You can set preferences in RAYZ to customize the interface and specify default parameter settings. General Preference settings apply to all RAYZ project files, while Project Settings apply only to the current file.
Preferences can be edited in the Preferences panel and in the Project Settings panel, both of which are accessed from the RAYZ Edit menu.
The Preferences and Project Settings panels use the same interface, which is divided into three main panes:
The first two panes are used to select the preference to be set or modified, and the third pane is where you specify the preference value.
Fig. 13.2 Example of Preferences Panel being used to set Autosave Interval.
The Preferences panel is used to customize the look of the interface and edit default search paths, hotkey assignments, and file browser behavior. You can also specify how nodes are grouped into menus.
The file that holds the current Preferences Panel settings is located by default in .rayz/2.0/Preferences/Defaults.pref.
To change the path to the Defaults.pref file, set an environment variable by typing the following at the prompt in a shell, replacing "[pathname]" with the actual path to use:
setenv RAYZ_PREFERENCES_PATH /[pathname]
To restore the factory default preferences, delete the Defaults.pref file and RAYZ will create a new one with the factory default settings.
You can copy the Defaults.pref file from one RAYZ workstation to another to share preference settings with other users.
This category specifies the file path RAYZ will use to search for various directories and files. To change a default path, select a File Path preference. A text entry field will appear in which you can type a new search path.
To enter multiple file paths into a search path preference, use the pipe character (|) to separate each pathname.
path to directory RAYZ should use to write temporary cache, if necessary, while application is running |
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path to directory containing the RAYZ HTML manual used for online help |
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This category specifies autosave and help options, as well as how mouse events should be interpreted. Most of these preferences offer numeric data entry parameters.
The Image Viewer settings are accessed by expanding the Settings group. They include preferences for Magni-zoom and the color of the background area in the Image Viewer as well as the scale factors to use when viewing an image at other than full size.
Click on the Image Viewer group to select it, rather than expanding it, and the Magni-zoom and Outside Image Color preferences will appear in the right pane.
There are two Magni-zoom preferences, one for the scale factor to use in the zoom box and the other to set the size of the zoom box.
This preference specifies the color RAYZ should use to fill in the viewspace in the background of the Image Viewer. By default the viewspace color is set to black. To change it, click the Outside Image Color preference to access the standard RAYZ color parameters, which are described in detail in Using the Color Parameters in chapter 14.
Expand the Image Viewer group to access the Scale Factors item. When you click on Scale Factors, the Medium and Low preferences appear in the right pane. These preference settings specify the scale factor to use when Medium or Low is selected from the Size menu in the Image Viewer.
By default, Medium is set to 50 percent of full size, and Low to 25 percent, where "full size" refers to the native spatial resolution of the image.
A UI theme is a set of values that define the current look of the RAYZ interface, including colors to use for backgrounds, foregrounds, borders, buttons, text, and other elements, as well as the type of bevel and border width to use for buttons, menus, etc. Themes also specify the font to use for labels and other text.
The Current Look Settings are used to edit the values assigned to the currently selected theme. You can specify the color to use for interface elements throughout RAYZ by selecting a look preference from the list and adjusting the associated color parameters.
These color parameters work like the equivalent parameters available in a number Node Panels. For more information about them, refer to the section on Using the Color Parameters in chapter 14.
The look preferences that set a value other than color, such as font or border style, provide menus in which you can choose a value.
The file browser is the dialog box that appears when you open or save RAYZ files or import image files in the Image In node. The File Browser preferences affect the default contents of the navigation menus in the file browser, as well as how files are listed and displayed.
These preferences are used to customize node menus by changing the order in which node menus appear and changing the menu to which any node is assigned.
This group of preferences controls size and spacing of filmstrips in the timeline of the Clip Editor. You can adjust the horizontal and vertical size of the frames and the spacing of the vertical strips between frames.
With smaller frames and spacers, you can see more frames at once, but larger frames and spacers are easier to manipulate.
The Worksheet preferences are used to specify the size of the nodes in the Worksheet, the size of the (unattached) node inputs, and the size of the invisible grid to which new nodes align when placed in the Worksheet.
In addition, to save space in the Worksheet, you can change the Icon Node Menu preference from On (the default) to Off to display a text-only node menu strip in the Worksheet in place of the iconic node menu.
The Hotkeys category in the General Preferences panel is used to create or modify keyboard shortcuts--keys that can be pressed to issue commands in place of using the mouse to manipulate the RAYZ interface.
Virtually every command in RAYZ can be assigned a keyboard equivalent, or hotkey. And default hotkey assignments can be modified or eliminated.
