.

Note

  • Group inputs are only shown if the Node Group is connected to the node chain leading to the Material Output node.

  • These input values may also be accessed via the Shader Editor. However, Side, and Label Materials can only be edited here, unless it is manually assigned to an object’s material slot.

    In other words, if you need to edit the material inside of the Shader Editor, manually assign it to an object first.

Usage

Importing Mapper Material Presets

  1. Refresh the dropdown if needed.

  2. Select a material to import.

  3. Select an object to apply the imported material to.

../_images/m_how_to_mats_import.gif

Import Mapper Material Presets.

Applying Mapper Materials

Applying materials through the Materials Setup panel works the same as importing materials. Available scene materials will be shown in the dropdown, this includes material presets imported as above.

  1. Refresh the dropdown if needed.

  2. Select a material to apply.

  3. Select an object to apply the imported material to.

Materials Quick setup - Changing parameters

Materials may be edited in the Shader editor, but SMS Mapper includes some shortcuts in the Group Inputs panel.

  1. Refresh the Select a Material dropdown if needed.

  2. Select a material to edit. It is not necesarry to select an object first.

  3. The Group Inputs Panel will change to reflect the current selected material.

  4. Change desired parameters.

Materials Quick setup - Using Node Tree Presets

SMS Mapper includes some custom node tree presets that may be applied to Node Groups.

  1. Refresh the Select a Material dropdown if needed.

  2. Select a material to edit. It is not necesarry to select an object first.

  3. Select a Node Group to change (Refresh if necessary).

  4. Select a Node Tree Preset to apply/add (Refresh if necessary).

  5. Use Replace Selected, or Add to apply the preset node tree.

  6. The Group Inputs Panel will change to reflect the new tree inputs.

    • If Replace Selected was used, parameters may need to be reset to default in Group Inputs.

      • In the Group Inputs Panel, right click a parameter, and select Reset to Default Value, or press Backspace.

    • If Add was used, the new node tree will be added to the end of the chain of groups in the material.