Introduction to Mari

Thank you so much for getting Introduction to Mari by FlippedNormals! We hope you learn a ton
from it and that the journey into the world of Mari is a comfortable and fun one.

This PDF gives you an overview of Part 1 of the tutorial, giving you a simpli ed version of the
various chapters - focusing on the big picture instead of speci c buttons to press. This PDF is not
in any way meant as a replacement of the videos. Instead, it serves as a bonus to help you get a
refresher, should you need that - or an overview before you dig into the series.

I highly recommend that you also check out the o cial Mari documentation if you want certain
features explained more in-depth:
• Mari Docs

Best of luck!
Henning Sanden
Co-Founder of FlippedNormals

PART 1 - Learning Mari

Di erences Between Mari and Painter
Both Mari and Painter are fantastic texturing software, but with di erent architecture and focus. A
large di erence between the tools is that Mari is more feature rich and more di cult to learn, while
Painter is simpler to learn with fewer features.

In Mari, all painted data is done on the Paint Bu er, a glass pane, that projects textures onto your
models - while in Painter, your paint directly on the model. Each method has clear pros and cons.

Mari has nodes and layers, while Painter only has layers. Nodes o er signi cant exibility over
layers, but can be more work to set up and to understand.

While we can bake maps in Mari, the baker in Painter is much more re ned and tested.

Painter also has more developed smart materials features and procedurals, making certain things
much faster to texture.

Project Setup and Archives Explained

When setting up your Mari Project, it’s recommended to merge everything into one object and
instead separate parts with UDIMs and selection groups. This makes it much easier to deal with
your asset in Mari.

Make sure the UVs aren’t overlapping and are within their speci c UDIM range. Mari only supports
the UDIM format and negative UVs aren’t allowed.

When setting up your project in Mari, you can usually use the default presets based on the render
engine and material you’re using for your work. This will set up a node graph for you with the
correct channels and materials, making it fast and easy to start projects.
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Ul & Navigation
This is a personal preference, but I highly recommend that you lock the World Up in the
preferences, as this makes navigation more natural.
Preferences - Navigation - Lock to World Up

In the Preferences, you can also change the navigation to with your preferred style, though we
recommend sticking to the default.

Default Navigation:
Zoom - Alt+Ctrl or RMB and drag
Pan - Alt+Shift- LMB, or MMB and drag
Rotate - Alt+ LMB
Roll the camera - Ctrl R (this is unique to Mari)

Tool Tips: Hover over a tool for tooltip and hotkey

Shaded views:
Flat: Shows only the at textures
Shaded: Shows the textures on a simple shaded model
Full shader: Shows the textures on a full shader, including spec, bump etc.

Tool Properties
All tools have speci c properties which you can nd under the Tool Properties. When you’re using
new tools, it’s a good idea to play around with the settings for it.

Switch Ortho Views: Keys 1-6 to change camera angle

Customizing UI
You can easily customize the UI to t your needs. It’s easy to drag the elements around and dock
them where you see t. If you have two monitors, Mari is much easier if you make a custom two
monitor setup.

Selection and UDIMs

Selection Tool - S

With the Selection Tool you can select objects, patches (UDIMs), individual UV islands, speci c
polygons or connected polygons (mesh islands) among others. You’ll be using the Selection Tool
frequently in Mari, so we recommend spending time learning the ins and outs of it.

You can copy/paste textures from one UDIM to another by selecting the UDIM with the Selection
Tool, Ctrl C and then selecting the destination and Ctrl V.

The Right Click menu is powerful and allows you to quickly ll in patches with speci c colors,
resize them, and mirror them from one side to the other.
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 Objects
Usually, you’ll be working with single objects in Mari, but multiple objects are fully supported
should you need additional objects in your project. You can easily add new versions of an object
as well. This is extremely handy for either actually adding new versions - or for going between a
highres and lowres model.

The texture data in Mari lives in the 2D space, so as long as the UVs are the same you can switch
between di erent versions without issue.

In the Objects palette, you can also subdivide the model. I prefer to pre-subD the model before
going into Mari, but the option is there and is a life safer if you need it.

Lights
Lights are project speci c and need to be set up every time you make a new project. My
preference is to use only one main light, locked to the camera. This allows you to navigate around
and still see the textures as they are.

Make sure to adjust the intensity of your lights to match the brightness of the textures.

Di erent materials and textures require di erent lighting. If you’re working on a rough character,
you can get away with a single light. But for re ective objects, it’s a good idea to add an HDRI.

Channels and Shaders

Channels are what’s going to be exported from Mari; baked maps to be used for texturing. These
can either be maps like Base Color which will be plugged directly into a material in a 3D software,
or masks used in lookdev to modify the material.

You can easily change the name, resolution or the bit depth of the channels to t your needs. Note
that the name of the channel will be the name of the exported texture maps, unless changed while
exporting.

Shaders are used for previewing your material in Mari. They range from simple BRDF shaders to
elaborate vendor shaders, like the aiStandardSurface used in Arnold. Which one you use depends
on what your nal output is and how much lookdev you prefer to do in Mari vs your lookdev
software.

