Loading (Creating) Sources and Clips

You can load as many image files into Softimage as you wish. For example, before beginning a scene you could load all of your images into the Sources folder so they are readily available to you in clip form.

Note that Softimage converts all image clips into linear floating point data. To accurately convert and render out each image clip, you can select the color space in which your original image was created. This indicates to mental ray how to convert (if necessary) the image clip from its current color space to the linear floating point color space, including whether or not any gamma correction data is stored. For more information, see the Color Profile options on the Adjust tab of the Image Clip Property Editor [Properties Reference].

As a convenience, you can also set a color profile preference that declares to mental ray the color space that you typically use to create your input images, so that by default, all newly created image clips will be converted accordingly. See the Color Profile options in the Rendering Preferences [Preference Reference].

Creating Sources and Clips

The easiest way to create sources and clips is to drag and drop selected image files from a Softimage browser into the background of a viewport. This is particularly useful for importing a large number of images. On Windows, you can drag and drop from the Windows Explorer or a folder window.

If you want to create sources but not clips, open an explorer, set its scope to Sources/Clips, and drag the images directly onto the Sources node.

To create sources and clips from the Render toolbar

Once a scene has been created or opened, choose Get Clip from the Render toolbar. The menu offers you three choices for creating clips:

If you choose...
Create Source from File	A browser opens from which you can select an image file. Once a file is selected, an image source is created for it; as well, the image source property editor opens, in which you can rename the source.
Create Clip from File	A browser opens from which you can select an image file. Once a file is selected, an image source is created for it as well as an image clip immediately afterward. The image clip property editor opens, in which you can edit or manipulate the newly created image clip
Create Clip from Source	Another sub-menu opens prompting you to select an existing source file to be copied as an image clip. Once a source is selected, the image clip property editor opens. You can use it to edit or manipulate the newly created image clip.

Important When using TIFF files, avoid using LZW compression. LZW-compressed TIFFS are not supported by the mental ray renderer, and will not render correctly.

A	The Sources > Images folder contains the original image file. Source files are read-only.
B	The Clips > Images folder contains instances of image sources. You can modify clips without affecting the original sources.
C	Click a clip's icon to open the Image Clip property editor, where you can make color corrections, crops, blurs and other changes.

When you create a clip of a source, it becomes available from any list of image clips in your scene. For example you can choose image clips from the Image menu in an Image shader's property editor.

Some menus in Softimage give you access to both clips and sources. If you apply a source as a texture, for example, a clip is created from the source and that clip is applied, not the source itself.

A	All image clips are available in the Image shader's menu.

Creating an Image Clip from a Separate Images

If images have the same base file name with a sequential number, Softimage treats them as a single sequence. You can also create sequences from a list of image files manually as described here.

To create an image clip from a sequence texture

Create a script with an SCR extension or a simple text file containing a series of picture file locations with absolute paths. Instead of creating a clip from an image file, use this script file.

Deleting Unused Clips and Sources

As you develop your scene, it's likely that you'll end up with image sources and clips that you don't use at all. Banish them from your scene using a couple of handy commands.

To delete unused clips and/or sources

From the Render toolbar, choose one of the following:
- Clip Delete Unused Image Sources to delete unused sources.
  
  or
- Clip Delete Unused Image Sources and Clips to delete both unused sources and unused clips.

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