Multi Chan Hax is all kinds of Awesome!
Multi Chan Hax is all kinds of awesome!!!
Why is Multi Chan Hax all kinds of awesome? Because it gives Second Life clothing and skin creators a whole range of different template layouts to choose from! With Multi Chan Hax you are no longer limited to texturing the standard head/upper/lower UV layouts.
“A mapping channel is basically UV data. It’s how a 2d texture gets translated onto the geometry of a 3d model. What MultiCH does is give Photoshop the ability to translate a texture to and from any single combination of the channels.”
This type of feature is usually limited to 3d software but Multi Chan Hax manages to blur that line and make the same features available in a 2d image editing programs. How cool is that?! For anyone who has ever complained about wanting a different layout to texture, this is basically the answer to your prayers! All you need is the MCH filter and the MCH files and you can make something respectable in less than half the time it would take to manually match it up pixel by pixel.
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Before you get too excited there are a few things I should mention. Multi Chan Hax is a 32bit Photoshop filter so it won’t be available from the filters menu if you choose to run a 64bit executable of Photoshop. Multi Chan Hax is also limited to Windows, so Mac and Linux users are out of the loop.
The Multi Chan Hax filter works with any program capable of loading the 8bf filter format so that means a handful of programs other than Photoshop should be able to make good use of it. PaintShop Pro is one of them and GIMP can too, with the help of a PSPI which is a GIMP plug-in that runs 3rd-party Photoshop filters, such as this one.
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If you want to follow along you will need to grab a few things:
Chip’s Templates or Robin’s Templates
Flaming Pear’s- Solidify filter
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PhotoShop Plug-In Translator for GimpMultiChan Hax- A Temporary New Home
March 21, 2012
Earlier this week the TechSlop wiki went down and it might take a while to be sorted. Abu Nasu has graciously allowed me to host the MCH filter and files on his behalf until it’s fixed.
I’ve managed to grab a copy of the MCH Repository page through googles cache system which means I can leave the details and description to The Master himself.
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You will need to install this filter into Photoshops plugins directory before you can use the files below.
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SL_legpatternwerapfull01_c2
Designed for creating patterned stockings. The ratio is 1:2, so watch out for that. (This is the filter used in the two-part MCH video)
One day I got into the mood to do a bunch of mapping channels. So I did a bunch of channels. Some head shots, legs, torso stuff, and things. Can’t say for sure what all of channels are what because I didn’t take any notes on them. However, I do remember a few. The very first channel is all head, upper, and torso with each tucked away in a corner. Channels 21, 22, and 23 are the individual head, upper, and torso chunks.
Contains two different MCH files for legs. One of the MCH files in this rar was used in Map Chan Hax Leg Seams. The other one is more like the default mapping and may be more intuitive.
Contains two different MCH files for working with the shoulder areas. One has 2 channels and the other has 3.
This is the MCH file that is almost identical to the one used in the Multi Chan Hax Head tutorial.
A quick little ditty for matching upper and lower for the jacket layer. Designed for documents with a ratio of 2:1, so start with 1024×512 or so. The upper will be on the left and the lower will be on the right. After that, chop it out and go. There are two different seam channels that are very similar. One has the front in the middle and the other has the back in the middle for full wrap-around goodness. Didn’t cover the entire jacket layer, but I did get the bulk of the seam between upper and lower. I used the default female mesh and that had some effect on the operations. Should be okay to use for male design, but I haven’t tested it specifically for male distortion
Description: Several mapping channels for working with the female arm.
Several mapping channels for working with the male arm.
Really quick cylindrical mapping channel for the SL skirt. Quick as they are, they work uber dandy for SL skirt seams.
Real quick planar mapping on the male torso. No arms, no legs, or head. Just quick planar on the front and back of the male torso. The first channel has the default mappings, and the second channel has the planars. The second channel is mostly like the first, but the back is extremely lower. I could have laid second over the first, but that would lead to confusion. With the back extremely lower, easy to see which channel you are looking at with a glance. Should be pretty decent for placing logos and similar on the front and back. Remember that the mapping is planar and thing will distort as the 3d mesh curves around.
------------------------------------------Thanks for posting, Claire!
