In Scanline the Active Shade does not work at all and crashes or freezes Max so Scanline can be used only with Production Rendering Mode. Then the materials might be visible eventually or then Max crashes.
![vray material library gemstones vray material library gemstones](https://3dsmaxtutorial.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/v-ray-diamond-shader-photorealistic-refractive-materials-dispersion-038-abbe-issues-038-solutions-YJIuCxKE19k-980x720.jpg)
Sometimes the material editor slots are completely black both material and background. The colours and maps just have to be changed without seeing the thumbnail changing. Sometimes the materials in the editor are grey no matter what you do but the materials change in the active shade view. If the materials are physical materials and renderer is set as Arnold both in Active Shade Mode and Production Rendering Mode the materials should show in the editor. "Is there a way to get the Arnold materials to (all of them) show a rendered preview, automatically, like material libraries work in all other 3D software?"
VRAY MATERIAL LIBRARY GEMSTONES SOFTWARE
Now I only start new projects in Arnold but it feels like using 2 completely different software when I have to do Scanline sometimes too. Converting to Arnold creates so many problems that it takes a long time just to get it back to what it was. They are not willing to pay or understand that it would take a lot of time to recreate materials and lights in Arnold so I have discovered that it's just best not to use scene converter and still do it with scanline. Usually clients are still happy with those and sometimes they just want to change couple of colours. I also have a lot of old projects that were made with Max scanline. I still havent figured out Autocad LT ribbon menu either and I always recreate the classic interface, so this is nothing new to me. This might be a boomer noob way to do it but it works for me. So when I start to sketch a new project I don't have to figure out everything from scratch when I open this "default" scene. Also imported all the good materials from the physical material/presets/finishes drop down menu. I downloaded that material library from and I imported the relevant materials in to the compact editor. That is why I created a default scene with all the materials and physical sky lights (that are not completely black or white) that I open when I start Max. It is frustrating to watch couple of 15 minute tutorial videos just to do one task that was quite simple before. Hours can go just to make one material or fix the lights. A lot of it has to do with the fact that weeks might go without using Max and then I have to figure it out again. Max is the one that takes most of the time just to figure out how it works. Thing is I can't use only Max and there are 6-7 other software that I have to use a lot depending on the project. I just wonder how can someone new start to use Max without materials and no explanations where to find them. So what should I do? Start building materials from scratch from grey materials? Or is there something else to do? Materials were possible 30 years ago so it should be possible now. (There is no material library to found in compact mode.) The dialog opens up materiallibraries folder (which includes files on the right, including MAXtoA downloaded in previous step. Weirdly it is only possible from a really small arrow in slate mode. It would have been nice to mention here where to put it and what to do with it.)
VRAY MATERIAL LIBRARY GEMSTONES DOWNLOAD
So I download this and put it in to materiallibraries folder. It would be nice to see some different materials and how they are done but apparently it was possible already in the 90's but not anymore. The settings are for Arnold but all the base materials are missing. Are you sure that the material library system is now absolutely as difficult to use as it can possibly be? I mean how can someone start using Max when creating Arnold materials is pretty difficult and all the materials are grey?
![vray material library gemstones vray material library gemstones](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/F_Wn6Uf4sEI/maxresdefault.jpg)
After updating to Max 2022 it is really puzzling to try to use it.