save material library (.mat) to lower version.

[Christa Noel]

i have a material library file (.mat) which saved to max 2018 by accident. it contains many of coronaMtls. now i cannot load it to my max 2016 with a warning that the file is saved by a newer version. i tried to save as to lower version with max 2018, but there is no such option in there..
Do you guys know how to save .mat file to lower version 3ds max?

[Frood]

There seem to be tools/scripts (I assume you have already searched for some) but I do not know how or if they work. I would solve this by using a scene file maybe:

- Have an empty 2018 scene
- Make sure your material library is available
- Use a script to load and assign all materials from the library to some objects, for example:

Code: [Select]

loadmateriallibrary "That_Max2018_Saved_Library.mat"
undo off
disableSceneRedraw()
size=1
for i=1 to currentmateriallibrary.count do (
print currentmateriallibrary[i].name
   
thisbox=box length:size width:size height:size mapcoords: true
thisbox.position=[i*size,0,0]
thisbox.name=currentmateriallibrary[i].name
thisbox.material=currentmateriallibrary[i]

)

enableSceneRedraw()
undo on

This one creates a box for every material of the library, can take quite some time (I use this to retarget libraries to server shares). Then:

- Save this scene as a Max 2016 version file
- Start Max 2016 and load that max file as library (be sure to change the filetype to *.max or use "*" as filename in the browser
- Resave the loaded library as Max 2016 library, done.


Hope it helps, and of course...
Good Luck :)

[Christa Noel]

This one creates a box for every material of the library, can take quite some time (I use this to retarget libraries to server shares). Then:

- Save this scene as a Max 2016 version file
- Start Max 2016 and load that max file as library (be sure to change the filetype to *.max or use "*" as filename in the browser
- Resave the loaded library as Max 2016 library, done.


Hope it helps, and of course...
Good Luck :)

those simple steps looks great, thanks Frood, you're the man! ;)
pressures makes me think too rough as hell