01-30-2024, 04:13 PM
I see, so you have 500 objects, and each object has 3 material IDs, and each object also has its own multi-sub material applied containing 3 materials...and what you know (but what Max doesn't know) is that those 3 independent materials applied to each object, could actually be the same 3 materials applied to every object?
I guess the tricky part, is what happens if piece number 499 has 3 materials applied, but those 3 materials are not meant to be the same 3 materials applied to every other piece? What would differentiate them? You mentioned them having the same name as the other materials...is that the only thing? It would be easy enough to group/instance materials by name, but if the names of the "same" materials don't match, then that's a much bigger issue because there's no easy way to tell that the materials are identical, besides individually comparing every single one of their properties (which would indeed be slow).
I guess the tricky part, is what happens if piece number 499 has 3 materials applied, but those 3 materials are not meant to be the same 3 materials applied to every other piece? What would differentiate them? You mentioned them having the same name as the other materials...is that the only thing? It would be easy enough to group/instance materials by name, but if the names of the "same" materials don't match, then that's a much bigger issue because there's no easy way to tell that the materials are identical, besides individually comparing every single one of their properties (which would indeed be slow).