Quick question about psd's?

[AdamT]

Is it possible to spread a multilayered PSD into its relative material channels?
Color/Spec color/Bump/ etc

Thanks
Yes, you just have to assign which .psd channel you want to use for each material channel.

[ThePriest]

Yes, you just have to assign which .psd channel you want to use for each material channel.

6+ years with Cinema 4d and I didn't know you could do that.

Nice. Probably a huge memory saver too.

[Dtox]

Wow.
Yeah, I had no idea either.

I've found myself thinking how useful something like that would be.

So, HOW do you do it?

[Dtox]

I see how you do it basically.
Under the bitmap box is a button called "layersets" which allows you to choose which layer goes where.
However, there must be some way that you have to arrange your PSD file.
Because when I assign the color layer to the color channel in cinema, and the bump layer to the bump, all I get is a black material.

Do you have to have the PSD set up with layer groups not just layers?
Or is the trick in the layersets dialog box that pops up?
I see a few options such as 'layer alpha' but none of them produce anything more than a dark material.

Do the layers in the PSD have to be arranged a certain way?

[Dtox]

I organized the PSD with the color layer group 1st, bump layer group 2nd.

Assigned them accordingly and the bump shows but not the color.

[AdamT]

Works fine here. Are you saving your .psd in compatibility mode (selecting okay when PS asks if you want to maximize compatibility)?

[Per-Anders]

Do your layers have backgrounds or just transparency in them? If so then you may need both the layer with your info and the background upon which they sit.

[Dtox]

That's strange.
I have the PSD saved with compatibility.

What I did was took a TIFF file with a brick texture that I created a few weeks ago, brought it into PS, put it in a layer group named color.
I also had a grayscale version of the same file that I worked over for the bump, brought that into PS and put it in its own layer group.
Saved the file as a PSD.
Put the PSD into the color and bump channels in cinema.
Click layersets for color and chose the color layer group.
Dark gray appearance came over it.
Went to bump, did the same thing and bump worked fine.

Both layers are solid images, no transparency.

Only way I can get it to work is to not set a layerset for the color channel.
I can set layersets in all the other channels and it comes out fine.

But if I have the color channel assigned to the color layer in the PSD, it gives me a real dark gray color.
No matter what I do.

I think it will work fine this way, but it's just odd.
Is that the way it's supposed to be done?

[3dj]

That's strange.
I have the PSD saved with compatibility.

What I did was took a TIFF file with a brick texture that I created a few weeks ago, brought it into PS, put it in a layer group named color.
I also had a grayscale version of the same file that I worked over for the bump, brought that into PS and put it in its own layer group.
Saved the file as a PSD.
Put the PSD into the color and bump channels in cinema.
Click layersets for color and chose the color layer group.
Dark gray appearance came over it.
Went to bump, did the same thing and bump worked fine.

Both layers are solid images, no transparency.

Only way I can get it to work is to not set a layerset for the color channel.
I can set layersets in all the other channels and it comes out fine.

But if I have the color channel assigned to the color layer in the PSD, it gives me a real dark gray color.
No matter what I do.

I think it will work fine this way, but it's just odd.
Is that the way it's supposed to be done?
The main problems I have encountered involved the file being my source file which is usually cmyk :-0 which of course doesn't work. Other than that I have had a problem here and there with large psd's updating the material icon, I get the red box as if it is trying to update. If I can't get anything to work, I just throw a quick flattened psd for that channel. It is a great feature though.
-Jim

[Dtox]

The way it seems to be working is that I can use the layered PSD and everything looks good as long as I don't link the color channel in cinema to the color layer in the PSD.
I can link the other channels to individual layers without issue.
I use the same PSD for color, but it basically uses the whole file not just the color layer, and the color layer has to be the top layer in the PSD or else it uses whatever layer IS on top.

Unless there are some issues that pop up as my PSD layers become more complex(this one is just a test with color and bump) this shouldn't create much of a problem.
I should be able to work with this regardless.
It just irks me because it seems like a problem that shouldn't be happening.

[therealpepe1]

Can some post a simple .psd and a c4d file withe the end result.

Thanks Pe

[3dj]

Hey Guys, I just figured out my problem of some PSD's not working and I thought I would share. Basically, some PSD's just would not open in the layer sets to choose the layers, but the problem was I had a workpath in the path's pallet. I deleted it and it works as expected now. I imagine any vector shapes may cause the same problem, but I haven't checked that out yet.

Hopefully that helps someone else.

-Jim

[joeski4d]

Yes, this is a great feautre and huge time saver. I only discovered this about a year ago after using C4D since version 6! Prior to realizing this, I would save out individual files for color, bump, alpha, etc.

[therealpepe1]

Can some post a simple .psd and a c4d file withe the end result.

Thanks Pe
Sorry to post again but it would be nice if someone posted a simple scene with the material all set up. Learning from example is always easiest.

Thanks
Pe

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