About the Node View and the Tools Tabs

Every effect in Shake is a distinct node that can be inserted into the Node tree. Each node has its own specific function and specific parameters. You use the Node View to organize and access your created nodes, and the Tool Tabs to get functions to insert into the tree.

In both the Tool Tabs and the Node View, you can access a menu with the right mouse button.

Like the other windows, you can use Middle mouse or Alt+Left to pan. The Node View can use Ctrl+Alt+Left mouse to zoom in and out.

Another navigation aid is the new 2.2 Overview. Hit O in the Node View to turn on the Overview. You can click and drag in the Overview, and the Node View will jump to reflect the changes you have made.


Creating Nodes

You can add nodes into a tree in one of four ways:

Clicking the icon gives you the most flexibility, since you can insert the node in a variety of ways into the tree.

To insert a node between two nodes, pick the parent node and click on the new node from the function tabs:

Select the parent ...and click on the new node

To create a new branch, select the parent, and Shift+click on the new node:

Select the parent ...and Shift+click on the new node

To replace a node, select the node to replace, and Ctrl+click on the new node:

Select the node to replace ...and Ctrl+click on the new node

To create a floating node, Ctrl+Shift+click on the node you want:

Nothing needs to be selected. ...and Shift+Ctrl+click on the new node

To extract a node from a tree, select it and hit E for Extract:

Select the node to extract... ...and hit E to extract it.

To delete nodes, select the nodes and hit the Delete key:

Select the node to delete... ...and hit Delete

 

All of these functions can also be done by right-clicking on the tab name itself. This will give you a popup menu. For 2.2, the above modifier keys now work as well. Additionally, if you lower the Tools Tabs so only the tabs are visible, you can also access the popup menus with the left mouse:

When you drag open a tab with the right mouse, you can create multiple nodes within that tab by selecting them with the right mouse. Using the left mouse will close the tab.

You can also create nodes with the Right Mouse in the Node View

 

Concatenating Nodes

If a node concatenates with other nodes, it will have a small C in the upper left corner: Color nodes will only concatenate with Color nodes, Transform only with Transform. AdjustHSV and LookupHSV only concatenate with each other, so the C is red:


Connecting Nodes

You can connect nodes by dragging the output of one node and dragging it to the input of another node. If a different node is already connected, it will be replaced by the new node.

You can also drag an input of a node to the output of a different node, for example, from one of Over1's inputs to the output of bg.

You can drag as many connections from the output or to the output of a node as you want. The input knots can have only one noodle connecting them.

 

To delete a connection, put the cursor over the noodle so that it turns red, and hit Delete.

You can switch inputs by grabbing the bottom half of a noodle (it will turn red) and dragging it over to the other input knot. The inputs will be switched.

 



Selecting Nodes

To select a node by name, hit Ctrl+F in the node view. It will pick nodes in real time as you type. You have several options on how to pick nodes:



Loading a node into a Viewer

Click on the left side of a node to load that node into the current Viewer. If you double-click, you also load that node's parameters into the Parameter Workspace.

When a node is being displayed, a small light appears on the left side. Additionally, a number a letter appear above it to indicate which Viewer it is in, followed by which compare buffer.



Viewing a Node's Parameters

Click on the right side of the node to load a node's parameters into the Tweaker workspace in tab Parameter1 tab. Here, the parameters for vanilla are loaded.

If you Shift + click, you will load the parameters into the Parameter2 tab.



Renaming a Node

Click on the right side of the node to load a node's parameters into the Tweaker workspace in the Parameter1 tab. Change the nodeName parameter to a new name. No spaces or funny characters allowed (', .!, etc.). Also, don't name a node another function, like Fade.

FileIns and FileOuts will try to automatically name themselves based on the file they are referring to.



Ignoring a Node

To turn off the processing of a node, select the node(s) and hit I. This will put a red diagonal line over the node indicating it is ignored. Select it again, and hit I to turn them back on.

You can also load a node in the Parameters, and turn on the ignoreNode button in the Parameter tab.

For scripting purposes, this places the Ignore function after an ignored node, which is not visible in the Node View.




Grouping and Collapsing Nodes

You can collapse several selected nodes into one group by first selecting them...

..and then hitting G. When it is grouped, you can still view the result of it. In this case, it would show the Scale14 node. You can also reattach the node with the output knot.

If you touch the diamond button on the group, you can open the group up. When it is open, you can resize the window, hit L to Layout the nodes, and Home to center the nodes. Hit the diamond button again to close the group.

To ungroup the nodes, hit G again when the group is selected.



