About Multi-channel Clips
For Flame, a multi-channel file is any media file that contains more than just an RGB and an alpha channel. Flame supports the following multi-channel file formats: OpenEXR (.exr), Photoshop (.psd) and Open Clip (.clip). Each one of these file formats manages multiple channels of media in a single file.
In previous versions, a multi-channel file would be imported as a Matte Container where each channel was itself wrapped in a Matte Container. The only way to import and keep the multi-channel structure of a clip was through Batch's Read File node. The Read File node kept the multi-channel structure but at the cost of not being able to archive, cache, proxy, or wire the media.
Importing Multi-Channel Clips Options
Multi-channel media is displayed in the MediaHub with the Multi icon.
Double-click the Multi icon to expand the channels that make up the clip. You can then decide to import the individual channels. A channel can be an audio track, an alpha channel, an alternate matte channels, or any sort of CGI render pass.