Doom3world

I'm trying to import my first model into q4. It's a very simple torch model (basicaly just a cylinder).
I've got a low-poly version and a high poly version.
I've ripped the UVs on the low poly model.
I've written a .mtr file (basicaly just copied it from the Id sdk and changed the paths and files)
I go into q4 and try to run the "renderbump."
It gives me a message along the lines of "surface 0 =shader _emptyname, and then it does nothing.

In the Id SDK theres a step where you have to assign the shader to the surface of your model. I'm assuming that the "_empyname" part means that I haven't assigned it correctly, therefore it's not calling the .mtr and therefore it's not rendering a bumpmap.
The SDK tutorials use lightwave, I'm using 3ds Max6. I've tried just putting the line in from the .mtr in the material name, but that doesn't work.
Can anybody tell me how to assign the SHADER to the surface of my model in 3dMax... or anything else i'm doing wrong or dont understand.
(The model loads into modview, but just without any skin.)
This is probably a dumb question, but it's driving me nuts.
Nother thing, I don't have to rip the UVs on the high poly version do I?
Thx

This is not my area of expertise and renderbump is giving me major issues though I can get it to render at least.

What I do is I assign the model in Max a temporary bitmap and then I edit the .ase file manually to point to the material in my .mtr file. That works for me.

How does your material shader look? Would you mind posting it?

I'll assume you're exporting this as .ASE models. This is the best choice hands down if you're not because you can physically open the file up in Notepad and edit the material's link by hand. If you aren't I strongly recommend exporting as ASE files. In any case with the ASE file open look for the line BITMAP at the top of the file and see what the material link is. If there isn't one then you haven't assigned a material (it'll be an actual image file, not just colors or grains or whatever) in Max and you need to go back and fix that and export again and then fix it. From there so long as your shader and the BITMAP link match it should renderbump without the _emptyname problem.

Thanks Bittoman, it works! It took me a couple of days to figure out that the BITMAP needs an absolute path, but It works. Now I can move on to more complex things.