Because an image source file is read-only, you cannot modify it. Clips, on the other hand, you can edit as much as you want. The easiest way to edit a clip is from its property editor (shown left).
From an Image Clip’s property editor, you can perform a variety of operations that can make one image clip very different from other clips that originate from the same source.
To open the Image Clip property editor
1. Do one of the following:
- Select the object that uses the clip you wish to edit and click Modify > Texture > Edit > name of texture to edit.
or
- From an explorer, set the focus to Sources/Clips and select the clip’s icon you wish to edit.
or
- Double-click the image clip’s node in the render tree.
or
- From the Image property editor, click the Edit button above the texture image.
2. When the Image Clip property editor opens, you can edit the clip using the properties on the General, Adjust, Transform, and Texturing tabs.
For more information on how to use the specific tools in the Image Clip property editor, refer to Image Clip Property Editor.
If you are using several instances of the same image source, it may not be useful to have each named after the source in a sequential series. For example, fluffy; fluffy1; fluffy2; fluffy3.
To rename an image clip, do one of the following:
• Type the new name in the clip name text box on the General tab of the Image Clip property editor.
or
• Open the explorer and set the scope to Sources/Clips (o shortcut key). Then locate the clip in the Clips > Images folder.
Right-click the clip’s name and select Rename from the contextual menu, or highlight the clip’s name and press F2.
Viewing an Animated Image Clip
Because not all textures are static images, you can view an image clip from within the Image shader’s property editor as you would any other type of texture. You can use the playback controls in the property editor to play, pause, stop, and loop an animated image or a sequence of images.
For more information on how to create an animated texture, see Creating an Image Clip from a Sequence Texture.
SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.6.01