Menus and Title Bar Functions and Buttons |
Function | Notes |
New Script |
Deletes all nodes currently in the Node View. You can
also press Ctrl+A in the Node View to select all nodes and then
press Delete.
|
Add Script | Calls up the Browser to add in a second set of nodes to those currently in the Node View. The added nodes are renamed if a naming conflict arises (that is, FileIn1 becomes FileIn2 if FileIn1 already exists). Global settings are taken from the added script, as is the new script name. |
Open Script | Calls up the Browser to read in a script, replacing what is already in the Node View. You can also use the Open button on the Title Bar. |
Reload Script | Reloads the script listed in the top of the title bar. |
Save Script (Ctrl + S) | Saves the script without prompting you for a script name. You can also use the Save button on the title bar. |
Save Script As (Shift + Ctrl + S) | Prompts you for a new script name, and then saves the script. |
Save Interface Settings | Save your window layout into a file in your <UserDirectory>/settings file. If you call it defaultui.h, it is automatically read next time you launch Shake. You can save the settings file anywhere, but it is not read automatically unless it is in the settings directory. |
Load Interface Settings | Loads up an interface settings file from disk. |
Flush Cache | Pushes the images in the memory cache out to the disk cache. Similar to what is done upon exit. |
Purge Memory Cache | Purge cache is like Flush Cache, but then continues to free the memory that was allocated. Useful if you have most of your RAM filled and want to run a flipbook without actually exiting Shake. That delay when you exit is Shake flushing the memory cache to disk. Whether or not images in the cache are used (regardless of whether they are coming from the disk or memory) is controlled by the cacheMode. |
Exit | Exits the program. No kidding. You can also use the standard OS exiting buttons on the upper corner of the interface. |
Function | Notes |
Undo (Ctrl +Z)/Redo (Ctrl+Y) |
Undo previous commands, up to 100 levels of undo.
Layout, viewing, and parameter changes are saved in the Undo list.
You can also press the Undo/Redo button:
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Find Nodes (Ctrl + F) |
Dynamically selects nodes that match your criteria in the Search string.
|
Function | Notes |
Create Viewer |
Creates a new Viewer in the Viewer area, automatically
stretching it to fill the Viewer area. You can also press the Right
mouse on a Viewer and select New Viewer, or press N
on a Viewer.
|
Spawn viewer desktop | Launches a floating viewer window which can then be moved around independently of the interface. It is ideal for dual-monitor setups. |
Function | Notes |
Render Flipbook |
Renders a flipbook of whatever is in the current
Viewer. It first launches the Flipbook Parameters Window. The window
allows you to override the Global parameters if you wish. To cancel
the render, press Esc on the flipbook window. See the Flipbook
Manual for how to operate the Flipbook.
|
Render FileOut Nodes | Renders FileOut nodes in the Node View. Press F in the Node View to frame all active nodes. You have the option to render only the active FileOuts or all FileOut nodes. |
Render Proxies | Renders your proxy files for your FileIn nodes, leaving your FileOuts untouched. For more information on proxies, see Overview - About Proxies. |
Whenever you call up a render with the Render menu, you launch the Render Parameters Window. This window overrides the Global settings for your render. Note that these settings are not saved into the script; they only control how the GUI is rendering. To render to disk, you must attach an Image - FileOut node.
Attach Image - FileOut nodes to nodes you want to go to disk.
If you only want to renders specific FileOuts, select them in the Node View.
Select Render FileOuts in the Render menu..
Check your timeRange (for example, 1-100) and other parameters, and press Render.
The Render window looks more or less like this (this
example is from Render FileOut nodes window).
Render FileOut Page
parameters | Notes |
renderFileOuts |
Indicates if you want to render all FileOut
nodes or just the active nodes.
|
updateFromGlobals | Indicates if your settings match the Globals settings (updated), or if you have modified them (update now), in which case the button allows you to update the settings from the Globals. |
timeRange | Set a new time range using Shake's standard frame syntax, for example, 1-100 renders 1 to 100, 10-20x2 renders frames 10, 12, 14, up to 20, and so on. |
useProxy | Sets your proxy settings. |
quality | When this is set to lo (0), anti-aliasing is deactivated, resulting in a poorer quality image, but your render speed is better. |
motionBlur, shutterTiming, shutterOffset | These can be used to set new motion blur settings for quality, shutter exposure length, and the offset. |
maxThread | How many processors to devote to the render on a multiprocessor machine. |
sequential | If you have multiple FileOuts, it may be more effecient to render them sequentially, that is, each file one by one, rather than all of them at the same time. You may trade output inefficiencies with caching or input redundancy. |
function | Notes |
Documentation | Launches the documentation you are reading into a html browser. The docs are usually located at <ShakeDirectory>/docs/index.html |
Support Form | Load a Support Form into a html browser. You can use this to report bugs, provide suggestions, get How-to advice, or (eek!) report documentation errors. |
Shake Home Page | Loads up a browser with www.apple.com/shake. |
This time interval can be changed in your ui.h files in include/startup/ui/something.h. The line looks like this: script.autoSaveDelay = 60; The 60 is time in seconds between saves. See Customize Shake for more details. |
You have 100 steps of Undo/Redo in Shake. You can press the button, or use Ctrl+Z to Undo as well.
Although 100 is a pretty safe number of steps, you can change the amount of undo levels you keep by entering this line in one of your ui.h files:
gui.numUndoLevels = 100;
See Customize Shake for more details.
The Update Mode button, in the middle, has three modes:
The Update button is used to manually update the scene, usually used when Update Mode is set to Manual.
The Proxy button allows you to quickly get to one of your 4 proxy settings. Clicking it by default jumps between Base and P1. Holding it down allows you to get to the other settings. For more information on Proxies, see Overview - Proxies.
The title bar of the whole Shake window gives you current version data, as well as the current script name and the current proxy resolution.