Adding Geo-Channels to Objects

You can add Geo-Channels to your objects to define arbitrarily named geometry specific data such as ambient occlusion, and curvature in your material creation workflow. Since geo-channels are geometry-agnostic, you can use the same material across a variety of objects while ensuring the material looks realistic for the specific object. Geo-Channels must be added to your object in order for Geo-Channel nodes and layers to function. See Geo-Channel Node for more information.

Tip:  You can also export baked data from Bake Point nodes directly into Geo-Channels, to act as an intermediate caching point for complex Node Graph setups. See the Bake Point Node and Working with Nodes for more information.

Adding Geo-Channels to your Object

1.   Open the Objects palette.
2.   Select your object from the list of objects in the Objects palette.
3.   Scroll down to Geo-Channel Properties.
4.   Click the button next to Channels to add a new geo-channel.

A new geo-channel appears in the list of geo-channels.

5.   Click a geo-channel to enter a new name.
6.   Click the next to the specified geo-channel to import an image set for that geo-channel.

Note:  The imageset bit-depth for geo-channels automatically converts to the bit depth of the imported texture.

The Geo-Channel Properties inside the Objects palette.

Importing Modo Render Bake Results as a Geo-Channel

If you don't have any rendered maps to use as Geo-Channels, to use Mari's built-in Modo renderer. The built-in Modo renderer allows you to bake textures for your objects within Mari.

To import the baked results back into Mari as a geo-channel:

1.   Open the Modo Render palette.
2.   Select the Bake tab.
3.   Select a preset from Bake Preset.

A preview of the bake is generated.

4.   Enable Bake As > Geo-Channel option.

This imports the baked result back into Mari as a Geo-Channel.

Warning:  This destructively overwrites the contents of a Geo-Channel with the same name, or automatically creates a new Geo-Channel if one of the same name doesn't exist.

5.   Click Bake.

The Bake tab inside the Modo Render palette, with the Curvature Bake Preset selected.