Import Dialog

The Import dialog is described below with functions for how to access it. A list of the controls on the dialog can be found in the table below.

What It Does

Invoked by the import channel functions and import layer functions, the Import dialog box lets you specify options for importing channels or layers. This can be done by importing textures into existing layer stacks, layers, or as new channels, however, importing textures as a new channel only opens the Import dialog box after first selecting options for the new channel from the Add Channel Dialog.

How to Access It

Menubar | Channels > Import > any of the dropdown options

Menubar | Layers > Import > any of the dropdown options

Right-click | Channels Palette > Import > any of the dropdown options

Right-click | Layers Palette > Import > any of the dropdown options

Import Channel Dialog Fields

Control

Type

What it does

Notes

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

U

information

Lists the U texture coordinate for the left edge of the patch.

 

V

information

Lists the V texture coordinate for the
bottom edge of the patch.

 

UDIM

information

Lists the UDIM number for the patch.

 

File

text field

Specify the file location to import from.

 

button

Browse to the file location you want to export the texture to.

 

Sequence

Channel/
Layer

information

The name of the channel or layer that is being imported.

This name is only displayed if a name has been assigned to the selected layer.

Path

text field, dropdown

The directory containing the files to import. Type the directory, select a recent directory from the dropdown, or use the navigation controls below.

Make sure you check the path and name carefully, especially if you have been swapping between assets - Mari defaults to the last place you imported from.

Don't risk overwriting your textures!

Reset To Defaults

button

Resets the path to the default location.

 

button

Goes back to the previous directory.

 

button

Goes forward to the next directory that you have browsed.

Only available if you have already browsed back using the back button.

button

Goes up one level in the directory hierarchy.

 

button

Creates a new folder in the current directory.

 

button

Displays the contents of the directory as icons and names only.

 

button

Displays the contents of the directory as a details view, with a sort option at the top of the listing.

 

Filter

text field, dropdown

Lets you filter the image sequences displayed in the dialog box. As you enter the filter text, Mari updates the display to only show the image sequences that match your text.

 

Full

Image

Indicates whether the selected image sequence has a full set of images for the current model. That is, for each patch on the model, there is a corresponding image in the image sequence. Green if the selected image sequence has a full set of images for the current model, yellow if the selected image sequence has a partial set of images for the current model, or red if the selected image sequence has no images for the current model.

 

Images

information

Lists the image sequences found in the selected Path.

 

Start

information

First UDIM number in the selected image sequence.

 

End

information

Last UDIM number in the selected image sequence.

 

Patch Count

information

Number of image patches in the image sequence.

 

Frames

information

How many frames in the image sequence.

 

Modified

information

Last modified date for the images in the sequence.

 

Template

text field, dropdown

Specify or select a preset format for
automatically naming and numbering files on import. Variables available are:

$ENTITY - the name of the object

$CHANNEL - the name of the channel

$LAYER - the name of the layer

$NODE - the name of the node

$UDIM - the UDIM patch value

$FRAME - the animation frame number

$NUMBER - number of the file within the batch (for example, “$NUMBER of $COUNT” gives strings like “22 of 28”)

$COUNT - total number of files in the channel

$COLORSPACE - the chosen colorspace for the selected images.

$[METADATA VALUE] - any user-defined variables (for example, if a patch has a user attribute called “PROJECT”, with a value of “Project1”, Mari replaces the variable “$PROJECT” with “Project1”).

Don't use numbers in your texture name - if you do, the Import and Export dialog boxes won't recognize the sequence.

File Example

information

Displays an example of the selected template path and filename.

 

Formats

Information

Displays a list of supported import file formats.

 

Import Dialog: General Controls

Colorspace

dropdown

The colorspace to which the input values are converted. Automatic is determined by the file name, size, and type of data in file.

 

Resize

dropdown

How Mari handles patch/image size mismatches (for example, attempting to import a 1024x1024 image to a 2048x2048 patch). You can select either to resize the Images to match the patches, or to resize the Patches to match the images.

 

Alpha Channels

dropdown

Choose to either Keep or Remove alpha channels when importing textures. This can help decrease the resulting file size when importing images that don’t need alpha channels.

 

Import All Patches

button

Imports textures onto all patches in the project.

 

Import
Selected Patches

button

Appears instead of Import All Patches when at least one patch is selected.

 

Cancel

button

Closes the dialog box without importing.