Layers
Mari used to be entirely layer based, but has since switched over nodes as the recommended
work ow. Layers are powerful and simple to use - though they are signi cantly less exible than
nodes.

While you can technically bring your layers into the Node Graph, it’s highly recommended that you
don’t mix Layers and Nodes as this gets messy.

Paint Bu er
The Paint Bu er is a unique feature found in Mari, and can take some time to get used to. All
painting tools in Mari rely on the Paint Bu er, and it’s not optional to use it. When painting on the
Paint Bu er, it’s like you’re painting on a glass pane which then gets projected onto the model.
Meaning - you’re not painting directly on top of the model at any point. This o ers a lot of
exibility as you can paint something, erase and warp it, and then project once you’re happy with
it.
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 When projecting images, this is incredibly helpful as you can project the image, warp it to t the
model and project.

The downside to the Paint Bu er is that hand painting is more di cult, particularly if you have a
lot of overlapping surfaces. It’s easy to get artefacts that require cleanup if you’re not careful. If
you need to do a lot of hand painting, it’s sometimes faster to do that in ZBrush or Substance
Painter - and then bring it into Mari.

When using the Paint Bu er, make sure that the size and bit-depth is set correctly.
Use the Z key to zoom in and out. Anything outside of the Paint Bu er will not receive painted
data.

You can clear the Paint Bu er with Ctrl Shift C - and hide it temporarily with the . (period) key.

Layers Vs Nodes
While Mari supports both layers and nodes, it’s strongly recommended that you use the node
system for your textures. Below are a few pros and cons of nodes.

Pros of Layers
• Easy to use and familiar from other software
• Quicker for simpler projects
• Much less setup required

Pros of Nodes
• Useful for complex scenes
• O ers signi cantly more exibility than layers.
• Non destructive
• Can easily reuse nodes for other purposes

Cons of Layers
• Complicated to use for bigger scenes
• Much harder and more confusing to reuse layers than nodes

Cons of Nodes
• Unfamiliar - not used in other image software apart from compositing software
• More setup is required for simple things (layers with a mask, for instance)
• Can get messy unless you clean it up

Nodal Work ow
You can manage nearly your entire project from the Node Graph, from creating new Channels,
Materials to creating all the nodes you’ll ever need.

To work with Nodes, open the Node Graph.

Double click a node to see its node properties
Create new Nodes - TAB key and search OR Right Click
To import textures made in other software, make a Paint Node and import it through it.
Copy, Paste and Cut nodes: Ctrl C, Ctrl V and Ctrl X
To hand paint or project images, create a Paint node (P).
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Organize Nodes
Make dot - hold down Ctrl or period
Disable Node - D (RMB - Edit - Bypass Node)
Rename Node - N (or enable node, rename at the top)
Search Nodes - J
Autoplace - L (when things get messy)

Procedurals
Procedurals are mathematical patterns found within Mari which you can use to create variety in
your textures. Some of the most common ones are Oil, Clouds, Cellular.

Triplanars and Tiles

Triplanars and tiles are incredibly handy when texturing as they allow you to cover the whole
model with an image in only a few steps.

Triplanars - As the name implies, the Triplanar node has 3 planes which it projects onto the
model. It’s a great way to quickly get coverage with a soft blend between the various planes. It’s
often used as a base, or to create breakup. If the UVs aren’t fully done, this can be a great way to
texture, as the images are projected onto of the model, meaning it will look the same regardless of
UVs.

Adding Image as Triplanar - In the Image Manager, Shift Drag into Node Graph

Tiles - Tiles are nodes allowing you to tile textures on your model, instantly giving you coverage.
Unlike the triplanar which works in 3D space, the tiles work in UV space. Tiling images is a great
way to add more variation to your textures. Be aware that you might see seams where the UV
seams are.

Adding Image as Tiles - in the Image Manager, Alt Drag into Node Graph

Teleport Nodes
Teleport nodes allow you to send data from one point in the Node Graph to another without
creating node spaghetti. There are 2 kinds of teleport nodes:
- Broadcaster: This node sends data from one input
- Receiver: This is the end point and receives the data

An example of how you can use it, is that you can make a mask for the eyes using a Paint Node
then connect it to a Broadcast node. You can make receivers in a lot of di erent places using this
mask without any node mess. If you update the original mask, all the other outputs are a ected
instantly as well.

Color Grading
Color grading is the process of changing the color and values of your textures. There are a lot of
nodes you can use for grading, but the most common ones are Grade (values) or HSV (hue,
saturation, values). You can do nearly all the grading work you need with these two nodes.

Paint Tool and Brushes

The Paint Tool is one of the most used tools in Mari, and it’s how you paint custom textures. There
are a lot of di erent tools using the same core mechanic, like Blur, Paint Through, Paint etc.
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 Shortcuts
Paint Tool - P
Radius - R
Rotation - W
Opacity - O
Color Picker - C
Color - J
Custom Brushes - K

To color pick more e ectively, go to Mari Preferences - Misc and enable ‘Tool On Key Held’. This
makes the color picker sticky. If you use the Paint Tool and switch to the Color Picker with the C
key, then release the C key, you’re immediately brought back to the Paint Tool.