Opening Macros

You can examine the contents of a macro by hitting B. This will open up the macro in the same way as if you were looking at a group of nodes. Clicking on the macro, placing the cursor over a blank spot and hitting Alt+B will close the macro back to its normal appearance. When looking at an open macro, you can view any parameter or stage of the macro, but you cannot edit parameters or rewire nodes.

Linking Nodes

You can link one node with another by coping it and pasting it in with Shift+Ctrl+V instead of Ctrl+V. This will link the pasted node back to the original node. If you modify the pasted node, the link will disappear for that particular parameter. Otherwise, you would typically tune the master node.

To view the links, hit Ctrl+E in the Node View. Green lines will display the connections between nodes:



The Node View right-mouse menu

SubMenu
Function
Keyboard
Notes
Nodes   Create nodes directly in the Node View from the list.
Edit Cut Ctrl+X Removes selected nodes and places them into the paste buffer.
  Copy Ctrl+C Copies the selected nodes into the paste buffer
  Paste Ctrl+V Pastes the buffer into the node view. You can also copy nodes from the Node View and paste them into a Text document. You can also copy the text and paste it into the Node View. This is really swank, by the way. It won't impress your mother, but it will impress her if she is programmer.
  Delete Delete This deletes the selected nodes. If the branching is not complicated, the noodles between the parent(s) and children will automatically reattach to each other.
  Undo Ctrl+Z Will Undo up to 100 steps. Rearranging nodes counts as a step.
  Redo Ctrl+Y Will redo your steps unless you have changed values after you have done several undos.
View Zoom In + Zooms into the Node View (also use Ctrl+Alt+Left mouse)
  Zoom Out - Zooms out of the Node View (also use Ctrl+Alt+Left mouse)
  Reset View Home Centers all nodes.
  Frame Selection F Frames all selected nodes into the Node View.
Render Render Flipbook   Renders a flipbook of the node visualized in the active Viewer.
  Render Selected FileOuts   Renders all selected FileOut nodes, and therefore writes them to disk.
  Render All FileOuts   Renders all FileOut nodes, and therefore writes them to disk.
Overview On/Off   O

Turns on the Overview window to help navigate in the Node View.

 

Expr Links On/Off   Ctrl+E Displays links between nodes.
Select Find Nodes Ctrl + F Will activate nodes according to what you enter in the Search string field.
  • Select by name. Enter the search string, and it will immediately activate nodes that match. For example, if you put just f, FileIn1 and Fade will be selected. If you enter fi, just the FileIn1 will be selected.

  • Select by type. This will select by node type. For example, enter Move, and all Move2D and Move3D nodes will be selected.

  • Select by expression. This allows you to enter an expression. For example, you want to find all nodes with an angle parameter greater than 180:

    angle>180

  • Match case. This will set case sensitivity.
  All Ctrl+A Selects all nodes.
  Associated Nodes Shift+A Selects all nodes attached to the current group.
  Invert Selection ! All selected nodes are deactivated, all deactivated nodes are activated.
  Select Upstream Shift+U Adds all nodes upstream from the currently active nodes to the active group.
  Select Downstream Shift+D Adds all nodes downstream from the currently active nodes to the active group.
  Select Upstream 1 Level Shift+Up arrow Adds one upstream node to the current selection.
  Add Downstream 1 Level Shift + Down Arrow Adds one downstream node to the current selection.
Node Layout Layout Selected L This does an automated layout on the selected nodes.
  Align Selected Vertically X Snaps all selected nodes into the same column.
  Align Selected Horizontally Y Snaps all selected nodes into the same row.
Group/Ungroup Selected Nodes   G This will visually collapse selected nodes into one node. When saved out again, they are remembered as several nodes. To ungroup them, hit G again.
Maximize/Minimize Selected Groups   M This will open a group into a subwindow.
Ignore/UnIgnore Selected Nodes   I Will turn off selected nodes when activated. Select them again and hit I to reactivate them. You can also load the parameters into the Parameter View and hit ignoreNode.
Extract Selected Nodes   E Pulls the active nodes from the tree, reconnecting the remaining nodes to each other.
Save Selection as Script   S Will save off the selected nodes as a script.
Force Selected FileIn Reload     When an image is changed on disk and you have alrady looked at that image in the GUI, it will not recognize that the image has change. Hitting these two functions will force the checking of the date stamp for the images on disk.
Force All FileIn Reload    
Macro Make Macro Shift+M Will launch the MacroMaker with the selected nodes as the macro body.
  Show Macro Internals B Will open up a macro into a subwindow so you can review wiring and parameters. You cannot change the nodes inside the subwindow.
  Hide Macro Internals Alt+B Will close up the macro subwindow when the cursor is placed outside of the open macro.