User Manual

Node Modes Including Disable and Lock
Right-clicking one or more nodes and opening the contextual menu reveals a series of
commands in the Modes submenu, some with accompanying keyboard shortcuts, that let you
set control visibility, disable, lock, update, and cache nodes.
 Show Controls: Sets whether that node reveals its parameters in the Inspector when
it’s selected and whether its onscreen controls appear in viewers. On by default.
 Pass Through: (Command-P) Identical to the toggle switch in the Inspector that turns
nodes off and on. Disabled nodes are ignored as image data is passed from the next
previous upstream node to the next downstream node. On by default.
 Locked: (Command-L) Identical to the lock button in the Inspector that prevents a node
from being edited in the Inspector. Off by default.
 Update: (Command-U) On by default. While this option is enabled, all changes to
the node will cause it to re-render. When Update is disabled, you can still change
the node’s parameters, but those changes will not process or update the image until
Update is re-enabled. While disabled, the last processed image for that node will be
displayed as a freeze frame. One example of when this is useful is when you have
a large or processor-intensive composition (such as a particularly intense particle
system), and disabling this option temporarily will let you quickly make several quick
parameter adjustments to different nodes without forcing you to wait for the node tree
to re-render after every adjustment. Another example of when this is useful is when
you want to quickly see the effect of animated downstream nodes while keeping
upstream nodes that are too processor-intensive to play in real time from rendering
additional frames.
 Force Cache: When enabled, this node’s output for the current frame has an extremely
high cache priority, essentially forcing it to stay cached in memory. Off by default.
Toggling any one of these node modes displays a badge within that node indicating its state.
Node Editor Options
Right-clicking in an empty area of the Node Editor will bring up the contextual menu and the
Options submenu. The Options submenu contains several choices that can be used to
customize how the Node Editor looks and behaves.
 Pipes Always Visible: Enabling this option causes a connection to cross over a node
instead of beneath it, sometimes making it easier to follow the connection’s path.
 Show Hidden Connections: When enabled, the Inspector option to Hide Incoming
Connections in every node is overridden and all connections are displayed in the Node
Editor.
 Aspect Correct Tile Pictures: Aspect Correct Tile Pictures forces the display of
thumbnails to be aspect corrected, which is slower but visually more accurate.
This option is enabled by default.
 Full Tile Render Indicators: Enabling this option causes the thumbnail to flash green
when rendering, which makes it easier to identify which node is processing in a large,
complex node tree.
 Show Grid: This option can be used to enable or disable the Node Editor’s
background grid.
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