Multi-channel Improvements

Channels in a multi-channel clip are now easier to access and manage.

Flame Learning Channel: Multi-Channel Usability

Indicates a feature suggested and voted up by users on the Flame Feedback portal.

Importing a Multi-Channel Clip

When you import a multi-channel clip, its channels are now assigned a channel type. The assigned type is based on the name of the channel.

Channel Name	Channel Type
ABGR, beauty, BGR	Beauty
3d_motion	3D-Motion
ambient_occlusion, AO	AO
ABGR_alpha, MatteID	Matte
motion_vector, motionvector	Motion
N, normal, normals	Normals
P, Position	Position
roughness	Roughness
shadow	Shadows
uv	UV
depth, Z	Z-Depth

The channel types map to the types used in the Action node, except for ID and Selective, which are not defined.

Changing the Assignment of Multi-Channel Types

How channel names are mapped to channel types is described in Preferences > Multi-Channel > Channel Rules.

Important: The mapping in Multi-Channel > Channel Rules applies to all Flame Family products and versions installed, as well as to all projects and users on the workstation.

Use the Multi-Channel > Channel Rules to map a channel type to a channel name. A channel name comes from the clips that you import. This name is given to the channel when that channel is created in another application such as Autodesk Maya. The default preferences contain standard channel names, but you can add or remove channel names from the list.

A channel type describes the purpose of the channel. It corresponds to Action outputs, like Beauty or Motion. This list is finite: you cannot add channel types.

To change the mapping of multi-channel type to channel names:

1. Open Flame menu > Preferences > Multi-Channel.
   

2. In the Channel Rules table, locate line with the type you need to reassign.
3. In the Name column, double-click the field.
4. Add or remove a channel name from the list.

   Use wildcards * (any number of characters) and ? (any one character) to complete a name or replace a specific character. For example: lay* for layer, layers, and layout, layer? for layers and layer1 but not layers1.

5. Close the Preferences panel.

Changes to the types in Channel Rules are applied immediately to all imported clips. This only changes the type of the channel, and channel types are only informative, so it will not break links in Batch.

Unknown Channel Type

When you import a multi-channel, its channels are assigned a type. What type is assigned to what channel is defined in Preferences > Multi-Channel > Channel Rules.

Channels that are not listed in Channel Rules are assigned the Unknown type.

While you cannot change an assigned channel type in a segment or clip node, you can assign a type to a channel flagged Unknown.

To change a channel type from Unknown:

1. 1. In Timeline: Open Timeline FX ribbon > Format Options > Extended.
      

   2. In Batch, Batch FX, and Modular Keyer:Select the clip and open the Extended menu.
      

2. Find the channel in the list.
3. In the Type column, click Unknown and select channel type from the list.
   

4. In the Add Channel Rule dialog box, confirm the channel type to be assigned.

   This dialog box actually adds the rule to the table in Preferences > Multi-Channel. And because edits to Channel Rules are immediately applied to all imported clips, every channel with this name is assigned this channel type when you click Add.

Hiding Channels

Hidden channels do not appear in the clip node in Batch, Batch FX, and Modular Keyer. This simplifies the schematic, allowing you to ignore those channels that are not required for your work. In a Timeline, hidden channels are not available from the channel selection drop-down menu at the segment level.

Use Preferences > Multi-Channel to hide channels when you import clips. In this case, you can hide channels based on the channel type or channel name.

You can also hide individual channels in a segment or Clip node.

Tip: In Batch, a node with hidden channels displays [Hidden Channel] below its name in the Schematic.

In Batch, Batch FX, and Modular Keyer when you cycle through the channels of a clip using F4, the hidden channels are not shown.

Hiding Channels On Import

You can set the preferences so that specific channels are hidden in clips when you import them.

You can hide channels in a multi-channel clip based on the type of channel. Or you can hide channels based on the name of the channel.

To hide channels on import based on the channel type:

1. Open Flame menu > Preferences > Multi-Channel.
   

2. In Channel Rules, click .
3. Close the Preferences panel.

To hide channels on import based on the channel name:

1. Open Flame menu > Preferences > Multi-Channel.
   

2. In Hide Channels, enter the channel name.

   Use wildcards * (any number of characters) and ? (any one character) to complete a name or replace a specific character. For example: lay* for layer, layers, and layout, layer? for layers and layer1 but not layers1.

3. Close the Preferences panel.

Hiding Individual Channels

You can also hide individual channels after importing a clip.

• In Timeline:
  1. Open Timeline FX ribbon > Format Options > Extended.
     

