Texture Issues with 3ds Max...

Hi All,

Recently I have created a few basic models in 3ds Max for export into Unity 3d however I am running into texture issues. I have exported the 3ds file as an FBX file with “Embed Media” selected. I also noticed when examining the asset in Unity it was possible to assign the materials included to certain parts of the asset. Although the file did have all the materials they were converted to a sickly white. So far I haven’t been able to find any help regarding this problem and the only solution I can think of is creating a preset texture file as seen in some other prefabs downloaded in the past. However this isn’t preferable and 3ds is supposedly meant to export the file into unity with all the materials pre attached. My question is, how do I export the asset into unity with usable materials?

Well, no, 3D Studio isn’t actually “meant” to export the file into Unity, it doesn’t know anything about Unity. Further, 3D Studio has a wide range of complex material systems which Unity will never understand. The reverse is also true. Some of the best texture methods available to you from within Unity are simply not available in 3DS Max.


You have to be very careful to use standard materials in 3D Studio. Material mapping channels don’t work quite the same, though you can manage to export an object that uses multiple materials, and the 3DS mapping coordinates do work. In my own work I have never found any choice but to apply materials to a 3DS model in Unity after the fact. Maybe there’s a plugin or asset for 3DS available (and maybe I should make one as my work expands), but there’s a lot of trial and error involved otherwise. For example, I find nothing in 3DS Max which allows material textures with alpha that can transfer into Unity. They simply don’t handle them similarly. When you factor in the fact that many of the best material effects and demands of really good artwork in Unity requires Unity specific features that 3DS doesn’t understand, it becomes clear there’s just no way around it - material application, without some Unity oriented material plugin for Unity, is going to have to be done in Unity.