3. Channels dialog
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## 3. Channels dialog

The Channels dialog is the main interface to edit, modify and manage your channels. Channels have a double usage. This is why the dialog is divided into two parts: the first part for color channels and the second part for selection masks.

Color channels: Color channels apply to the image and not to a specific layer. Basically, three primary colors are necessary to render all the wide range of natural colors. As other digital software, theGimp uses Red, Green, and Blue as primary colors. The first and primary channels display the Red, Green, and Blue values of each pixel in your image. In front of each channel is a thumbnail displaying a grayscale representation of each channel, where white is 100% and black is 0% of the primary color. Alternatively, if your image is not a colored but a Grayscale image, there is only one primary channel called Gray. For an Indexed image with a fixed number of known colors there is also only one primary channel called Indexed. Then there is a secondary optionnal channel called Alpha. This channel displays transparency values of each pixel in your image. In front of this channel is a thumbnail displaying a grayscale representation of the transparency where white is opaque and visible, and black is transparent and invisible. If you create your image without transparency then the Alpha channel is not present, but you can add it from the Layers dialog menu. Also, if you have more than one layer in your image, Gimp automatically creates an Alpha channel.

| Note
Gimp doesn't support CMYK or YUV color models.

Representation of an image with channels:

The right image is decomposed in three color channels (red, green, and blue) and the Alpha channel for transparency. On the right image the transparency is displayed as a gray checkerboard. In the color channel white is always white because all the colors are present and black is black. The red hat is visible in the red channel but quite invisible in the other channels. This is the same for plain green and blue which are visible only in their own channels and invisible in others.

### 3.1. Calling the Dialog

The Channel dialog can be activated in many ways :

- from the toolbox-menu: File->Dialogs->Channels

- from the image-menu: Dialogs->Channels

- from another dialog-menu: Add Tab->Channels

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2.3. Layer masks | Home | 3.2. Using the Channeldialog