9

Channel Info Utility 1739
Skin Utilit ies (page 2–700)
Select By Channel Modifier (page 1–785)
UVW Mapping Add Modifier (page 1–933)
UVW Mapping Clear Modifier (page 1–933)
UVW Mapping Paste Modifier (page 1–934)
Procedure
To use the Channel Info utility:
Thisprocedureisaguidetobasicusageofthe
Channel Info utility. For more detailed usage
methods and examples, see the tutorial U
sing the
Channel Info Utility.
1. Select an object or objects to u se with t he utility.
2. Open the utilit y.
The Map Channel Info dialog opens.
3. To create a map channel, click any channel and
then click the Add button.
The new, empty channel appears at the end of
the list.
4. Most channels have three components. For
example, a mesh or map channel has X, Y,
and Z components, and an alpha channel
has R, G, and B components. To expand all
three-component channels, click the SubComp
button. To collapse al l expanded channels, click
SubComp again.
5. To copy one channel to another, click the
source channel, click Copy, and then click the
destination channel and click Paste.
In some cases, you might need to expand or
collapse the component display (see previous
step). For example, when copying a vertex
selection (vsel) channel to a map channel, you
must paste the vsel channel to a component
channel.
6. To minimize a channel’s memory footprint,
click the channel and then click the Clear
button.
This removes most all or of the data from
the channel, so first make sure the data is
unnecessary or is available elsewhere. If the
cleared channel is the last one in the list, it
might be deleted from the list.
Interfa ce
The primary user interface of the Channel Info
utility is the Map Channel Info dia log, which
you open by clicking the utility’s Channel Info
button on the command panel. This modeless
dialog shows information about all map channels
belonging to the current selection, at the object
level. If you change the selection, the dialog
automatically updates to reflect the selection.
The dialog consists of two par ts: a button toolbar
at the top, and a tabular display of map channels
belongingtoeachobjectinthecurrentselection.
Channel Info toolbar
Co py—Copies the channel data f rom the
highlighted channel to the copy buffer, where it
becomes available for pasting . After you copy a
channel, its name appears on the line below the
button toolbar.
Pas t e—Pastes the con tents of the copy buffer to the
highlighted channel.