User Manual

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Using Instanced Nodes

Instanced nodes are nodes that have been created using the Paste Instance command, and

which share settings with the original node so that a change made to one instanced node is

also automatically applied to all other instances of that node (as well as the original node

you copied).

To create an Instance, do the following:

1 Select a node you want to instance, and copy it (Command-C).

2 Do one of the following:

–

To create a disconnected instance of a node: Right-click in the background of the

Node Editor, and choose Paste Instance from the contextual menu (Command-

Shift-V).

–

To insert an instanced node between two other nodes: Select a node that’s

upstream of where you want to insert the instanced node, and press Command-

Shift-V. Alternatively, you can right-click directly on a connection line, and choose

Paste Instance from the contextual menu.

However you paste an instance, the name of that instanced node takes the form “Instance_

NameOfNode.” If you paste multiple instances, each instance is numbered “Instance_

NameOfNode_01.”

A green link line shows an instanced Blur node’s relationship to the original Blur node it was copied from.

When a node tree contains instanced nodes, a green line shows the link between the original

node and its instances. You have the option to hide these green link lines to reduce visual

clutter in the Node Editor.

To toggle the visibility of green instance link lines in the Node Editor:

1 Right-click anywhere in the background of the Node Editor.

2 Choose Options > Show Instance Links from the contextual menu.

If you’ve been using an instance of a node and you later discover you need to use it to apply

separate adjustments, you can “de-instance” the node.

To de-instance a node, making it independent:

1 Right-click an instanced node.

2 Choose Deinstance from the contextual menu. That node is now independent from

the original node. Once you de-instance a node, you cannot re-instance it, but you can

undo the operation.

Chapter – 56 Working in the Node Editor 1095