  2. Click to hide the channel.
• In Batch, Batch FX, and Modular Keyer:
  1. Select the Clip node and open the Extended menu.
     

  2. Click to hide the channel.
     Tip: You cannot hide a channel if the channel has an outgoing connection to another node.

Revealing a Hidden Channel

You can always reveal (unhide) a hidden channel.

• In Timeline:
  1. Open Timeline FX ribbon > Format Options > Extended.
     

  2. Click to reveal the channel.
• In Batch, Batch FX, and Modular Keyer:
  1. Select the Clip node and open the Extended menu.
     

  2. Click to reveal the channel.

To reveal all hidden channels in a Clip node in Batch, Batch FX, and Modular Keyer:

1. Right-click the node.
2. Select Contextual menu > Show All Channels.

About Hidden Channels and Media Cache

Hidden channels are not cached. The media for a clip's hidden channels is not cached.

Use Contextual menu > Media > Flush Cache Media (Hidden Channel) to flush the media of channels hidden. Use this option if you hide channels after importing the clip.

Use Contextual menu > Media > Cache Source Media (any variant) to cache the media of channels you change from hidden to visible.

You can always check if a channel is cached or not.

To view the cache status of a channel:

• In Timeline:
  1. Open Timeline FX ribbon > Format Options > Extended.
  2. Find the channel and look at the Cached column.
     

• In Batch, Batch FX, and Modular Keyer:
  1. Select the Clip node and open the Extended menu.
  2. Find the channel and look at the Cached column.
     

About channelrules.cfg

Preferences > Multi-Channel is a GUI editor for /opt/Autodesk/cfg/channelrules.cfg. If you're used to editing channelrules.cfg directly, consider using the preferences panel as it should reduce errors made when manually editing the file.

Channels in Render and Write File Nodes

Flame Learning Channel: Render & Write File Updates

You can now use the contextual menu to quickly add a Render node or a Write File node to the Schematic with their inputs connected to a Clip or node.

This option is great to connect multi-channel Clip or an Action node to an output node without having to manually connect each output socket to its matching input socket.

To add an output node with inputs already connected:

• Right-click the node to output.
• From a node contextual menu, select:
  • Add Render > Multi-Channel
  • Add Write File > Multi-Channel

When you use the contextual menu, the names of the output sockets are used to name the channels in the Render or Write File nodes.

Rename Channels in Render and Write File

In the Render and Write File nodes, you can now have access to the channels of a multi-channel output.

The channels that make up a multi-channel output are displayed in the new Channels menu.

In the Channels list, every channel appears with its Front and its Matte.

When you add a Render or Write File node using the Multi-Channel option in the contextual menu, the channels are created using the names of the Outputs from the original node. But you can edit these names.

Tip: Use the mouse wheel or the trackpad to scroll the Channels list.

To edit the channel names, you can:

• Edit the name directly in the Channels list. If there is a check mark in the Sync column, you can only rename the Front of the channel: the Matte uses the same name but is appended _alpha.
• T+click another node to use the names of its Outputs to rename the channels.
• Click Channels > Use Input Names to replace the channel names in the Channels list with the names of the Outputs from the parent node.

The Sync option keeps the name of the channels connected to the Front input and its corresponding Matte input the same. In this scenario, "_alpha" is append to the name of the matte channel.

More Improvements to Channels in Clip Nodes

Action colours. The colours used for the output sockets of render passes of the Action node are now used to colour the output sockets of a Clip node.

Expanded channels names. An expanded node automatically adjusts it width to display the full name of its channels or outputs.

Highlight the selected channel. Selecting a channel in the Channels Rules table or in the viewport now highlights the matching channel in the Clip node.

Reorder Channels in Clips.You can now reordered channels of a Batch Schematic Clip. By using the arrows next to the Channels list in the Clip's Extended menu, you can move channels up or down the list.

Updated Channels table. In addition to the new Type and Cached columns, the Channels table in the Extended menu of a Clip node contains the following improvements.

• The Proxy column is now named Thumbnail.
• The icon to select which thumbnail to show on a Clip node changes from a square to a check mark.

MediaHub

The tiles for channels that are set as hidden in Flame menu > Preferences > Multi-Channel are now displayed in a darker color when you double-click the clip Multi icon to display its channels.

In Flame menu > Preferences > Multi-Channel, crypto* has been added to the Hide Channels table. In MediaHub, the channels crypto_asset01_alpha and crypto_asset02 have a darker border to indicate that they are hidden.