Extension Pack for MARI

• Where to find it: 

• NodeGraph / Right Mouse Click / Edit / Misc

• Main Window / Extension Pack / Nodegraph / Edit /   Misc

• Shotcut (Nodegraph Only): F4

    

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• Overview
• Video
• Nodes vs Shaders
• Presets
• Presets via Environment Variables
• Row Activation Quick Buttons
• Row Selection Quick Buttons
• Row Settings

The Channels from Node Tool allows you to quickly create Channels for Node Outputs and Shader Inputs, with your personal preference and presets for naming,

resolution etc. Optionally presets can also be standardized across a team via an Environment Variable.

An Example of creating the necessary channels for a material with one click

• If the Channels from Node Tool is launched with a regular Node selected, the resulting channels will be attached to the Node Outputs
• If the Channels from Node Tool is launched with a Shader Node selected, the resulting channels will be attached to the Shaders Inputs

• Using the Channels from Node Dialog you can save Presets of Channels Names and Channel Configurations, to quickly recall them between projects.
• The active preset selected, when executing the Dialog ('Create Channels' Button) is saved and restored the next time you open the dialog
• Presets can be exported and imported using configuration files.
• Presets can be auto populated from an Environment Variable MARI_CHANNELS_FROM_NODE

Preset Dropdown

Choose from a saved preset.

Selecting a preset will update the Channel Name Fields, Resolution, Bitdepth etc. in the dialog if the presets

contains values for the corresponding node ports on the selected node in the node graph

Executing the dialog via the 'Create Channels' Button while a preset is selected, will trigger this preset to be reselected

the next time the dialog opens

Create new Preset

 

Adds a new preset to the preset list. 

WIthin presets all settings from the main section of your dialog will be saved except:

• Active Row State
• 'From Channel' Custom Resolution

Delete Preset

 

Deletes the currently active preset.

Please note, if the preset was automatically added via an environment variable, the next time the Dialog is opened, the preset will

reappear in the dropdown

Update Preset

 

Updates the currently selected Preset with the settings found in the main section of the dialog.

Please note, if the preset was automatically added via an environment variable, the next time the Dialog is opened, the preset will

revert back to the preset provided by the Environment variable

Rename Preset

 

Renames the currently selected preset

Export Presets

 

Exports all presets in your dropdown as a configuration file.

Import Presets

 

Import Presets from a configuration file. If presets with same names already exists, a dialog will prompt you for conflict

resolving

Example of a conflict resolve dialog for importing presets

To standardize presets within a team of artist you can Export Presets  and point the Environment Variable

• MARI_EP_CHANNELS_FROM_NODE

to the preset file.

Users opening the dialog while such an Environment Variable is loaded will:

• have all Presets included in the Configuration File/Environment Variable populated into their preset dropdwon
• Presets from the Environment Variable will be the preferred presets in case of duplicate names
• The Preset that was active when the Configuration File was saved will be the initial active preset (until user chooses another one

and confirms/executes the dialog

Create Channels from Node will only create channels for the Activated Rows when the dialog is executed.

You can activate rows either by selecting the row (or multiples) and clicking on the row activation checkbox.

In addition to manually selecting or multiselecting rows some quick row activation buttons are available at the top of the dialog:

All 

Activates all Rows

Hotkey: Alt + A

None

Deactivates all Rows

Hotkey: Alt + D

Inv

Inverts the current row activation(s)

Hotkey: Alt + I

Connected

Activates all rows that correspond to ports that have an existing node connection. 

Regardless of Row Activation, Rows corresponding to ports with  a connection will always be listed at the top

Hotkey: Alt + C

Example of Base Color, Roughness and Normal Slot being activated after clicking the 'Connected' Button

Selected

Will activate the currently selected rows

Hotkey: Alt + S

Last used

Will activate the rows, that were active the last time the dialog was executed (if port names exist as well on currently selected node).

The Last Used Mode is the default Mode that is being activated when the dialog is launched.

Hotkey: Alt + R

By using Row Selection Users can quickly change settings for multiple rows at once

Example of multi row selection and changing settings

The quick row selection buttons at the top of the dialog allow you additional row selection control:

All

Will select all rows

Hotkey: Ctrl + C

None

Will deselect all rows

Hotkey: Ctrl + D

Inv

Will invert the row selection

Hotkey: Ctrl + I

Active

Will select any row that has been activated / has its row checkbox activated

Hotkey: Ctrl + S

Each row in the main section of the dialog corresponds to one node port on the selected node.

Only ports are shown that do not have an existing channel attached to them.

Row Activation Checkbox

Activating the checkbox on the far left side of a row will trigger the corresponding channel to be created when the dialog is executed

Shader Input / Node Ouput Name

The Port the resulting channel will be connected to.

• If the dialog was launched with a shader node selected, this will display the shader input port name(s)
• If the dialog was launched with a regular node selected, this will display the shader output port name(s)
• If a material node was selected, this will display the full length port name

Shader Input / Node Ouput Short Name

If a shader or material was selected when the dialog was launched, this will display the 'Short Name' of the Port.

Short Names are the abbreviated Port Names for Shader Inputs the Mari Material System is using.

Channel Name

The name the new channel will be given when the dialog is executed.

Channel Names support Variables for auto filling in parts of Channels Names.

Supported Variables are:

$ENTITY

Replaced with the Object Name

$VERSION

Replaced with the Geo Version Name

Resolution

The resolution the new channel will be given when the dialog is executed.

• 256x256,512x512,1024x1024 etc.

You can choose from the standard Mari resolutions which will result in uniform texture resolution

across all udims

• From Channel

Specify an existing channel in your project to inherit udim specific resolutions from

Depth

The Bit Depth the new channel will be given when the dialog is executed.

Colorspace

The Colorspace the new channel will be given when the dialog is executed.

Raw / Scalar

Determines if the Channel should contain Raw Data and if the Viewport Color Transform should be activated when

viewing the channel