'Slave' materials are OgreMax materials whose settings can be synchronized to a 'master' OgreMax material.
This is useful in cases where two or more objects need to have materials with the same appearance, but with slight differences. This is the case when Creating Light Maps with the 3DS Max 'Render to Texture' Feature, which requires each object to have a unique material.
Slave materials are created by selecting the objects in the scene with materials to be converted, and then choosing the Create Master/Slave Materials item in the OgreMax Menu.
Once the creation is complete, objects will have their own unique materials that can be modified independently of one another.
When synchronizing slave materials to their masters, any changes made to the slaves will be overwritten by the master.
To synchronize a slave to its master, load the slave into the 3DS Max Material Editor, then choose Copy Settings on the Material page:
To synchronize all the slaves of a master, load the master into the 3DS Max Material Editor, then choose Sync Slaves on the Material page:
Slave materials are replaced with their masters by selecting the objects in the scene with materials to be converted, and then choosing the Revert to Master Materials item in the OgreMax Menu.