So far we were having a limitation that we had no idea how the material would look on our teapot. We had to experiment on the Material slot (spheres). In 3D Studio MAX ( 3DS MAX ) we have the provision for displaying the materials in the viewport. But we cannot display the whole Material which may be a combination of several maps (like ambient, diffuse, reflection etc). Instead from among the material we choose one map and make it displayed in the viewport. Got it?

Now its time to see what all properties 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ) materials have other than Diffuse, Specular etc. Just pan the Material Editor down by click-dragging an empty space inside it. At the bottom of it, you will see a rollout by name 'Maps'. Unroll it if its not already unrolled. There you will see all the properties that a material has in 3D Studio MAX ( 3DS MAX ). Near the end of the properties, we have the Reflection property. Just to its right, there is a text field having value 100. It says that Reflection map is applied with 100% effect on the material. To its right, we have a long button having a name written on it (Map #19 Chromic.jpg). It says that the file Chromic.jpg is used as the Reflection Map. Actually that image is the one that we see as the chrome wave pattern.

Now click on that Map button (Map #19 Chromic.jpg). It takes you one level down the Material Hierarchy. Now the Material Editor displays not the top level of the Material, but a sub-map (Reflection map) with its various parameters. The materials are a collection of maps in 3D Studio MAX ( 3DS MAX ). Each map can have sub-maps and the hierarchy moves down like that. The current attributes displayed in the Material editor are those dealing with how the Chromic.jpg is mapped on the Reflection Map property. Let's not bother about the details now. We are in the Reflection Map sub-level now. I told you already that we can display only a map in the viewports. So we are going to make the Reflection map as the one to be displayed in the viewport for this material.

To do that just click on the Show Map in Viewport button located among the row of buttons just below the spherical slots. By now the texture should be visible in the 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ) viewport on our teapot. Cool. No?