Introduction to channels in Mari / by Xuan Prada

  • Create a new proyect in Mari.
  • Create a new channel called “base”.
  • Adjust size, color space and color.
  • Right click on “base channel” to import a texture bitmap as base color.
  • We already have our cube with the blue base color.
  • Create a new shader called “blueCube” and choose as texture the “base channel” created before.
  • Create a new channel called “underPaint”.
  • Adjust size, color space and color.
  • Right click on the “underPaint” channel to import a nice under paint texture map.
  • You can see it in the viewport.
  • Create another channel called “underPaintMask”.
  • Adjust size, color space and color.
  • Import the under paint mask texture into the “under paint channel.”

Looks awesome in the viewport.

  • Select the “blueCube shader” and add a “new shader module”.
  • Select “masked diffuse” from the list.
  • As base texture select “underPaint channel”.
  • As mask texture select “underPaintMask channel”.
  • Invert the mask.
  • Add more layers in very simple, just need to add more channels.
  • Create a new channel called “rust”.
  • Adjust the size, color space and color.
  • Import a rust map into the channel.
  • Check it in the viewport.
  • Add a new channel called “rustMask”.
  • Adjust size, color space and color.
  • Go back to shaders tab and select “bluCube shader”.
  • Add a new shader module and select “masked diffuse” from the list.
  • Select the “rust channel” as “base texture” and “rustMask channel” as “mask texture”.
  • Invert the mask.
  • Select the “rustMask channel” and paint with black color to create rust in desired areas.