Hotkeys are divided into two categories, hotkeys for Global commands and hotkeys for Context Sensitive commands:
When you select a command from the Hotkeys list, a hotkey editor is displayed. The top line of the editor consists of a checkbox that turns the hotkey assignment on and off for the command. When the box is checked, the controls on the second line become active.
Fig. 13.3 Hotkey Editor in the Preferences Panel.
The first three checkboxes are used to assign an optional modifier key: Control, Shift, and/or Alt. Modifier keys are held down while the assigned key is pressed.
Typical examples would be the ubiquitous cut, copy, and paste hotkeys: Ctrl-x, Ctrl-c, and Ctrl-v.
The final button is used to assign the hotkey. This button is labeled "Grab Key" unless a hotkey assignment has already been made, in which case it is labeled with the current key assigned.
If that key (or key combination, if you also specified one or more modifier keys) is already assigned to another item, a dialog box will pop up to inform you of this. You then have the option to reassign the key to the current item or to cancel, in which case you can try another key.
The single most useful hotkey in RAYZ may be the Space bar , which can be held down while working in any view to access the popup node menu, as described in Creating and Connecting Nodes in chapter 5.
The other "factory default" hotkey assignments for common commands are listed below in functional groupings.
The cut, copy, paste, and delete commands in the following list apply to selected text (including numerical values) in parameter fields, as well as to curves in the Curve Editor and nodes in the Worksheet.
Selected or targeted nodes in the Worksheet can be deleted, as described in Deleting Nodes in chapter 5. The undo and redo commands are described in Levels of Undo and Redo in chapter 9.
The frame navigation commands change the current frame selected in the Time Scooter and Flipbook, which in turn affects the data displayed in the views:
For more information on working with the following view options, see Changing the Layout in chapter 4.
The following commands affect the scale and position of the image displayed in the Viewer and the node network in the Worksheet:
Center and Reset Scale to Normal (also works in Clip Editor) |
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The next group of commands control how image data is displayed in the Image Viewer.
Source Image Display (cycle thru each Source menu option for current node in turn) |
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The node commands apply to the node you target (position the cursor over) when the command is issued, with the exception of Find Nodes, which can be invoked when the cursor is anywhere in the Worksheet:
The following commands apply to the Node Panel parameter over which the cursor is positioned:
Export Parameter to Group Node Panel (applies to nodes within a Group node) |
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Project settings are preferences that apply to the current project file only, such as default values for node parameters and swatch values to use in color palettes. Many of these settings are used to set defaults that match the type of imagery you are using on a project.
Project Settings are saved in the project file itself.
The Project Settings panel interface is described in the section on Using the Panel Interface. Specific project settings are described next.
Expand the Current Colors group to specify the default values of colors used to display various interface elements, including
And you can use the Image Sample Color Palette preferences to set the default fill colors assigned to swatches in the Color Picker.
The individual color preference values are set in the same way for all of the Current Color preferences, by using the standard RAYZ color parameters. For more information, refer to the section on Using the Color Parameters in chapter 14.
Select Node Defaults in the left pane to access a list of default node parameter settings in the right pane. For example, the default formula for computing luminance is film standard. For a video project, however, you could change the Default Luminance Model preference to NTSC.
Click on the Settings item itself to display a list of default settings relating to the type of imagery you are using on a project, such as the default size and bit depth to use for new Color, Gradient, and other source nodes.
This is where you specify the units in which time will be displayed in the sliders of the Time Scooter and Flipbook. You can display time in Frames (the default), Seconds, Edge Code, or Time Code.
Use the Frames per Second or Frames per Foot settings to specify the default playback rate in the Flipbook.
You can expand the Settings group to access the Thumbnail Scale Factors parameters, which specify how thumbnail node images, if displayed, are scaled when you zoom out in the Worksheet.
Select the Globals category to get a list all global variables currently defined.
The $JOB global is set by default to the directory from which RAYZ was launched. To redefine it, click on the JOB item in the list in the upper pane and type a new path into the text field in the lower pane.
Click "Add New Item" to display the Globals editor in the lower pane.
Fig. 13.4 Globals Editor is used to create new global variables and redefine existing ones.
Type the name of the global in the first text field, using all uppercase letters (A to Z; no numbers or non-alphabetic characters). Do not type the "dollar sign" that is used to signify the global when typing command strings.
Define the global in the second field.
Fig. 13.5 Press the Delete button to delete the currently selected global.
The Delete button becomes active whenever a global is selected in the Preferences list. Press the button to delete it.