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Data Channel Interface

Display rollout

Use the Display rollout to customize how data is displayed in the viewports.

Float Data Display
Displays float data as either tick marks or shaded colors.
Point 3 Data Display
Displays point 3 data (vectors) as either position ticks, color ticks, vectors, or shaded colors.
Color Info
Sets the color display to visualize minimum to maximum values of data. Click a color swatch to change the associated color.
Tip: If you set Min and Max to black, and Mid to white, you can visualize the data of an object's contours in grayscale.
Tick Size
Changes the tick mark size to either small, medium or large.
Normalize Display
Applies a normalize operation to smooth out displayed data.
Show Numeric
Shows the actual numeric data, overriding all other visualizations.

Parameters rollout

Use the Parameters rollout to add operators, save and load presets, and enable the visual display of data in the viewports.

Presets
From the drop-down menu, choose from the list of preset operator stacks, including:
  • Angle Mask
  • Auto Edge Crease Weights
  • Delta Mush
  • Dirt Map
  • Edge Wear Mask
  • Explode Elements
  • Map to Soft Selection
  • Random Element Color
  • Smooth Push
  • Click to load a selected preset.
  • Click to save the current stack as a preset. When saving a preset, you specify a name and an optional tooltip to show while hovering over the name in the list.
  • Click to delete the selected preset.

The presets are stored in 3ds Max <version>\en-US\plugcfg\DataChannelPresets.

Operator Stack
Shows the currently-added operators in the process stack. Drag and drop operators to reorder them. Right-click operators to open the context menu.
Tip: Use the resizer handle to adjust the stack height, which is preserved when the modified object is deselected and reselected or 3ds Max is closed and restarted.
Add Operator
Click to open the Add Operator dialog.
Enable Display
Click to enable the visual display of data in the viewport.

Add Operator dialog

Use the Add Operators dialog to add input, process, and output operators to the stack.

Operator List
Shows a list of available operators and their channel type, either edge, face, or vertex.
Add Operator button
Adds operators to the process stack. You can also drag and drop operators from the list to a desired position in the stack.
Operator Info
Shows a brief description of the currently selected operator.

Context menu

Right-clicking an operator displays the context menu, when available. Use this menu to freeze operators and change blending mode.

Note: The context menu does not appear for output operators. In addition, all Input operators placed at the top of a stack must be set to Replace otherwise an error will appear; input operators placed elsewhere in the stack may use other blending modes however.
Delete
Deletes the selected operator.
Freeze
Freezes the operator so values do not update, capturing the state of the input at the frame at which frozen. Frozen operators are shown in blue in the stack.
Replace
Replaces existing values with new values.
Add
Adds values to existing values.
Subtract
Subtracts values from existing values.
Multiply
Multiplies values with existing values.
Divide
Divides values with existing values.
DotProd
Provides a float value based on the dot product between the existing and input vectors.
CrossProd
Provides a vector based on the cross product between the existing and input vectors.

Curve Editor

Use the curve editor to customize the following operator parameters using function curves:
Operator: Parameters:
Decay Custom Decay Curve
Curve Curve Control
Node Influence Falloff Shape, Strength Over Time, Radius Over Time

Main toolbar

Use these icons to add, delete, move and scale control points.
Tip: You can Ctrl-click or drag a region box to select multiple control points at once.
Move icons
Enable to move control points on the curve.

    From the drop-down menu, choose one of the following:

  • Move XY to move control points freely. You can also right-click a point and choose Move > XY.
  • Move X to move control points horizontally only. You can also right-click a point and choose Move > X.
  • Move Y to move control points vertically only. You can also right-click a point and choose Move > Y.
Scale icon
Enable to scale selected control points up and down.
Add Point icons
Enable to add points to the curve.

    From the drop-down menu, choose one of the following:

  • Add Corner Point to add fixed control points.
  • Add Bezier Point to add control points with adjustable tangent handles.
  • You can also right-click a point and choose Corner (no tangent handles), Bezier-Smooth (tangent handles move together), or Bezier-Corner (tangent handles move independently) to change the interpolation mode.

Delete Point icon
Enable to delete control points from the curve.

Navigation toolbar

Use these icons to pan and zoom in the editor window.

Pan icon
Enable and drag to pan the view.
Zoom Extents icon
Fits all control points in the edit window.
Zoom Horizontal Extents icon
Fits all control points horizontally in the window.
Zoom Vertical Extents icon
Fits all control points vertically in the window.
Zoom Horizontally icon
Enable and drag to zoom horizontally.
Zoom Vertically icon
Enable and drag to zoom vertically.
Zoom icon
Enable and drag to zoom in and out.
Zoom Region icon
Enable and drag to zoom into a specific region.

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