Steady Stroke (Lazy Mouse)

Tool Properties palette > Brush Settings section> Steady Stroke.

Image Manager
The Image Manager is where you manage all external images you’ll use for texturing, like
projections with the Paint Through Tool, Tiles and Triplanars. You can easily add images by
dragging from the Windows Explorer (or similar on Linux).

You can also change the color space of the images directly in the image manager.

Paint Through Tool

The Paint Through Tool is one of the most used tools in Mari and it’s how you project images onto
the model. Like with all other Mari tools, the Paint Through Tool also puts the projected data in the
Paint Bu er.

Shortcuts
Paint Through Tool - U
Resize - Ctrl Shift Drag
Move - Shift Drag
Rotate - Ctrl Drag inside the image or drag outside the image

Various Tools
Move Paint Bu er (M) - Allows you to move the Paint Bu er.
Blur - Allows you to blur the baked textures
Paint Bu er Eraser (E) - Allows you to erase painted data from the Paint Bu er (not from the
baked paint on the model)
Gradient - Make quick gradients covering the whole model or parts of it.
Clone - You’ll use the Clone Tool a lot! Hold down the Ctrl key to source a part and then paint.

Warping & Distorting

Warp Tool
The Warp Tool is an incredibly useful tool when working with images. It allows you to drag a lattice
over the image in the Paint Bu er (using the Paint Through Tool) and warp it around. When
matching images to the model, this is a huge help.

Ctrl Drag to move selected multiple points

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 Slerp
Similar to Liquify in Photoshop. Allows you to brush around painted data in the Paint Bu er.

Baking and Geo Channels

Baking allows you to capture details from your model and bake them into texture maps. It’s a
great way to get a lot of extra details into your textures. In Mari 7 the Bakery is introduced,
allowing you to bake maps in a completely di erent way. You can easily load in your model, select
what you want to bake (AO, curvature, displacement, etc) and bake it down.

You can bake into Paint Nodes, Geo Channels or Channels.

Paint Nodes: Will bake it into new Paint Nodes, allowing you to treat the bakes as regular nodes
in the Node Graph
Geo Channels: Geo channels are maps that are associated with the object itself. You can either
bring in baked maps from other software or bake directly in Mari. Geo channels are handy, as you
can use the same baked maps several times in the Node Graph without having to copy a speci c
Paint Node. If you update the Geo Channel by remaking, the new bakes will automatically appear.

Projectors
Projectors is how we deal with cameras in Mari. You can use projectors in two main ways:
- Bringing in cameras from other software like Maya, where you have image planes set up.
- Bringing cameras out of Mari, to paint textures in software like Photoshop.

Selection Groups
Selection Groups is a great way to make custom selections for parts you use over and over again.
If you’re working on a character, you might want a selection group for the clothes, teeth, eyes, or
speci c parts of the face. It can be a life saver if you need to paint on the inside of the mouth, as
you can quickly hide the lips, for example.

Color Management and LUTs

Channels in Mari can either contain color data or scalar data.
Color data exists to be seen, scalar data is used to calculate.

You can see if a channel is Scalar or Color in the channel palette.

The LUT will automatically be enabled or disabled depending on whether you’re looking at nodes
from a Scalar or Color Channel

Recommended Video to Watch by Michael Wilde:

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 Export Manager
You export your maps by using the Export Manager. It allows you to quickly add overrides for
Color Space, bit-depth, size, etc.

To change the le type, change the extension of the le name itself. You need to edit the eld and
add a .tga, .exr, etc.

Working with Symmetry

There are a few ways of working with symmetry in Mari:
- Set up the UVs to work in a symmetrical manner using multiple UVs, allowing you to copy and
paste the textures from one side to another
- Set up the UVs to be symmetrical within a UDIM, mirroring the texture data from left to right or
right to left
- Paint Bu er Symmetry: This is a way to have symmetry within the Paint Bu er itself. This is of
limited use.
- Mirror Projection: Allows you to actually paint with symmetry regardless of your UVs. This is
incredibly handy.

Transfer Textures
If your UVs, topology or shape has changed for the model, you often need to transfer the textures
from the old model to the new model. You can do this easily with the transfer tools in Mari directly.

Load in the new model with correct topology, UVs or shape and you can start your transfer. You
can transfer either speci c nodes over or whole channels. I nd transferring the whole channel to
be most useful.

Troubleshooting
Make sure your GPU drivers are up to date, as weird issues can be caused by out of date drivers.

I Can’t paint!
Check for:
Locked objects
Locked UDIMs
Paint Bu er is hidden or moved
Paint Bu er is set to ‘selected’
Opacity for brush is set to 0

Weird Fallo Around my Model

See if EdgeMasking is enabled

My UI is Messed Up
View - Default Layout

Textures are Low Res

Check resolution of the Paint Bu er
Check the position of the Paint Bu er
Channel is low res itself

Node has Collapsed

Shift S while the node is selected
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