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Exporting and Importing

You can export and import both channels and layers in your project, both in ’flat’ formats, such as .png, and in layered formats, such as .psd or .psb. This is especially useful when exporting multiple layers or channels that you don’t want to take up a lot of space, or when you want to use the final output of a channel in another application.

Exporting Channels

To export the current channel, select a single channel to export and do one of the following:

Select fromthe Channels menu	or right-click on the Channels palette and select
Export > Export Current Channel	Export > Export Current Channel
ExportFlattened> Export Current Channel Flattened	ExportFlattened> Export Current Channel Flattened

The Export dialog box displays.

Note:  The Named files tab does not display if your model contains more than 20 patches.

To export all channels in your project, do one of the following:

Select fromthe Channels menu	or right-click in Channels palette and select
Export > Export All Channels	Export > Export All Channels
Export Flattened > Export All Channels Flattened	Export Flattened > Export All Channels Flattened

The Export dialog box displays.

To export everything in your project, including all layers, channels, and patches, do one of the following:

Select fromthe Channels menu	or right-click in Channels palette and select
Export > Export Everything	Export > Export Everything
Export Flattened > Export Everything Flattened	Export Flattened > Export Everything Flattened

The Export All dialog box displays.

Note:  All of the methods for exporting textures shown above follow the same instructions once they reach the Export dialog.

1.

On the Sequence tab, enter the Path where you want to store the export, or use the browse panes (the navigation panes below) to browse to it.

Tip:  Make sure you check the path and name carefully, especially if you have been swapping between assets - Mari defaults to the last place you've exported. Don't risk overwriting your textures!

2.

If you are looking for a specific folder or file, you can use the Filter field to specify a name or file format to search for.

3.

For the Template, either use the default filename template or edit it as required. You can also specify whether to use the template for Only this layer or Everything.

4.

Set the Colorspace in which you want to export the data. By default, Mari selects Automatic, which is determined by the file name, size, and type of data in the channel.

5.

Decide whether Small Textures is enabled or disabled. If enabled, Mari exports any patches that you haven't painted yet, or have painted as a single color, as 8x8-pixel textures. When you start to paint on a particular patch, Mari exports it as the correct size.

6.

Choose to either Keep or Remove alpha channels when exporting channels. This can help decrease the resulting file size when exporting.

7.

Click Export All Patches (to export all patches in the current channel) to export with the settings you’ve selected.

Note:  The steps above assume you are exporting a sequence of patches with the udim number (1001, 1002, etc.) in the file names. For more information on how UDIM numbers are allocated to patches, please see the section on Using UDIM Values.

Note:  If you'd rather assign individual files to each patch, you can do so on the Named Files tab of the Export Channel dialog. Click the buttons on the right to open a file browser and pick a file for each patch. Then, click Export All Patches to export the files. Note that by default the Named Files tab doesn't display if you have more than 20 patches in your object. To change this number, you can use the Patch Cutoff preference or set the MARI_NAMEDFILEIMPORT_SEQUENCELIMIT environment variable to a new value.

Note:  As the options above only export channels one dialog at a time, to export multiple channels at once, see Export Manager Dialog.

Exporting Layers

To export selected layers, select any layers you want to export and do one of the following:

Select fromthe Layers menu	or right-click on the Layers palette and select
Export > Export Selected Layers	Export > Export Selected Layers
ExportFlattened > Export Selected Layers Flattened	Export Flattened > Export Selected Layers Flattened

The Export dialog box displays.

To export all layers in the channel, do one of the following:

Select fromthe Layers menu	or right-click in Layers palette and select
Export > Export All Layer	Export > Export All Layers
Export Flattened > Export All Layers Flattened	Export Flattened > Export All Layers Flattened

The Export All dialog box displays.

Note:  All of the methods for exporting layers shown above follow the same instructions as for exporting channels once they reach the Export dialog. These instructions begin with step 1 in Exporting Channels.

Importing Channels

To import into your current channel’s layer stack, do one of the following:

Select from the Channels menu	or right-click in Channels palette and select
Import > Import into Current Channel	Import > Import into Current Channel

The Import dialog box displays.

Note:  The Named files tab does not display if your model contains more than 20 patches.

1.

Enter the Path to the files to import, or use the browse panes (the two left-hand navigation panes) to browse to them.

2.

If you are looking for a specific folder or file, you can use the Filter field to specify a name or file format to search for.

3.

For the Template, either use the default filename template or edit it as required.

4.

Set the Colorspace in which you want to export the data. By default, Mari selects Automatic, which is determined by the file name, size, and type of data in the channel.

5.

Set how Mari handles patch/image size mismatches. You can select either to resize the Images to match the patches, or to resize the Patches to match the images.

6.

Choose to either Keep or Remove alpha channels when importing channels. This can help decrease the resulting file size when exporting.

7.

To import all patches from their matching files, click Import All Patches, or Import Selected Patches when at least one patch is selected.

Note:  The steps above assume you are importing a sequence of patches with the UDIM number (1001, 1002, etc.) in the file names. For more information on how UDIM numbers are allocated to patches, please see the section on Using UDIM Values.

Note:  If you'd rather assign individual files to each patch, you can do so on the Named Files tab of the Import Channel dialog. Click the buttons on the right to open a file browser and pick a file for each patch. Then, click Import All Patches to import the files. Note that by default the Named Files tab doesn't display if you have more than 20 patches in your object. To change this number, you can use the Patch Cutoff preference or set the MARI_NAMEDFILEIMPORT_SEQUENCELIMIT environment variable to a new value.

To import into a new channel, do one of the following:

Select from the Channels menu	or right-click in Channels palette and select
Import > Import into New Channel	Import > Import into New Channel

The Add Channel dialog box displays.

1.

Follow the instructions for setting up a new channel in Adding a Channel to a Project, and when you’ve finished, click Ok.

The Import dialog box displays.

2.

Enter the Path for the files to import, or use the browse panes (the two left-hand navigation panes) to browse to them.

Note:  The steps above assume you are importing a sequence of patches with the UDIM number (1001, 1002, etc.) in the file names. For more information on how UDIM numbers are allocated to patches, please see the section onUsing UDIM Values.

Note:  If you'd rather assign individual files to each patch, you can do so on the Named Files tab of the Import Channel dialog. Click the buttons on the right to open a file browser and pick a file for each patch. Then, click Import All Patches to import the files. Note that by default the Named Files tab doesn't display if you have more than 20 patches in your object. To change this number, you can use the Patch Cutoff preference or set the MARI_NAMEDFILEIMPORT_SEQUENCELIMIT environment variable to a new value.

Importing Layers

To import into the current layer, do one of the following:

Select from the Layers menu	or right-click in Layers palette and select
Import > Import into Current Layer	Import > Import into Current Layer

The Import dialog box displays.

To import as a layer in the current layer stack, do one of the following:

Select from the Layers menu	or right-click in Layers palette and select
Import > Import into New Layer	Import into New Layer

The Import dialog box displays.

Note:  All of the methods for importing layers shown above follow the same instructions as for importing channels once they reach the Import dialog. These instructions begin with step 1 in Importing Channels.