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Copy Aux [C
P
A]
CopyAux copies aux channel groups into RGBA channels. CopyAux is only available in
Fusion Studio.
It is mostly a convenience tool as the copying can also be accomplished with more effort using
a ChannelBoolean tool. Although CopyAux has quite a few options, most of the time you will
only adjust the channel to copy and ignore the rest.
Before Fusion 6.31, to access aux channels you used a ChannelBoolean to copy them into the
RGBA channels. Often this would also involve a ChangeDepth tool to make sure that the RGBA
channels that were receiving the aux channel were float32. Now in Dimension, CopyAux
accomplishes the same result in fewer mouse clicks, allowing you to work faster. Where
ChannelBooleans deals with individual channels, CopyAux deals with channel groups. By
default, the CopyAux tool will automatically promote the depth of its output to match the depth
of the aux channel.
CopyAux also supports static normalization ranges. The advantage of static normalization
versus the dynamic normalization that Fusion's Viewers do is that colors remain constant over
time. For example, if you are viewing Z or WorldPos values for a ball, you will see a smooth
gradient from white to black. Now imagine that some other 3D object is introduced into the
background at a certain time. Dynamic normalization will turn the ball almost completely white
while the background object is now the new black. Dynamic normalization also causes flicker
problems while viewing vector/disparity channels, which can make it difficult to compare the
aux channels of two frames at different times visually.
Controls
Mode
Mode determines whether the aux channel is copied into the RGBA color channel or
vice versa. Using this option, you can use one CopyAux to bring an aux channel into
color, do some compositing operations on it, and then use another CopyAux to write
the color back in the aux channel. When the Mode is set to "Color>Aux," all the inputs
except AuxChannel are hidden.
Aux Channel
The Aux Channel is to be copied from or written to depending on the current Mode.
When the aux channel abcd has one valid component, it will be copied as aaa1, two
valid components as ab01, three valid components as abc1, and four components as
abcd. For example, the Z channel will be copied as zzz1, texture coordinates as uv01,
and normals as nxnynz1.
